{"id":4895,"date":"2012-07-24T01:12:38","date_gmt":"2012-07-23T13:12:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/?p=4895"},"modified":"2012-07-24T01:15:16","modified_gmt":"2012-07-23T13:15:16","slug":"rigor-mortis-skurrts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2012\/07\/24\/rigor-mortis-skurrts\/","title":{"rendered":"Dieu du Ciel! ‘Rigor Mortis’ Abt and Invercargill ‘Men’n Skurrts’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dieu<\/a>
Dieu du Ciel! 'Rigor Mortis' Abt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Back when I was less<\/em>\u00a0behind in my posting of Diary<\/em>\u00a0entries \u2014 before I reached a full-calendar-year transcendental state of lateness \u2014 there were frequent strange moments of sitting in the sun writing about a moody winter beer, or vice versa.1<\/sup>\u00a0But not right now. Here I sit, drinking a rather-charming Fuller’s Double Stout on a drizzly, cold evening and looking back over notes from somewhen similar and two differently-seasonal beers enjoyed in succession.<\/p>\n

In combination with the weather, the fact it was my Canadian friend Jillian\u2019<\/a>s birthday prompted me to grab a Quebecker beer from the Hashigo fridge that I’d been eyeing up for a while \u2014 especially after a positive experience with one of its stablemates<\/a>.2<\/sup>\u00a0I didn’t know it at the time, but there are evidently a whole slew of Rigor Mortises \u2014 or Rigor Mortii<\/em>, or Rigors<\/em> Mortis, or however-the-fuck that should take the plural \u2014 but this one, the “Abt” \/ Quadrupel seems to be the most common. It’s wintery and huge, and I can’t tell if it’s an Adorable Snowman<\/a> dressed as the Abominable kind, or the other way around. It doesn’t feel<\/em>\u00a0like it’s 10.5%; there’s no hot or fumey booze to it, it’s just all deliciously decadent warm, dark, fruity gorgeousness. But maybe that’s just its game; to entice you to drink pint after pint (or oddly-volumed bottle after oddly-volumed bottle)3<\/sup> until it justifies its ominous name<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Invercargill<\/a>
Invercargill 'Men'n Skurrts'<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And then<\/em>, something that looked vaguely similar in the glass, but which has a rather different character, a strikingly different history, and its origins in one of the most different<\/em>\u00a0things to come along in a good while.\u00a0At the time \u2014 i.e., today<\/em>, last year \u2014 the story of ‘Men’n Skurrts’ was one of those weird middle-ground “open secrets” that you get in a close-knit minority-sector community like that which surrounds craft beer: Yeastie Boys’ ‘Rex Attitude’<\/a>, brewed \u2014 like all their beers \u2014 at Invercargill Brewery, had so tainted the system with its gloriously \/ glaringly smoky flavour that it peatified4<\/sup> the next brew through the pipes, namely Pink Elephant’s ‘Mammoth’.5<\/sup>\u00a0It frustrated me that everyone involved wasn’t just more open about it; there’s no shame in the “mistake”, it hardly being a mistake at all<\/em>, and literally no point in opening the valves and dumping a few-thousand litres of perfectly-delicious beer down the municipal pipes. So it wasn’t what it originally set out to be \u2014 very many good things aren’t.6<\/sup>\u00a0In the intervening year, everyone’s been getting better at this, at just owning up to these random mutations and embracing them honestly. But there’s still a long way to go. I’m firmly of the belief that more information is more good, and that \u2014 done properly \u2014 letting consumers in on these things will only help increase their engagement and grow the community.<\/p>\n

Anyway.7<\/sup> The World is richer for having ‘Men’n Skurrts’ in it, however the beer was begat. It’s got a wonderfully relaxing kind of subtle, rewarding complexity to it; big warming malt flavours (without too much<\/em>\u00a0strength) and a winning hint of soft smoke. If you were sitting in your big, comfy chair, reading an enthralling book and slowly drinking this<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 it’d make up for the fact that your cold-but-charming house doesn’t have a fireplace.<\/p>\n

Original Diary entries:<\/strong>\u00a0Dieu du Ciel! ‘Rigor Mortis’ 24\/7\/11 \u2014 Happy Birthday Jillian! \u2014 $11ish from HZ 341ml (crazy Quebeckers) 10.5% which it doesn’t taste like. It’s a softer, less-tart Trois Pistoles<\/a>. Similarly hugely, only warmingly boozy; not fumey or instantly hot. Although actually succumbing to the temptation to have pints might be fatal, and justify the scary name. Pleasantly a little sweet.<\/p>\n

Invercargill ‘Men’n Skurrts’ 24\/7\/11 $8-ish 330ml from HZ Apparently, you know, rumor has it, this is a Rex Attitude side-effect. We’re told that the next beer was still so heavily peatified, it became this instead. And it’s really good fun. You can taste a cold-smokey sideline, but nevermind the story, it’s a worthy thing.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Invercargill<\/a>
Invercargill 'Men'n Skurrts', bottlecap<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"Diary<\/a>
Diary II entry #125, Dieu du Ciel! 'Rigor Mortis'<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"Diary<\/a>
Diary II entry #126, Invercargill 'Men'n Skurrts'<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n

