Beer Profile: Hofbrau Original
Profiled by Maria Devan
Pours bright and clear with a persistent white head that clings and never really fades completely. Nose is bready with a bit of richness from malt. Hop is cool and herbal; soft and subtle and that tells me this is not a pilsner. Light open scent from dms and a glimpse at a tangy spice rounds out the nose. Crisp, bready, dry. Clean no diacetyl.
A light openness from dms and hop spice offer the sweetness in this beer. Carbonation is perfect bubbly but does not bite. Lovely pepper form the hop to finish it. There is a light sweetness on the nose that is the hallmark of the style in the drink it is but a brief bit of nectar before an expert and almost moderate bitterness shows you more bread. Impeccable. Cheerful and well crafted.
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.”
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Maria Devan. Ithaca. Beer reviewer. Beer steward. Beer judge. Winter time liked to sled down the hill she lives on in a bathing suit. That last one is NOT true.
Separating bad beer from faulty beer
With the craft beer boom in full swing, we often hear about how much incredible beer is out there. The quality bar has been set pretty high as microbrewers continue to innovate and refine brewing practices. But what we don’t hear very much about is how common bad beer is out in the market.
Let’s be clear: Bad beer is not the same thing as “beer I don’t like.”  Not liking a beer is a matter of personal taste. When you judge a beer to be “bad,” you’re saying that it wasn’t brewed properly and it is exhibiting some fault. Faults can occur at any stage of the brewing process. They can be the result of poor quality ingredients, insufficiently sanitized brewing equipment, exposure to light, or any number of other factors.
The easiest fault for most people to pick up on is referred to as “skunking.” A skunked beer will have a pungent, skunk-like, or rubbery aroma. Skunking is the result of a chemical chain-reaction that occurs when light interacts with isohumulones, which are bittering compounds from hops. This chemical reaction can start in a matter of seconds and is most pronounced in hoppier beers. Once the reaction is in motion, there’s no stopping it. If you’re going to drink beer outside and don’t particularly enjoy the aroma of skunk, ditch the clear pint glass and stick to brown glass bottles or cans which can block light.
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HERE
A Beer Judge’s Diary: Imperial, What???
Written by Ken Carman
The tightrope walker calmly stepped one step at a time, unlike our picture above; holding a balancing pole with buckets at each end. But as he delicately put one foot ahead of the other malt was dumped into one of the buckets. He had a rational, reasonable, hope that there wouldn’t be so much malt dumped before hops were added that he would fall, but more malt fell into the bucket anyway. He tilted to one side but continued to walk. Still hoping hops, then eventually yeast, would balance it out, more malt dropped. The tightrope walker found it close to impossible to stay on the tightrope as the fermentables piled up higher. Then the announcer declared, â€And now, ladies and gentlemen, with even more malt to come, we present our demonstration of IMPERIAL tightrope walking!â€
You could very well replace malt with hops in that tale, or simply take away the pole and make the rope as thin as the finest thread, and just as breakable. Continue reading “A Beer Judge’s Diary: Imperial, What???”
Miami’s Lincoln’s Beard Brewing Company Offers to Buy AB-InBev for $26,000
What do Four Peaks, Camden Town, and Breckenridge brewing companies all have in common? Announcements of their buyouts from Anheuser-Busch InBev all came within a span of less than a week. They’re just the latest breweries to be added to AB-InBev’s ever-increasing craft beer portfolio.
With AB-InBev on a microbrewery shopping spree, some American craft beer evangelists believe the buyouts have gotten a little out of hand. One such person is John Falco, the owner of Miami’s soon-to-be-open Lincoln’s Beard Brewing Company, who finally had something to say about it and wrote an open letter to AB-InBev with an offer to buy the corporation — for $26,000.
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HERE
Beer Profile: Blackberry Farm’s Black Saison
Profiled by Ken Carman
Nose: Saison spiciness and hint of phenolics. Some orange, moderate pepper, Taste: roasted wheat. Some slight debittered dark malt sense.
This really is a “dark Saison,†and a damn good one.
Head was deep tan, even somewhat brown: reminded me of a malt shake. Foam, and lots of it with big bubbles too. Long lasting. Light side of medium body with light, but obvious carbonation. Slightest spicy bitter.
Silky on the palate, with a firm sense of bitter towards the back of the mouth. Very fresh tasting.
Pepper is really in taste rather than nose, as per 2015 guidelines. A very worthy quaff.
4.2
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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Yes, to the left is a drawing of Ken Carman, done by bored demons. They did a HELL of a job, eh?
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