Ölbeat 032: Brouwerij Kees Export Porter 1750

Brewery: Brouwerij Kees
Country: the Netherlands
Style: Imperial Porter
Abv: 10,5 %
@RateBeer

The name: Porter made with a 1750 RIS recipe

Brouwerij Kees, founded in 2014, is a microbrewery in Middelburg, the Netherlands. The brewery is owned by former Emelisse master brewer Kees Bubberman. The young brewery has already been awarded Ratebeer's best new brewery in the Netherlands and in Europe and #4 in the world in 2015. Achievements will probably keep Bubberman satisfied for a relatively short time, since his aim is to produce the finest beer in the Netherlands. Export Porter 1750 is one of the top-rated beers from the brewery and of the style, so the expectations are high. 

What about the beer?
Colour is dark-roast coffee black with thin quickly vanishing beige head. Aroma has roasted malts, coffee and vanilla. Taste starts with sweet roasted malts and a snap of hops. Fresh black coffee takes over in an instant. Dark chocolate and hints of vanilla show up in palate. Aftertaste has coffee, bitterness and caramel malts.

Rich, complex and exciting porter - excellent brew. The combination of strong coffee flavor, deeply roasted caramel malts and bitter finish just can't go wrong. The brewery made a difference and turned out be worth more exploration.

Ölbeat

As darkness and sweetness were combined in the brew, so should they be in the matching song, too. The heavy metal genre offered this beauty with the beast:

Amaranthe: Amaranthine (YouTube)

From the 2011 album Amaranthe, the song was written by guitarist-keyboardist Olof Mörck and vocalists Jake E. Lundberg and Andreas Solveström. The Swedish band is known for having three vocalists: singing female (Elize Ryd), singing male (Lundberg) and growling male (until 2013 Solveström, from 2013 Henrik Englund Wilhelmsson). The song's music is a mix of metal ballad and melodic metal with synthesizer elements. The lyrics form a love poem, where the poet sees love overcome darkness and ongoing battle. The poem is addressed to the one, who is the poet's "amaranthine", Greek word meaning immortal or everlasting. Both combining the different genres and writing positive-mooded lyrics for metal songs are distinctive features of the band's music, that divides the listeners to lovers and haters. Sometimes you have to break boundaries to make a difference - that's what connects the song and Export Porter 1750.

Ölbeat 031: Hiisi Humulus Lupus DIPA

Brewery: Panimo Hiisi
Country: Finland
Style: Imperial IPA
Abv: 9 %
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A wolfly brew from the wilderness?

Panimo Hiisi is an old acquiantance since Loviatar review (Ölbeat 020). Humulus Lupus is described to have been brewed by "outrageously abusing a myriad of hop plants". The name of the beer is a word play with the latin names of hop (Humulus Lupulus) and wolf (Canis Lupus). When we get a douple/imperial IPA with that kind of predatory label, we should expect a hop explosion, shouldn't we? Let's cut the crap and get to the business, then.

What about the beer?
Colour is thick orange with tiny whiteish head. Aroma gives first grapefruit and then sweet fruits like mango and pineapple. Taste is nicely sweet malty and bitter hoppy not in a sharp and aggressive but in a slowly growing and strengthening way. Palate adds citrus, fruits and some piny notes. Bitter aftertaste lasts pleasantly long.

This one's a gentle beast. It doesn't chew your head off with the first bite, but instead waits its prey let one's guard down and then makes a gentle smooth kill. The palette of flavours wasn't expected: I thought this one would be a mean hop attack but got something a lot better.

