WILK Friday Beerbuzz – 28 May 2010 (Ommegang Three Philosophers)

Hello and welcome to week 4 of the Friday Beerbuzz on WILK.  Before I get too far in this post I wanted to quickly thank our readers and listeners.  We received a lot of great comments and suggestions after the show and we are reading them all…so keep it up.  We want to know what beers you liked and what you think of the show…and of course what beers we should be tasting in the future.

This week we’re kicking off the Memorial Day weekend, and since it’s a big weekend, I chose a big beer.  The beers of Brewery Ommegang have always been some of my favorites, and I’ll admit that this one is perhaps my favorite Ommegang beer.  Three Philosophers is a wonderful bottle-conditioned beer blend that I love drinking.  How can you not love a fine belgian-style Quadruple blended with an authentic Lindemans Kreik lambic?  This beer has flavors of chocolate, vanilla, dark fruits and a very tasty and malty backbone that I think really works well. 
So what about the name?  Well I’ve heard all sorts of details, but I’ll go with what Phil Leinhart (brewmaster at Ommegang) and Larry Bennet (Ministry of Propaganda at Ommegang) tell me.  The beer was created as a result of a ratebeer dream beer competition and Ommegang was selected to brew the beer.  As Larry tells me, “The beer is named after a William Blake play titled Island in the Moon where three philosophers, a Cynic, and Epicurian and a Pythagorean debate the meaning of life. 

The cynic questions why we must do anything, the epicurean delights in the beauty and loveliness of all things, and the Pythagorean is the rational philosopher working how to make things actually happen. I think you can easily fill in the connections between their points-of-view and the beer.”

After some “thoughtful debate and pontification” by the brewing team, Three Philosophers was born.  And for those wondering, the three silhouettes on the bottle are Randy Theil (creator of 3P), Michael Moortgat (CEO of Duvel) and Phil Leinhart (brewmaster @ Ommegang).

Today’s show was a ton of fun and since you always ask, I can tell you everyone really enjoyed Three Philosophers.  This is not a beer to drink quickly, but a beer to savor and enjoy as you toast your friends, family and the beginning of summer.  This is also a beer that cellars well, and it’s readily available in Northeastern, PA so be sure to check it out.

So what beer should we taste next Friday…only time and your input will tell, so please do make suggestions.  Once again another fun Friday morning on the WILK Friday Beerbuzz.  Thanks to John, Nancy, Joe & Bosco for yet another fun Friday.  Bringing good beers and good people together.

As always you can check out the video on-line at the WILK Friday Beerbuzz page by clicking HERE.