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Beer Man Blog (11 items)

April 23, 2007
5:02
We've relocated
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The Beer Man blog can now be found here. Please check it out and bookmark it, as future reviews and brews news will be found there. This site will remain, but it will no longer be updated.
April 18, 2007
12:31
Old taste taints Mahr's Brau Bock
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Bamberger Mahr’s Brau Bock Bier
Brauerei Mahr, Bamberg, Germany
www.mahrs-braeu.de

Mahr’s Brau Bock Bier falls into the class of what can be found under the names of blonde, helles or maibock beers that are golden, not amber, colored. These lager beers tend to be a bit sweeter and maltier than their darker cousins.

The golden, slightly hazy pour produced strong malt, grain and faint hop aromas along with a white head that disappeared rather quickly. It was medium carbonated, leaving a nice, thick mouthfeel that was not cloying at all.

The flavor was a pleasant caramel-vanilla maltiness, with faint herbal, not citrusy, hops and little bitterness. The 6-percent alcohol content was noticeable, but not overpowering.

But there was a faint hint of “old” in this sample – not quite musty, but enough to give me the impression that this beer had either been sitting on the shelf for a while or had not traveled well, i.e., been exposed to temperature extremes during shipping and warehouse storage.

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April 11, 2007
12:44
A fine Ridge Line
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Ridge Line Amber Ale
Great Divide Brewing Co., Denver
www.greatdivide.com

This is the first time I’ve ever had a Great Divide beer and based on Ridge Line, I’m eager to try more.

Ridge Line is one of those beers that I really do not come across very often — a well-balanced beer where all the ingredients complement, instead of fight, each other.

I would characterize it as mild yet it has a full body, nice mouthfeel, noticeable hop flavor and aroma and a strong, but not overpowering, malt profile.

It poured with a nice thick off-white head that settled to about a half-inch for most of the sampling. Floral hops were the first item I noticed in the aroma, followed by nice caramel malt notes.

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March 28, 2007
11:50
Don't overlook Keo
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KEO PILSNER
Keo Brewery, Cyprus
www.keogroup.com

Here’s another of the world’s beers that few have ever heard of outside of its region, but is worth checking out.

Keo, made in Cyprus, is described as a pilsner and is golden in color and uses bottom-fermenting yeast, like all lagers. It differs greatly from the typical pilsners, however, in that it has much less hop bitterness and hop flavor than is typically found in the style. This allows the malt flavor to really stand out.

The malt flavor is slightly buttery, but didn’t give off a popcorn flavor like some lagers I’ve had. A regular string of fine bubbles kept rising from the bottom and a bright white head stayed for most of the pour. It has a nice grain flavor in the background and the maltiness is not heavy, so the beer still remains a light, easily drinkable beer.

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March 21, 2007
12:40
A porter you'll be proud to drink
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Fuller’s London Pride Porter
Fuller’s, England
www.fullers.co.uk

It seems appropriate, in the aftermath of St. Patrick’s Day, to consider the poor cousin of stout – porter ale.

It wasn’t always that way. Porter used to be the beer of choice in merry old London and colonial America, with the term stout referring to strong ales. Through the years, especially with the advent of Guinness, stout became its own style and porter was relegated to the background. It’s still a beer style worth seeking out, however.

Porter is a maltier, less dry beer than traditional stout, while retaining a similar color and roasted grain flavor. A porter usually has a stronger chocolate background compared to the predominant bitter coffee taste of dry stout.

Fuller’s London Pride Porter (5.4-percent alcohol) is marked by a strong caramel malt flavor with a heavy, but not cloying, mouthfeel. The coffee notes are still there, but not as much as a stout. The body is medium carbonated and is smooth going down. It also has nice tangy aftertaste.

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March 07, 2007
11:53
A real Irish red
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Goose Island Kilgubbin Irish Red Ale
Goose Island Beer Company, Chicago
www.gooseisland.com

It’s once again that time of year when Irish beers receive more prominence on the shelves and taps of America leading up to St. Patrick’s Day.

While Guinness and other stouts usually get most of the attention, the Irish red ale style also gets its due. It’s an appropriate alternative for those who don’t care for stout.

Irish red ales get their color from roasted barley and chocolate malt and are known for having a dry finish. It’s a rather vague style when you read the official definition of it – it is usually not too bitter or hoppy compared to English ales, but can be. It can be red, but in fact is usually more amber or brown.

Goose Island produces Kilgubbin Irish Red Ale, which appears more amber, but under the right light, does show off some red tones. It is only slightly bitter and has a pleasant hop flavor, but not too much. The dry finish is helped along with the addition of some rye malt. It is one of the better Irish ale styles I’ve had.

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February 28, 2007
12:20
A tasty work of art
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LAKE LOUIE MILK STOUT
Lake Louie Brewing, Arena
www.lakelouie.com

There’s a new brewery in Wisconsin that has taken the Madison area by storm.

