So I've seen this beer for the last couple months at my local bottle shop and finally decided to give it a try since I can't get anything else from Chicago brewery Goose Island.

It's a blend of Belgian ales...80% straight clean Belgian blond and 20% of the same beer that has been aged in wine barrels with orange peel (a Belgian technique).

This is a very interesting beer. You could pass this stuff of as champagne if necessary.
Very light, straw color, highly carbonated and spritzy (probably 3.5-4 volumes).
Very little malt in the nose, some zinfandel and citrus notes.

They recommend drinking it from a wine glass, which I have done.
When poured it acts almost exactly like champagne. Tall pure white head which takes a couple minutes to subside.

It weighs in at 6.5% ABV and according to the brewery it can be cellared for up to 5 years.

I like this beer overall, but it's a bit of a novelty. I'd love to get my hands on some more samples from Goose Island because they definitely know what they're doing.

Sorry Miller, you can no longer call yourself "The Champagne of Beers".

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Hold my beer and watch this...

How does it compare to the unibroue offerings? From your desciption it sounds maybe like Fin du Monde or Blanche de Chambly.

I'd compare it to Blanche de Chambly, but it's more one dimensional.
The unibroue is a witbier and brewed to have those spice and citrus notes more pronounced. Their carbonation is about the same but Sofie keeps its head longer.

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Hold my beer and watch this...

Man, they do some crazy shit with beer.

Ham

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Do you believe yet?

So if I were to seek some of this out for special occasions, complete with champagne flutes, it'd be perfectly appropriate? Oh hell yes.

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mechaphil

if you can find it, you have to buy a case of the 312. one of the best wheat ales i've ever had.

I'm the farthest thing from a beer guru, so maybe one of you guys can help me here. My first beer taste way different than my 5th, and hardly has any taste appeal left to me(cuz I'm just gettin my drunk on by now). Do some beers(or all) taste better as you acclimate to them(say maybe the 2nd or 3rd bottle tastes better/best)?? I never got to tasting beers for that reason. The first one is never yum to me, but the 2nd is, and even moreso the 3rd is like YUMMMM.

What's most likely
1. your taste buds/palate going numb from the alcohol
2. the beer warming up and is perceptively more flavorful (read malty)

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Hold my beer and watch this...

hey cross:

http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/07/21/pab ... -in-china/

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Awesome. Usually, you can get PBR in Portland for $2 or under at most bars, even $1 in some places. But I did once pay $6 for a PBR in NYC, I felt like asking the bartender where the other 11 cans that come with it were.

I still haven't ever had a PBR.

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mechaphil

its not bad. i mean, its better then coors light or a miller lite for sure. its not my beer of absolute choice, but yeah, ill drink it down, no problem.

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I'd say this is pretty accurate. If you overdo it, I've found PBR to give some pretty nasty hangovers.

and very.. um.. heinous beer shits.

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Why thank you, I'm a bit of a beer snob myself!

Have you ever tried Bell's "Oberon"? It's an American wheat ale, and it's fucking GREAT! Don't ruin it with fruit, and try it DRAFT first. Bottled is good, mini-keg is better, out of the tap at the pub is the best. Every pour tastes different and it is only around during the summer months. If you drink it in the winter it's been sitting for too long.

I recently tried Landshark..whilst looking for a Corona alternative...not very good, stay clear of it.

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"I love that you know how to do that." Cheryl/Carol/Crystal

"And I love that I have an erection that doesn't involve homeless people." Kreiger

dude! no! oberon is so shitty this year! the 2009 oberon was yummy, but this years sucks!

every year in kalamazoo, oberon day was a holiday. seriously. it was always the third monday of march, and classes would be canceled, because, seriously, kegs of oberon would fly off the shelves, and it was time to bust out the cornhole boards and ladder golf sets. it was quite the event, and i miss it. but oberon is overrated, but yeah, its alot better then most beers. but for a wheat beer?

ps: i polished off a mini keg by myself a few years ago. seriously, how i didnt die, i have no idea. didnt black out either, but holy shit was i drunk. and holy shit was i hung over.

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im about 3/4 through a mini keg as i type this. 2mrw i gotta be at wotk at 8 to get certified for bucket truck rescue. which means i gotta repell 30 feet off of a fully extended bucket turck SWAT style with a brace on my ankle that has torn ligaments AND a f'd up oberon hangover. but, thats not entirly true, oberon has yet to give me a hangover.

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"I love that you know how to do that." Cheryl/Carol/Crystal

"And I love that I have an erection that doesn't involve homeless people." Kreiger