I’ll just fess up right from the get go. I like really good beer. I refuse to drink anything with the word “light” or “lite” on the label. Okay, so I’m a beer snob, sue me.
Mr. Brown, husband man, has this desire lately to stock our entire top shelf in the fridge full of beer. Guess he feels the stress of work the past few weeks is enough of excuse to buy lots of beer. And none of it has been what we consider drinkable cheap beer – Yuengling. That’s good stuff, but not what this post is about.
This post is about if you can muster from the title, good beer from far across the pond, particularly Germany and Belgium.
We recently had a date night to Restaurant Linderhof in Farragut. Linderhof is the only German restaurant within 40 miles and it will send you off into another world. Literally, you hit the door and think you’ve landed inside a restaurant in Germany. The decor is very old world Germany and the food is outstanding. If you live in Knoxville and you’ve never been, well you’re not doing yourself any favors. How can you live so close to such a cultural culinary experience and just pass it up? Go, go now. Why are you still sitting in front of your computer reading this? Okay, well finish reading, then GO!
So the hubs had to try the German beer they had on tap, of course. The first beer was Hacker-Pschorr (pronounced Shore) Oktoberfest. It was one of the best beers either of us have ever tasted. We never thought we’d find it outside of Linderhof in Knoxville in a million years. Guess what? Thanks to another local endeavor, Bearden Beer Market, we found it! This beer is very smooth with the right amount of acidity to produce that slight bite towards the end. The caramelized barley used to produce this beer gives it a hint of sweetness.
Husband also found a Belgium beer for me to try: Hoegaarden’s original belgian wheat. The bottle provides explicit direction on how to pour this drink. You must first rinse your glass, then freeze it. Hold your glass at a 45 degree angle and pour your beer slowly to create as little head as possible until you reach the last third of the beer. Stop. Swirl. Pour directly into your glass to create soft, white creamy head about a 1/2 inch tall.
See…
The Hoegaarden has flavors of orange peel and finishes with a hint of coriander. It’s taste is incredibly smooth, light and refreshing. I’d say this belgian wheat could take down Blue Moon in a boxing match any day of the week. Yep.
Matt FINALLY found a beer that didn’t make me want to immediately spew it right back out.. and I forgot the name of it. We NEED to try that restaurant out sometime!
As a fellow beer snob, I really appreciate this post. Can’t wait to try some of the rarities available at Bearden Beer Market… in February, that is. Sigh. We’ll definitely have to check out the Restaurant Linderhof sometime.