Month: February 2014

 This week’s Brew Biz will be shared with other sites: under the banner for another column I have written since 1972 called Inspection. Inspection is my personal forum for discussing societal issues. Because, though it may surprise brew lovers, there’s more to discuss here than just beer.

Ken Carman is a BJCP judge; homebrewer since 1979, club member at Escambia Bay and Music City Homebrewers, who has been interviewing professional brewers all over the east coast for over 10 years.

  Today’s corporate beer adventure courtesy UPS… and also includes a commentary on the increasingly corporate culture of The United States of America.
  I used to work for a record company as a shipping and receiving manager and quality control. At the time the boxes would come in like Godzilla had kicked them around, but the contents were usually OK. My cousin, Joyce, who used to work for UPS told me the old conveyer system would to do that. While I was there our UPS man and I talked a lot. He’d fume about how anal they were: how every little thing had to be just so, despite banged up boxes. Now I believe him more than ever.
  It’s been quite a while since those days. I have used UPS, occasionally, for Christmas gifts. I do remember one year an attendant at our local UPS station insisted on tearing apart my package and repacking it because, “It just doesn’t look right.” She made more a mess of it than I did and succeeded in nothing. I could tell she was really pissed when she took it away.
  So were the multitude of customers behind me.
  “Did you use packing material?”
  “Yes.”
  I had used newspaper, she insisted on bubble wrap… “bubble wrap” I had to buy from her. I had used duct tape. She said it should be another kind of tape and “neater.”
  Yup, she did nothing to make me reconsider my box banging, anal nature, image I had been left with after all these years.
  Well, being a beer judge and a brewer I have shipped a few entries to distant competitions. I had decided never to use UPS again because they claim you can’t ship alcohol. Not quite true, as we shall see, but true enough for peons like you and me. Usually I just say they’re yeast samples and they question a little more, I hedge around the issue, then they ship it. But why bother? Just go to Federal Express: they don’t interrogate me.
  But every once in a while you run into more “anal” than not.
  Well I picked up a six of Anchor Foghorn: first time I’d seen it in Tennessee since the 80s or early 90s. Opened up one and felt like I was drinking from a green rubber hose. Opened a second and got the hose job again. Continue reading “Brew Biz: Werts and All”

 

Here is what Dogfish’s site says about about Namaste…

A witbier bursting with good karma. Made with dried organic orange slices, fresh-cut lemongrass and a bit of coriander, this Belgian-style white beer is a great thirst quencher.

Namaste was originally brewed at our pub in Rehoboth Beach with our Italian friend Leo from Birra del Borgo. It was a tribute to our friends at 3 Fonteinen brewery in Belgium, who had devastating production loss (1/3 of their annual production) in 2009. You can read more about the original brewing of this beer here on Sam’s blog.

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Profiled by Ken Carman for PGA

Rhubarb nose with big pillow head that fades fast. Very hazy with and orange tint to the gold. Sniffing it I feel like I”m about to bite into rhubarb pie. Slight sour to that rhubarb, as expected in any good rhubarb pie, but not crust. A bit of sweet to the nose. When you add sugar to rhubarb pie the same aroma happens. Some debris in bottom of bottle.

Mouthfeel: high side of light carbonation. Light side of medium body with slightly prickly carbonation. Sweet rhubarb caresses the roof of the mouth: obviously bug driven, as per some typical Geuzes.

Taste: slight sour with, again, rhubarb sense: yeast driven. There’s a malt way in the background… pilsner?

This is an incredibly good Geuze: very drinkable and something many might enjoy. It’s like some consider the style: almost not beer. The soothing, slightly sour, rhubarb sense is pleasing and seductive. This is all yeast as far as character. get no sense of hops. Malt background. The [performer is the yeast, and the applause should be plentiful.

4.7. Close to 5.

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.”

____________________________________________Beer HERE

Profiled by Ken Carman for PGA

I love these dueling reviews: it helps sharpen the reviewing skills.

Pillow head that seems to last forever with a lot of cream to it. About 1/3 of an inch and Guinness like: due to widget. Slight chill haze and particulate matter: could be yeast. On the srm scale this is about a 3. Despite particulate the clarity is good otherwise.

The aroma is musty with a sweet sense that I pretty much guarantee is yeast: probably proprietary to this specific brew that’s been around so long. No hops in nose. However that yeast nose is also similar to another Brit brew: Scarecrow. Earthy, herbal sort of a mix between cardamom and basil. More the first.

There’s a thinness to the mouthfeel, almost watery. I do get what some may call “metallic.” The “metallic” can actually be explained by the water profile used for this style of beer, often Burton on Trent-ish: highly sulfate which is not quite the same as sulfur. Very light with a sweetness that seems to fill in where the thinness of body leaves me wanting. Carbonation: almost none in mouthfeel but a Brit pub draft often can be that.