1:<\/strong> Admittedly, I wasn’t necessarily a whole season out of synch; Wellington’s famously idiosyncratic weather played a large role.<\/span>
\n2:<\/strong> And, just because I’m like that, I can’t help but notice that I’ve here<\/em> referred back to a beer a had immediately after 8 Wired’s ‘Tall Poppy’ \u2014 to which I harked back in the blog post before this one. If you keep detailed enough notes, and have Just One Of Those Brains, nice little coincidences are\u00a0everywhere<\/em>.<\/span>
\n3:<\/strong> 341ml? Really? Three hundred and forty-one<\/em>? It doesn’t even translate to a sensible amount of ounces; it’s eleven and a half<\/em>. (Although, admittedly, I’d be angrier if they wrote “11.5 floz” on the label. Something about decimal points in non-metric measurements gives me spasms.)<\/span>
\n4:<\/strong> Now that I actually type that word out \u2014 rather than just hear it in my own brain \u2014 it occurs to me that you could pronounce it to rhyme with “beatified”, which would fit nicely with the reverential attitude some people have to those wonderfully sharp phenols.<\/span>
\n5:<\/strong> Which, coincidentally, Alice Galletly wrote about recently<\/a>. Another pleasant coincidence.a<\/sup><\/span>
\n\u2014 a:<\/strong> See above, n1.<\/span>
\n6:<\/strong> Possibly my favourite example: Dr. Strangelove<\/a><\/em> was written as a thriller, not a dark, satirical farce.<\/span>
\n7:<\/strong> If you did<\/em> want more, I recommend the write-up on the subject<\/a> by my friend and former Malthouse colleague, Jono Galuszka \u2014 which he wrote the same nightb<\/sup> I speculated (incorrectly, it turns out) that Moo Brew’s lovely new ‘Belgo’<\/a> might be another Happy Accident.<\/span>
\n\u2014 b:<\/strong> And another. See above, n1 and n5.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back when I was less\u00a0behind in my posting of Diary\u00a0entries \u2014 before I reached a full-calendar-year transcendental state of lateness \u2014 there were frequent strange moments of sitting in the sun writing about a moody winter beer, or vice versa.1\u00a0But not right now. Here I sit, drinking a rather-charming Fuller’s Double Stout on a drizzly, … Continue reading Dieu du Ciel! ‘Rigor Mortis’ Abt and Invercargill ‘Men’n Skurrts’<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[27,26,6,33,14,44],"class_list":["post-4895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diary","tag-ale","tag-belgian","tag-pages","tag-canada","tag-nz","tag-2011-07"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":285,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2007\/09\/12\/het-kapittel-watou-abt-tripel\/","url_meta":{"origin":4895,"position":0},"title":"Het Kapittel Watou Abt \/ Tripel","author":"Phil","date":"September 12, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Verbatim: Kapittel Watou Tripel. 330ml, $6 or so, 10%, 12\/9\/07. Random find at Rumbles. Funny cartoon monks on the front. Bottle conditioned, nice bubbles to show it. Amber, but smells and tastes darker. Nice low fruitiness. Afterthoughts, October 2010: Correctly listing \/ categorising these things sometimes gets quite tricky, when\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Het Kapittel Watou Abt","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Diary-1038-Kapittel-Watou-Tripel-300x177.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":927,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2010\/10\/13\/dieu-du-ciel-peche-mortel\/","url_meta":{"origin":4895,"position":1},"title":"Dieu du Ciel! ‘P\u00e9ch\u00e9 Mortel’","author":"Phil","date":"October 13, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"First, it must be said that a brewery which insists on ending their name with an exclamation point deserves a bucket of Awesome Points right out of the gate. Next, I'm delighted to have a second Canadian beer in my book so relatively-soon after my first. I'd enjoyed my Tall\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dieu du Ciel! 'P\u00e9ch\u00e9 Mortel'","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Dieu-du-Ciel-Peche-Mortel-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":381,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2008\/05\/06\/duvel-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":4895,"position":2},"title":"Duvel","author":"Phil","date":"May 6, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Verbatim: Duvel, the gorgeously zesty strong Belgian ale. The name is just \"Devil\" in Flemish, but mostly because it weighs in around 8.5% booze. Afterthoughts, October 2010: A great beer in a pretty-good bar, on a freaking excellent night. And hey; at least I knew it was an ale, by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Duvel","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Duvel-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":249,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2005\/10\/21\/black-sheep-monty-pythons-holy-grail\/","url_meta":{"origin":4895,"position":3},"title":"Black Sheep ‘Monty Python’s Holy Grail’","author":"Phil","date":"October 21, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Verbatim: Monty Python's Holy Grail. 500ml, $5, 4.9%, 21\/10\/05. Reading random astronomy-stuff. From the Black Sheep Brewery, and allegedly official -- also \"tempered over burning witches\". Big English ale, really. Little bit fruity, not overly bitter or blunt. Good stuff. Afterthoughts, October 2010: Definitely official, it turns out. Commissioned for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Monty Python's Holy Grail","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Diary-1030-Monty-Pythons-Holy-Grail-230x300.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":403,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2008\/08\/28\/croucher-pale-ale\/","url_meta":{"origin":4895,"position":4},"title":"Croucher Pale Ale","author":"Phil","date":"August 28, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Verbatim: Croucher Pale Ale, from Rotorua, but with none of that city's usual aromatic downsides. An after-work drink, and a pretty damn good one. It's a little bit Little-Creatures-esque, what with being a pale ale, but not being a thwack in the head with a fistful of hops. 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Afterthoughts, October 2010: The relative terseness of this note seems to suggest I was suffering from a sort of (enjoyable)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Badger 'Original Ale'","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Diary-1028-Badger-Original-Ale-300x110.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4895"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4923,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4895\/revisions\/4923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}