Ölbeat

As usual, the Hiisi brewers recommend some music with the beer: this time it's a Finnish band called Maj Karman Kauniit Kuvat. As usual, I don't give a shit. Instead, I try to piss them off with a song which literally has someone growing on someone:

The Darkness: Growing on Me (YouTube)

From the 2003 album, Permission to Land, the song was written by the band members Hawkins-Hawkins-Poullain-Graham. It represents the purest sound of The Darkness - guitar-riff led glam rock with Justin Hawkins' recognisable high tenor vocals. Probably the band's reputation of having fun and making music tongue in cheek is the reason why the song's lyrics have occasionally been misinterpreted to refer to pubic lice or STD's. According to singer-guitarist Justin Hawkins the song is really about a woman that you will never understand, but you love her so much that you'll get over it. Humulus Lupus got matched with the song not only because of the 'growing' thing but also because the beer was fun to enjoy.

Ölbeat 030: Nøgne Ø Havrestout

Brewery: Nøgne Ø
Country: Norway
Style: Sweet Stout
Abv: 4,5 %
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Brew with oat - you'll have black beer...

Nøgne Ø, founded in 2002, is a craft brewery from Grimstad, Norway. The name of the brewery means 'naked island', referring to the name used of the barren islands near Norway's southern coast by the 19th century playwright and poet Henrik Ibsen in one of his poems, Terje Vigen. Their webpage describes the mission of the brewery "to create fantastic full bodied and handcrafted beers" and the subtitle to the brewery's name is "The Uncompromising Brewery".

What about the beer?
Colour is espresso black with small bubbly beige crown, that rebuilds as a tiny foam top after vanishing due to high carbonation and oats, probably. Aroma has coffee, dark chocolate and sweet malts with a slight roast. Taste starts with the carbonated mouthfeel, which turns to caramel and chocolate malts. Palate adds soft bitter hops and coffee with a gentle roast. Aftertaste has roasted malts and coffee.

After getting over the strongly carbonated mouthfeel, there are elements of a really fine stout. The oats added to the brew really give an extra taste to the malt. Coffee is clearly present in the aroma, but surprisingly shows up in the taste in the last minute. Very nice beer especially for the abv.

Ölbeat

The colour of the beer doesn't make it heavy. On the contrary, this stout was pretty light to drink but there was some serious soul present, so that's what we get:

Marvin Gaye: I Heard It Through the Grapevine (YouTube)

From the 1968 album, In the Groove, the song was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for Motown Records. First recorded in 1966 by The Miracles and first released as a single in 1967 by Gladys Knight & the Pips, it was Marvin Gaye's version that became the soul classic. Gaye had an argument with the producer about singing higher than his normal range. The producer was the one to finally decide, and as we can hear Gaye's raspy overhigh vocals give the cake its icing. The sharp-hitting soul is played by the Funk Brothers and the recording was enhanced with the string section of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Lyrics tell a story about the betrayal of the singer's lover, that he hears from the gossiping people ("through the grapevine"), and his suffering on the ordeal. It was the serious subject and the gently floating soul that I felt with Havrestout to make this match.   

Ölbeat 029: Kotipanimo Hirvi Otso 2.0 / Homebrew

Brewery: Kotipanimo Hirvi - Homebrew
Country: Finland
Style: Stout
Abv: 5,2 %
Won't find this @RateBeer.

It was Teddy 2.0, not 2.0 Teddies...

Kotipanimo Hirvi is the name of a homebrewery of one young dude in Helsinki, Finland. The dude has his beer review and homebrewing blog, Nuorukaisen vaahtosukelluksia (Foam Dives of a Young Man), in Finnish. His own review of Otso 2.0 tells us, that the stout is spiced with lactose, vanilla and cocoa. We should expect a beer with coffee, dark chocolate and roasty aroma and flavour. Let us wait no longer - time for tasting.

What about the beer?
Colour is black with half-finger thick beige head. Aroma has roasted malts on top, black coffee and dark chocolate on the side. Taste begins with roasted, slightly burnt malts and a tiny hop bite. Journey continues with black coffee, dark chocolate and malty flavor. Palate adds some medium-sweet bitterness. Aftertaste offers mild coffee with malty hints and lasts nicely long.