Here is the usual water chemistry: 352/24/320/820/44/16 That’s calcium, magnesium, bicarbonate, then so4 (-2)/na+2/cl-1/. High in calcium too: some of the highest mineralized water used for brewing. With the thinness so apparent to Boddingtons it’s not surprising some might mistake it for “metallic.” Again: not quite the same, but for obvious reasons similar. Compare the same numbers for Pilsen: 10, 3, 3, 4,3, 4: used for Pilseners

There is a white bread sense to the taste and toasted only to that extent: which is almost not at all. A simple quaff that would normally be called “lawnmower” in the states. Very slightish bitter way in the background that is hardly worth mentioning. But as it warms that bitter asserts itself a little more. To be honest I am guessing all reviewers here reviewed it too cold. Brit beer can go almost into the 60s. There’s also a very slight hint of burnt butter, which is sort of OK for style. Not as much the “burnt.”

For the style it’s right, but just right. Nothing special that makes it all that interesting, to be honest. If I were to go to a Brit pub and ask for an ordinary bitter I wouldn’t be disappointed, for that is what it is. But interesting? Eh, not that much. But my lack of interest can’t be used to score it poorly. I’ll give it a 3.9, only because I think they could liven up the old gal a tad due to the fact even in England craft beer is adding to the complexity of brews. This, in my opinion, is not all that complex, but at least new owners InBev doesn’t seem to have screwed with the recipe all that much, if at all.

28 and 23 ON Rate Beer. 74-54 Beer Advocate.

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.”

________________________________Beer HERE

Profiled by Maria Devan for PGA

Southern Tiers 2XONE series is all about exploring a single variety of hops and a single variety of malt. This one uses Mosaic hops and Special Pale Malt only.

Pours like a golden beauty with a fat head of creamy white foam that adorns the glass and leaves rings and sticky patches. A fat ring and cap remain and the effervescence from the center of the glass doesn’t stop. It has some sediment or yeast that falls out during the drink and sits on the bottom of the glass defiantly even though it appears pretty clear at first.

The nose is wonderful but subtle. There is a sweet floral, a citrus zing and a tropical back notes. The malt is lightly bread-y and lightly nutty and it approaches a fruitiness but stops short. Pine is light and there is a graceful herbal that really gives the nose a bit of dash. As it warms it’s even a bit minty.

Taste is light sweet and simple. That malt is flavorful but not heavy. The citrus greets the palate first and really surprises you because it was shy on the nose. It’s floral and tropical sweetness is resonant but not loud or bold. This beer has a light to almost medium body that is not slick or oily but that offers a touch of oil and bitter in the finish. The pine remains understated in the drink and the resin is soft and coats the throat for a gentle aftertaste of floral and a suggestion of green sweetness.

This was a fabulous beer that was not complex but that had plenty to offer in the way of nose and palate. Because it’s so food friendly I would recommend that you try with everything from roasted chicken to peach praline pie. Would go really well with nuts and dishes that contain nuts like spinach with raisins and pine nuts. More!

Congrats to Southern Tier for a idea for a series that I intend to try each time as they explore different hop varieties singularly and showcase the skill of their brewers.

4

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.”

___________________________________________Beer HERE

Profiled by Ken Carman for PGA

This is a multigrain beer that for the grist uses a lot of buckwheat. I was curious about buckwheat itself, since I use buckwheat honey. Let’s just say I may still use a hint, but not that impressed. It also uses a crystal malt and and Metcalfe malt: 2 row.

Clarity great except a very slight haze at about 3 srm: deep gold. Rock head: big with tad pillow that fades very, very fast.

Nose: buckwheat. That’s it.

Mouthfeel: feels full but that’s buckwheat. I would call it high side of light or low of medium. Carbonation very light, but this was from a tap into a Grolsch bottle.

Taste: buckwheat and hint of caramel malt. The hop is mostly a slightly sharp bitter. This is a quaff so simple that it’s an interesting attempt, but not all that “interesting” compared to all that’s on the shelf thee days. I get the mouthful-ness of the buckwheat and some slight caramel malt way in the background: weak at best. Hops? A hint of bitter at best. No esters from what would normally be a late addition or two. Buckwheat, light carbonation, slight bitter: that’s pretty much it. Needs more overall complexity.

Rate Beer has it at 61, 63 for style and BA: 80.

This is in no way problematic, just not all that interesting. However could be a great breakout beer for the craft beer hesitant.

Score for BJCP score sheet: 28, maybe 29.

3.8 on PGA scale.

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.”

___________________________Beer HERE