Before I get into my 24th Saturday Suds, I wanted to point out two things. First, this is my 3-year anniversary on WordPress! Now I didn’t start regularly posting until July or August, 2010, but my first post was 3 years ago today! Kind of amazing to think I’ve been doing this for that long. I lived in Columbus then, and have since moved to New Jersey and now Chicago, and my wife and I had a kid. And I’ve been blogging about baseball cards during that time, which has been pretty fun!
Second, there is legitimate baseball to watch, starting yesterday! I forgot it was coming up, but the World Baseball Classic started last night. The first game was Australia vs. Taiwan, and you had a pretty notable name throwing the first pitch: Chien-Ming Wang. He got the win, and I’m going to watch as much of this as possible – I’ve got my DVR going non-stop this weekend. I’m surprised there hasn’t been more from Topps on this, either a special card set or inserts in series 1.
OK, back to my post for Saturday Suds. I’m doing one of these every other week in the offseason, and most of them are from the Ommegang Brewery. My next the Ommegang beer is similar to the last one I did, which was their Abbey Ale (a Dubbel). This one is Three Philosophers – a Quadrupel.
Brewery: Ommegang Brewery, Cooperstown, NY
(Now owned by the Duvel Belgian Brewery, though still operated out of Cooperstown)
Beer: Ommegang Three Philosopher’s
Description: From the label:
“Created by blending a rich, malty Belgian-style ale with authentic Kriek, a classic cherry ale from Belgium, our Quadrupel is cultured yet wild, curious yet wise.”
It has a quote from Plato – “And remember philosophy begins in wonder”
Like the Abbey Ale, this is a beer you think of when you think of a Belgian ale. It’s even stronger than the Abbey Ale – it’s 9.8% alcohol! Again, I was feeling pretty good after I drank this beer! It’s got an amber and reddish color, and has a little bit of a taste of the cherry it mentions above.
Medium: A large bottle (1 pint, 9.4 oz). The bottle comes with a cork. These were sold in the beer/liquor store close to me in New Jersey, and I’ve also seen them in smaller (12 oz, I think) bottles in Chicago. Along with 4 other beers, I transported this guy from NJ to Illinois along with a couple of other Ommegang beers, and drank it last Fall.
How it’s related to baseball: The beer itself isn’t really related at all. The Ommegang Brewery is a Belgian-style brewery that has been around for 25 years. But the bottom line? It’s in Cooperstown – home of the baseball Hall of Fame. I recently went to Cooperstown with my dad, and we didn’t stop here, but I’d had a couple of these beers when I went to Cooperstown for Rickey Henderson’s induction. The brewing tradition in Cooperstown actually goes back much further than the baseball tradition does, and these have been my Saturday Suds posts over the Winter. I’ve only got one more Ommegang to post about, unless I find one of the rarer beers they have!
One of my buddies is a brewer and tour guide there now. We both went to school at nearby Oneonta State. I enjoy most of their offerings, especially Abbey Ale.
Yeah, I agree – almost everything they make is pretty good. The Bier de Mars I tried, which was a novelty brew they did, was my favorite and may have been one of my wife’s favorite beers ever. Wish I could find some!