Mouthfeel is nicely silky and round all the way. One could probably ask more edge, but then again there are no overpowering factors present. The start is powerful enough, maybe a late hop (Saaz or Sladek?) or a crazy amount of vanilla could have made the beer strong all the way. Anyway, Kotipanimo Hirvi is on its way from good to great. Cheers until the next time!

Ölbeat

The brew had a nice dark mellow mood. I decided to find a Finnish song that has somewhat shady and heavy - ended up with this:

Sara: Vielä muodostan varjoni (YouTube)

From the 2006 album He kutsuivat luokseen, the song's composition was credited for the whole band and the lyrics wer written by singer-guitarist Joa Korhonen. The music in the song relies on the combination of Korhonen's soft and clear tenor vocals and piano-guitar -based rock. There's a short synthesizer solo in the middle of the song. The song's name translates to "I still form my shadow": the lyrics don't form a coherent story but they might have something to do with need to change and dependance to other people in doing that. There's some uncertainty in the bridge: "Kuinka paljon kestän vielä? / Onnistunko kerran vielä?" ("How much more can I last? / Can I succeed once more?"). The song's mood is shady as it was with Otso brew, too.

Brewer's Choice

The brewer himself thought of big band music from the 30's or the 40's - round and mellow but still energetic. His ultimate choice was this fine classic.

Glenn Miller: Perfidia (YouTube)

Recorded by Glenn Miller Orchestra in 1941, the song was originally written in Spanish by Mexican composer Alberto Dominguez. The English lyrics were written by Milton Leeds. Vocals were sung by 16-year old Dorothy Claire and vocal group The Modernaires. The English lyrics are addressed to a woman called Perfidia (translates from Spanish to 'perfidy' i.e. 'betrayal' or 'treachery'), whom the narrator has loved before finding out her being unfaithful. The orchestration shows Miller and his band in its best with heavy brass in the start and the clarinets following. Smooth and swingy, like the brew.

Ölbeat 028: Top Fuel Hoplite Pale Ale

Brewery: Top Fuel Beer Company
Country: Finland
Style: American Pale Ale
Abv: 4,7 %
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Bottled power of Ancient Greek infantry?

Top Fuel Brewing Ccmpany has been introduced in a previous post about their Hippie Juice IPA (Ölbeat 003). Hoplite Pale Ale was actually the first beer I tasted from them. Since I didn't remember anything about the taste - just a hazy recollection that I liked it - I picked, opened and tasted it again.

What about the beer?
Colour is cloudy orange with an overwhelming white slowly lowering head. Aroma gives mild citrus and fruit. Taste starts with moderately bitter hops, joined soon with heavy grapefruit flavour and a malty backbone. Palate adds hoppy piny notes and the aftertaste has a dose of dry grapefruit.

This tasted very American, we are pretty close to West Coast Session IPA. Some harshness in the taste, but that gives the brew its edge. My memory was right: this one was and is good.

Ölbeat

There's something fresh but also something very classic in this beer. So, we'll turn towards this classic piece of rock:

Free: Wishing Well (YouTube)

From the 1973 album Heartbreaker, the song was probably solely written by singer Paul Rodgers, even though it's credited for the whole band. The album was to be the band's last before breakup. Guitarist Paul Kossoff was replaced during the album recording and is uncredited in this song, even though it is heavily labelled by his recognisable bluesy rock jamming and riffing. Rodgers has denied the lyrics to be a message to Kossoff, who was suffering from drug addiction at the time. They have also been interpreted to be a message to an unnamed friend who isn't happy about his present life but doesn't dare to chase his dreams. Being satisfied only "with feet in the wishing well" would be a genius metaphor for that state: ready to reach for the goal but only in one's dreams. Hoplite Pale Ale just asked for a classic rock tune, and this one hit my head. Sorry, guys at Top Fuel - your brews seem to make me choose only 60's to 70's songs.