Month: January 2014

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‘Beer Nazi’ Sam Samaniego dies, leaves behind craft beer legacy in San Gabriel

beer-news10SAN GABRIEL>> Locals knew him as the “Beer Nazi,” a la the cantankerous soup chef from the TV show “Seinfeld.”

Affectionately, of course.

Sam Samaniego had no shortage of specialty craft and imported beers at his San Gabriel restaurant The Stuffed Sandwich, but you had to work for it. And it was that playful, cranky character and his intense love and appreciation for the local beer industry that made the beer and sandwich legend a pioneer for Los Angeles’ craft beer community.

Samaniego died Wednesday after a long illness.

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German Beer Companies Swallow $150 Million Fine for Price Fixing

MAINZ, Germany — Beer companies in Germany woke up to a $150 million hangover Monday when five breweries and seven people were fined for illegally fixing prices by the country’s cartel office.

In secret phone calls and private meetings, the breweries agreed to raise the cost by five to seven Euros ($7 to $9.5) per hundred liters of beer, according the Federal Cartel Office known as the “Kartellamt.”

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Beer Profile: Rogue Brutal IPA

Profiled by Ken Carman for The Professor

Beer-Profile1-258x300brutal-bitter-label “Brutal?” Ah: no.

Small rock bubbles with a little pillow. Head dies fairly fast. A hazy gold, about a 10.

Mouthfeel: some caramel malt, but way in the background. Pale malt dominates. A Glacier-hop-like bitter with little flavor is on the top.

Aroma: sweet, somewhat citrus with caramel malt more in the aroma. The balance between the two is about perfect, but just in the aroma.

Taste is a bit watery with hop bitter dominate. No flavor, for the most part, just bitter. This misses “IPA” on a few marks, but it would help if they hadn’t called it “BRUTAL.” While an IPA is hoppy, yes, hop flavor absent with malt so far in the background makes mouthfeel and flavor both seem almost absent. That’s a problem: IPA should be more than just bitter, and a somewhat watery background. As it warms it improves some with body expressing itself a tad. Still seems almost brittle in bitter.

Beer Advocate… a 90? Wow. 97 on both style and overall.

Hate to bust the bubble here, but all that having been typed, doesn’t deserve a 2, but certainly not a 4. About mid-3 range is about right.

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Welcome to the PGA beer rating system: one beer “Don’t bother.” Two: Eh, if someone gives it to you, drink. Three: very good, go ahead and seek it out, but be aware there is at least one problem. Four: seek it out. Five: pretty much “perfecto.”

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Mead Profile: Rogue 19 Original Colonies Mead

Profiled by Ken Carman for the Professor

Namotherprofiles19-original-colonies-mead-label19 colonies of BEES, not colonial America.

Pours with a slight bubble head: rock, that goes away fast. Color: gold with great clarity. On the mead scale White, 55, 30mm.

They told me at The Filling Station this was “Sweet.” This is closing in at almost medium. Slight carbonation, so it still qualifies as a still. Aroma is Orange Blossom-ish with some Wildflower floral.

Mouthfeel: full body with a harsh top of the roof of the mouth sense… tannin-like. And this is where it falls in the flavor too. There’s a harsh, abrasive taste that I would guess is a higher alcohol. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not “alcoholic” for a mead, just the wrong type of alcohol. Usually that means a yeast/fermentation problem, perhaps fermented too warm. There’s also a carbonic sense from the carbonation that’s a bit off putting. While the tannin-like comment indicates some fruit addition, it’s more likely it’s a combination of the carbonic sense and higher alcohol that drives it into edge of undrinkable, and just a hint problematic.

There’s also an alternate explanation here… too little alcohol can cause harshness and astringency. Either way I believe this is alcohol related. And it’s a balance thing.

11 at Rate Beer, 3 for style. 78 at Beer Advocate.

Just barely a 3. And I only did that because there’s good there that’s, unfortunately, out of balance with the problems.