Lake Louie is named for the pond in owner Tom Porter’s rural backyard. Like most Madison residents, he does commute to work – about 100 feet from his house to the brewhouse cabin where he makes about 1,686 barrels a year – only enough to service the regional area.

A worker at Steve’s Liquor in Middleton, a Madison suburb, told me during a December visit that Lake Louie has become the store’s most-requested local beer, even more than the wildly successful New Glarus Brewery products.

The milk stout is an impressive work of art. I can imagine with envy all the test batches Porter tried, eliminating some hops here, increasing some maltiness there, and fine-tuning the lactose sugar flavor for that perfect cream flavor.

This is the best milk stout I’ve had since Dragon’s Milk early last year from Michigan’s New Holland Brewing Co. I would have to compare the two side by side to determine a winner, but my initial impression is that Lake Louie’s version has slightly less body, but not in a bad way. It is very smooth and goes down easy.

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February 21, 2007
10:49
Better than liquid bread
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Spaten Optimator
Spaten-Franziskaner-Brau, Munich, Germany
www.spatenusa.com

It’s reassuring to know that in this crazy world of corporate drudge work, NASCAR cheating, political scandals, lowest-common-denominator entertainment and misleading advertising, you know you can still get a good German dopplebock 12 months out of the year.

Spaten Optimator is one of my favorites. Malty and bold at 7.2 percent alcohol, it still maintains a smoothness that makes it easy to drink – almost too easy. One story goes that dopplebock was made to give monks more sustenance during the Lent season, a form of “liquid bread.” I like to think that the monks just used Lent as an excuse to make a stronger beer than they normally would.

I used to prefer Salvator dopplebock, but a recent visit to my local watering hole, Van Dyke’s tavern in Scandinavia, gave me an opportunity to compare the two side by side. While Salvator seemed a bit richer in body, it also had a noticeably strong alcohol aftertaste that caused me to give the nod to Spaten.

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February 14, 2007
12:18
Take the chill out of the air
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ODELL IMPERIAL STOUT
Odell Brewing Co., Fort Collins, Colo.
www.odellbrewing.com

Mexico, N.Y., is reporting 11 feet of snow received in the week prior to this being written. The Upper Midwest has been dealing with wind chills as low as 40 below zero and crops in California were ruined by abnormal cold.

So what does the Beer Man do to take his mind off inclement weather? Pop open an Imperial Stout, this time courtesy of Odell Brewing in Colorado.

The English were exporting strong stouts and porters to Russia as early as the 1790s, with Thrale’s Anchor Brewery in Southwark doing a good business supplying Russian Empress Catherine the Great with the beer.

It needed extra alcohol and hops in order to last the long journey, and the strong alcohol also kept it from freezing through the Baltic regions. Most Imperial Stouts average around 9 or 10 percent alcohol and store very well. Favorites I’ve had in the past are Samuel Smith and Harveys from England, and Rasputin, from North Coast Brewing Co. in California.

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12:16
Not such a LongShot
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Samuel Adams LongShot variety pack
Boston Beer Co., Boston
www.samueladams.com

I recently took part in an on-the-air beer tasting at independent radio station WUSP-FM 105.5, which serves the central Wisconsin area. Its slogan is, “Free the music.” “Free the beer” was the hook for the tasting event.

The format was well-planned, with tasting comments from a brew crew of 12, mostly homebrewers, alternating between pre-recorded interviews with Jim Koch of Boston Beer Co. (Samuel Adams), Dan Carey of New Glarus Brewing and other tidbits. It wasn’t a boisterous collage of shouted comments and slurping sounds – three tasters were asked their thoughts on a beer, three more for the next one, etc.

Three of the beers were of special note: Samuel Adams held a homebrew contest last year and is releasing a six-pack sampler called LongShot that features beers made by two general public homebrew contestants and one beer by a Samuel Adams employee homebrew contest winner. They even get their images on the front of the bottle.

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February 01, 2007
4:52
Go for Ivanhoe
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Ivanhoe Pale Ale
Ridgeway Brewing, South Stoke, Oxfordshire, England

I was able to indulge myself with a small selection of English ales recently and was pleased with nearly all of them.

Ivanhoe is made by the same brewery that makes Bad Elf and Lump of Coal, which have been mentioned in past Beer Man columns (which can be accessed at www.postcrescent.com/beerman). They are good beers and Ivanhoe is just as good, although in the English pale ale style.

The malt flavor is balanced nicely with the English hops, and the fruitiness of the ale yeast is noticeable underneath them. The beer is bottle-conditioned, meaning a small bit of yeast is still active in the bottle, so the brew will not be crystal clear. The tradeoff is that you get a fresher-tasting, nicely carbonated beer.

The full-bodied, 5.2-percent ale has a slightly bitter aftertaste, but a pleasant one — not harsh at all. Caramel and biscuit malt are prominent in the aroma and the taste is malty and bready.

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