Beer – #692 – Townshend – St Bernard’s Jet
BeerJerkNZ BeerClub beer this week is Townshend St Bernard’s Jet Stong Dark Ale, a Stout. An oblique name that doesn’t seem to have any reference, but I’m sure it means something to someone somewhere. So incidental names, incidental music, incidental numbers and incidents.
“..Hazelnuts and coffee..”
A 500ml bottle with beer of 7.3%ABV making it 2.88 standard drink units and 219 calories a serve size.
Brewed by Townshend Brewery in the style that is of course a Stout and they are in Upper Moutere, New Zealand
Jet- unlike the colour of my hair
A strong dark ale with a fair dose of malted oats for good measure… it’s a beauty.
Veering toward sweetness over bitterness, this is not a beer which will challenge drinkers but one which we enjoy very much.
So, what could possibly go wrong?
At the same time I both like and dislike the label art on this, for an old man with weak eyes it’s a bit of an adventure reading some of the things, and on the other hand they’re really enjoyable.
Rich roast aroma on opening, full burst.
Pour is deep dark coal black, with the brightest fullest head of white that you could imagine, sadly which settles to a light film, but was an amazing thing.
Aroma in the glass is unmistakable coffee sour, which possibly masks all the other things.
Taste, bitter to start, not jangly bitter but bitter enough. And if you wait long enough at the finish and linger you get a note of hazelnuts. Just as I was about to give up.
The hazelnut things just gets stronger, not louder, but once you notice it you notice it.
Not full of body this beer relies on looking good and having that quirky nut thing going on to stand it from the crowd. Of course the nut thing could also be the oats, I’m sure they’re similar.
Then as this warms a lovely sweetness begins to pick up, milky almost, not quite enough to offset that coffee bitterness but surprising.
Left longer it gathers that alcohol burn about it, which is quite astringent and insistent. A beer with quite a short drinking window then where it is at its best. Which I missed it seems.
The pdubyah-o-meter rates this as 7 of its things from the thing. I’ve had a lot of stouts of late, and I’m not sure that I’d remember this one other than it might not be the best one I had. Funny enough I have another stout to drink… what was I thinking.
The double dip review
- Am I enjoying it? I did for a brief moment of time that passed, and then I wasn’t so much.
- Would I have another? I don’t think I’m a big fan.
- Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? I’d struggle to justify this as a share beer, it just doesn’t sit comfortable.
Music for this : ” Jean Michel Jarre ” has a collaboration ” Electronica 1 : The Time Machine ” on the Spotify. Jean Michel Jarre is a French composer, performer, and music producer. He is a pioneer in the electronic, ambient, and new-age genres.
STOUT
Many stouts do not fit the classic “Irish” definition as exemplified by Guinness, either due to their hop or roast rates, or higher gravity (in the case of many American stouts). They are still basic stouts, however, not falling into any of the subclasses.
A life just as ordinary 