Fancy Shmancy

I feel like something fancy tonight. Generally speaking 'fancy' and 'beer' are not two words found in a sentence together; however, Stella Artois is a fancy looking beer that even sounds fancy ( stella ar-twa). About a year ago my restaurant recieved a new selection of beer and stella artois was included, but not many people order it. I decided to give it a try.

Stella Artois was first brewed in 1926 as a Christmas brew with the name because stella is latin for star. While Belgium is mostly known for its table beer ales, Stella Artois is a bottem-fermented pilsner lager, also it means it is fermented at a very low temperature with an ABV of 5%.

I bought a pint bottle of Stella Artois the bottle is very fancy (as seen below). The initial smell is like a bitter distillery smell, acidic and sour. the color is a light, clear, yellow, with very little head. And finally the taste: its smooth, similar to bud light ( no offense). The taste is hoppy and yet a little watered down. The after bite is acidic.

The taste is better than what I thought it would be after smelling it, but it still is not a beer that I enjoy. Perhaps I expected something as extravagant and as impressive as the bottle, but overall it was not a bad beer. I do not think that I would buy this beer again, because I did not enjoy it enough to drink all of the pint, let alone another one.

Here's a review from beeradvocate.com:
SamN ( Fort Collins, Colorado )

C / 3
look: 2.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 2.5 | drink: 3.5
rDev: -3.7%

On tap as a taster from the Crown Pub, from jotted notes.

A- Pale, pale, pale. Clear, a light yellow color, no head whatsoever.

S- Rice and cheap floral hops. Slightly sour smelling.

T- Sweeter fruits, herbal hops. Mild and subdued, slightly adjunct but easy to sip on and easy of flavor, nothing outrageous here.

M- Spritzy. Bubbly. Soda like.

D- Eh, not bad. Pair with food. I'd like this with a creamy alfredo, something rich to contrast with it's light flavors and body.

Serving type: on-tap

Reviewed on: 03-24-2010 00:06:04
I liked this review because of how similar our reviews of the beer were. Also I appreciated the note on food pairings. I usually drink beer by itself, and I've never tried pairing it with food, but the note on pairing this beer with food with rich flavor was highly useful and I'll keep that in my mind for the next beer.


I had a big revelation tonight. Lagers are tolerable and good for when i'm out at an Applebee's. Applebee's doesn't have a large beer selection and after a long, unfruitful day at work it is easy to just order a simple lager, not to mention cheaper; however, I prefer a heartier more flavorful beer such as a stout. Another revelation I've had is that, while I don't love beer, meaning I don't just crave it, I can drink a round of beer without making the 'face'. The face is the scrunched-up, disapproving look that a non-beer drinker displays after taking a sip of beer. If you've never seen one, you should make it a point to see it soon, its hilarious (even if it means drinking a beer in front of a mirror).In other words, I'm making progress.

I wanted something fancy tonight, but I drank beer. Compared to drinking a Bud Light it was fancy but not suit and tie fancy. Beer really is not fancy.

Hectic Life and Pretty Beer.

I'm not dead. I deeply regret my recent disappearance and lack of blogs. Just as the cliche says, life is a rollercoaster, filled with ups and downs, and my life recently experienced a down. As I've mentioned before, I'm a full time student taking 15 credits, not to mention having to drive an hour just to get to school, also I work full time 30-40 hours a week, plus I do sunday school on sunday(of course). Lately, my hectic schedule finally caught up to me. I've never been the best at time management, but getting only 4 hours of sleep a night did not work out so well. The other factor that contributed to my blogging absence is the economy. Ha! No, but really it was the economy indirectly. With the recession, the restaurant business is still going just not as strong, and season finally hit, but because we were so slow, no new people were hired and we were short handed: more hours (yay), less sleep( not yay). So all of that on top of personal issues with family gave me the poor excuse of leaving you dry. Not too mention drinking beer did not rank high on my list of priorities. Oh no, beer wasn't strong enough, I needed liquor. Worry not. I am not destined for AA. I'm slowly pulling through my slump and drinking beer to boot.

A couple weeks ago while out of town, I found a ABC with a pretty awesome beer selection, and because I never got around to trying a true lambic, I decided to give it a try. I bought the raspberry lambic which sat in my fridge for sometime. A few days ago, I finally popped it open. Popped it like a champagne bottle I should say, because while it had a bottle cap, attached to the bottle cap was a cork. Lambics are definitely a distinct type of beer. I looked up lambic on wikipedia. According to wikipedia, Lambic is only brewed in the Pajottenland region of Belgium and in Brussels. It is different from other types of beer because unlike its comrades Lambics are produced by way of spontaneous fermentation. It is exposed to wild yeasts and bacteria, which give it a distinct taste that is dry, cidery and viney. It is generally brewed from 70% barley malt and 30% unmalted wheat. Another interesting fact is that only aged dry hops are used for their antibacterial purposes only. After the start of the fermentation process, lambics are left to mature for anywhere from 1 to 3 years. Just as with other beer types, there are many subtypes of lambics: pure, Gueuze, Mars, Faro, Kriek, and fruit.

I tried the fruit lambic, specifically a raspberry lambic. The bottle was very beautiful (above),but expensive. It was 4 dollars, which is pricey compared to what I usually pay. This beer was actually a good transition back into the beer world, after drinking my fruity liquor drinks. I had no clue what to expect. I knew that I would most likely enjoy the beer since lambics are the least favored among beer enthusiasts. After I took the cork out, I smelled it. It was strong and fruity. The color was a purple hue, with alot of carbonation. The taste was as expected. It was raspberry juice with a tiny kick. My first instinct was, Hey! Where's the alcohol, but it was definitely in there. I would give the beer an A if it were intended for a non-beer drinker, but a D if it were for a beer lover; I'd give it a D instead of an F because I have a deep respect for what

According to Beer Nemesis on Beeradvocate.com

Lindemans Framboise Lambic.

He rated it an A-
Appearance:
Poured from an 11.2 oz. bottle into an oversized wine glass. Getting into the beer necessitates peeling back the red aluminum wrapper, popping the cap and pulling out a miniature cork. Once poured, the body is a deep raspberry rose color with a thin frothy pink head that pools on the seething burgundy surface into bubbling islands and swirling eddies. Bubbles abound; lacing is lacking.

Aroma:
Spritzy tart raspberry and sour green apple boldly blast upwards out of the glass. the nose is strong, fresh, and almost candy-like, but overtime I started to get used to it and appreciate the complexity.

Taste:
The first sip yields a crisp, champagne-like smoothness, delicately cradled and a bubbling effervescence. Tart raspberry flavors pack quite a punch and virtually dominate the scene. Sour apple peel notes also swim around in the mouth. Not much else is going on here, but the fresh fruit is refreshing, spritzy, and fun. It hardly tastes like beer -- almost the mix between a sophisticated fruit juice and champagne.

Mouthfeel & Drinkability:
Champagne-like carbonation is strong and gives the tart fruity notes a good backbone. The finish is slightly thick, quick, and dry. Really very drinkable because the alcohol is almost completely masked by the carbonation. The powerful flavor keeps me interested.

Notes:
A drink like this seems appropriate earlier in the day -- a nice complement to brunch perhaps?

Serving type: bottle

I appreciated his review, probably mostly because I felt the same way. While this lambic was not my choice beer, I did enjoy it for what it was. I'm back to drinking beer. I'm alive and I'm ready to find more beer.