Beer Reviews by Maria Devan
Sam Adams Founder: Beer is More Than Just “Cold, Fizzy and in a Can”
The craft beer boom, which can and has been attributed to millennials, has been kind to brewers like Samuel Adams, which have been brewing craft beers for the past 30 years – when millennials weren’t even born.
The increasing interest in craft beers hasn’t gone unnoticed by beer giants like MillerCoors and Anheuser-Busch. As a result, the two companies have tried their hands at scooping up a part of the market for themselves – MillerCoors’ with Blue Moon and Anheuser-Busch with Shock Top. Their efforts haven’t been for nothing. According to Moody’s, Shock Top is the fastest growing craft beer. Similarly, the number of Americans drinking Blue Moon doubled in the last four years. And while many fans of real craft beers – those brewing 6m barrels a year or less – argue that those aren’t real craft beers, semantics matter little when it comes to sales.
It’s hard to compete with companies like that when it comes to production, admits Jim Koch, founder of Boston Beer Company, which brews Samuel Adams beers. Boston Beer Company has 1,000 employees and trains them to be cicerones, meaning they are to beer what sommeliers are to wine. Koch talks about making beer for creativity, quality and taste – throwing in rose hips and other garden-scented ingredients into a spring beer and expanding product offerings.
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Beer Reviews by Maria Devan
Lambic Seminar #10
Beer Profile: Elysian Savant IPA
Profiled by Maria Devan
Pours an orange color, cloudy and with a dark melon like hue from deep within it. Fat creamy head of khaki foam that left plenty of clinging lace.
Nose is tropical fruit and citrus. Light fresh orange on passion fruit. No pine in the nose until it warmed a bit then it was earthy pine needles. A beautiful scent of brown sugar for malt.
Taste is outrageously good. The fruits are juicy and a bit tart too so they fully engage the palate. The earthy pine is light and the the malt becomes a soft light caramel.
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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Maria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY and is frequent reviewer of beer and a beer lover deluxe.
Beer Profile: Foster’s Lager
Profiled by Maria Devan for PGA
Pours with exceptional clarity. Light gold with lots of lager bubbles wafting toward the top to meet a fat soapy head of white foam that had better retention that I thought It might.
Nose is crisp with only a slight bit of apple, sweet grain and a bright hops character. A bit of lemon from those pride of ringwood hops as it warms.
Taste follows the nose all the way. The malt stays in the background until it warms and brings a light dry cracker. The apple is thin and delicious adding something cheerful and crisp. The carbonation has a small bite and the yeast imparts a bit of sourness to really round out this beer. Even though the middle is quite dry and palate cleansing, this beer finishes off dry and with a bit of sweet lemon and is very delicious. I would have this again.
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
Maria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY and is frequent reviewer of beer and a beer lover deluxe.
Lambic Seminar #9
Beer Profile: Miller High Life
Profiled by Maria Devan
This poured golden and with bright clarity, a fat head of white foam that did persist in the form of lace that clung to the glass. The nose is faint grain and a bit of corn. The taste follows the nose all the way. it’s mild. It has a bit of corn grits, a touch of corn sweetness and not too much malt. The carbonation is ample and bites a bit. There is a sour taste on the back end. I can’t place it. Is it the beginnings of metallic? is ti yeasty? It gives a slight pucker tothe finish and a nice edge to the drink.
This beer was actually quite pleasant. Had no off flavors, no fruitiness at all and drank easily and without effort. It did not develop any off flavors as it warmed. It leaves a touch of sweetness as it finishes dry.
Serving type: can
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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Maria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY and is frequent reviewer of beer and a beer lover deluxe.
Craft Beer Distribution Battle Brews in Florida Legislature
(Reuters) – Beer fans line up every winter at Intuition Ale Works in north Florida for the annual tapping of Underdark, a world-class dark brew aged for a year in bourbon barrels that sells out quickly even at $15 a bottle.
Ben Davis, who owns the four-year-old local craft brewery in Jacksonville, counts on Underdark’s two-day spike in revenue to grow his small business.
But a bill pending in the Florida Senate that would cut into Underdark’s profit has craft beer-makers crying foul.
The law would force craft brewers to sell their bottled and canned beer directly to a distributor. If they want to sell it in their own tap rooms, they would then have to buy it back at what is typically a 30-40 percent mark-up without the bottles or cans ever leaving the brewery, according to Joshua Aubuchon, a lawyer and lobbyist for the Florida Brewers Guild.
The rule would not apply to draft beer.
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