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Welcome to the PGA rating system: one glass “Don’t bother.” Two: Eh, if someone gives it to you, drink. Three: very good, go ahead and seek it out, but be aware there is at least one problem. Four: seek it out. Five: pretty much “perfecto.”
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Beer Profile: Terrapin So Fresh, So Green

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Profiled by Ken Carman for professorgoodales.net

Before I start let me admit something so you’ll understand: this is one of the better fresh hop beers I’ve had, commercially. So many miss the mark and only get harsh. This one: they still probably boiled the fresh a tad too long. But they got the body right, really great caramelized undertones that caress the tongue with a sense of full. The problem is the harsh is still there and it’s so easy to limit. Just add latter.

So many commercial beers hopping on the fresh hop train miss the necessary body to distract from the harsh fresh hop with too long of a boil. This does not, but still could have been more pleasant with shifting some to latter additions.

Nice clarity, with a 3 srm, approx, and a copper/gold mix depth. Pillow head with some medium rock bubbles. It does hang for a short while but then fades.

As it warms the harsh actually fades a tad while malt comes forward: making it even better. That’s weird. Usually hops pop out with warming.

Mouthfeel is a firm body with a deep bitter that is just a tad too harsh. I wouldn’t quite call it “astringent,” just a too long boil hop harsh. Carbonation light yet very evident with a slight carbonic stab to the tongue.

I’m going to cringe and push this into 4 territory: especially since I think I had a previous year’s version and the boil was even longer making the harsh worse. A good part of a great fresh hop is aroma rather than taste, and while this has great aroma too much harsh went into the taste… but not enough to slip it into a 3. So I’m rewarding the direction they’re going with a 4.

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Welcome to the PGA beer rating system: one beer “Don’t bother.” Two: Eh, if someone gives it to you, drink. Three: very good, go ahead and seek it out, but be aware there is at least one problem. Four: seek it out. Five: pretty much “perfecto.”
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Craft beer had $238M economic impact on Alabama

A report from Brewers Association shows that craft beer had a $238 million economic impact on Alabama in 2012.

 

There’s no denying it, craft beer has been good to Birmingham in recent years.

But just how good has it been? A recent report from the Brewers Association shows that the industry had a $238 million impact on the state of Alabama in 2012.

As alcohol regulations were changed, the market for producing craft beer began booming in the Birmingham metro area, and doesn’t show signs of slowing down.

“With a strong presence across the 50 states and the District of Columbia, craft breweries are a vibrant and flourishing economic force at the local, state and national level,” said Bart Watson, a staff economist for Brewers Association, in a press release. “As consumers continue to demand a wide range of high quality, full-flavored beers, small and independent craft brewers are meeting this growing demand with innovative offerings, creating high levels of economic value in the process.”

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Beer Profile: Lazy Magnolia Backwoods Belgian

Profiled by Ken Carman for Professor Goodales

Beer-Profile1-258x300 lBackwoodsBelgianBottleThe flavor is tripel like, but if this isn’t White Labs Abbey yeast I’ll bite myself. The aroma is WL Abbey out the kazoo with pilsner malt in the background. I’m guessing this has Belgian white candy sugar in it. It has that distinct slight abrasive sense.

Mouthfeel: a firm, tripel like, carbonation dominates with its prickly sense. Again: a slight abrasive taste as if the liquid has a little sand paper to it. That’s a distinct Belgian white sugar sense.

This is listed as a Golden, but to me it’s more of a Tripel with lower abv and WL Abbey. This is as if they wanted to do a Tripel but due to abv laws they had to back off. Millie described as “watery.” To me it’s more a weak attempted due to keeping fermentables down.

Appearance is slightly hazy, srm probably about a 2: light yellow, urine color. Head id white pillow with a few medium sized bubble-rocks.

One dimensional.

I would try it: yes, but more a lawnmower Belgian. I simply can’t give it a 4. Advise, if must keep it this way, try Coriander, Orange Zest, anything to make it more interesting. More body would help: true, but then you’d probably raise the abv. Switch the yeast, please.

47 @ Rate Beer.
83: Beer Advocate.

RB has it right in this case, BA too generous.

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Welcome to the PGA beer rating system: one beer “Don’t bother.” Two: Eh, if someone gives it to you, drink. Three: very good, go ahead and seek it out, but be aware there is at least one problem. Four: seek it out. Five: pretty much “perfecto.”