Monday, October 19, 2009

Bier de Pharoa!


I was in Bethlehem PA recently for a business trip and ended up staying at Historic Hotel Bethlehem. (Aparrantly it is haunted. We did have some weird things happen, but thats another story!) Wouldn't you know it, there was a brewery right down the street. Bethlehem Brew works was the name. I decided to try some of their seasonal faire and they had a Meade called Bier de Pharoa. Here is their description of their tribute to the ancient kings of old.


"Biere De Pharaoh has an amazing 13.8% A.B.V.!The strongest beer ever at the Brew Works. Biere de Pharaoh is only available at the Bethlehem Brew Works. Brewed with 660 lbs. of locally produced orange blossom honey in homage to the ancient Egyptians, who were the first brewers. Reaching out across time to give us a beer that is sweet and thick with a deep honey color."



When I first got it, I was thinking "wow... thats not a lot of beer, and this thing cost me almost 10 bucks!" What I was not prepared for was the sucker punch to the throat that it will give you. When you first taste it, you get a really sweet orangy taste due to the orange blossom honey. It is almost a bit overpowering. The aftertaste it leaves is that of straight honey, but you can tell its the orange blossom honey because its has a little citris aura about it. One of these little gems will pretty much get your buzz going especially if you have not had anything to eat. The only downside is, it is so sweet that if you are planning on having dinner you need to choose your food wisely to compliment the brew. I had ordered a burger and once i had the burger the tastes were so offsetting that it made the meade unenjoyable. Definatly would have been worth it though with like a salmon over rice pilaf. something light like that.

4 comments:

  1. Aw, man. You didn't have to remove the comment from my post. Now I can't make the smart remark right back at ya about how "as we all know...mead is NOT beer" :-) Oh well. Glad you enjoyed your trip all the same!

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  2. That mead sounds awesome, I honestly cannot remember the last mead I have had and plan on making one here soon. You make a good point regarding the pairing of beverages and food, maybe an idea for a future thread? Nonetheless, it is hard to find mead bottled and any chance to grab it up fresh is a definite event to be noted.

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  3. Sounds like good stuff. Kinda makes you wonder how similar this particular mead was to the stuff the Pharaohs drank. I don't usually drink mead but it's cool to think that you are enjoying an ancient elixir of kings. Giving you a kindred feeling of nobility. And with a 13.8% ABV you get a couple other of warm fuzzy feelings. Oh and by the way mead although mead is closer to a wine it is very similar to beer in the brewing process. oh well, semantics...

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  4. yeah i thought it might be mean, and i was happy letting you live in your ignorance!! we all know jack daniels is not bourbon!!

    I am just bustin yer balls!! thanks for commenting. you guys have some declicous looking refreshments going!

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