Author: Ken Carman

Entertainer, provider of educational services, columnist, homebrewer, collie lover, writer of songs, poetry and prose... humorist, mediocre motorcyclist, very bad carpenter, horrid handyman and quirky eccentric deluxe.
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From the Bottle Collection: Star Black Cherry Stout

Without intent, I have collected well over 1,000 beer bottles since the early 70s. When something finally had to be done about the cheap paneling in this old modular, I had a choice. Tear down the walls while, oh, so carefully, replacing the often rotted 1X3s. Or: cover them with… The Bottle Collection.

Written by Ken Carman

Star Brewing
Portland, Oregon

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How I got a hold of this one I really don’t know. According to Beer Me: opened in 1993, closed, 1996, but I know my bottle’s not that old. Old stock being sold off? I do remember it being excellent. Yet this is confusing: the painted on bottle claims “since 1894.” Well, Vancouver did have a Star Brewing, and the name was passed around a bit. And descriptions of the beer I’ve a seen on ratebeer.com really sounds like the brew I had. But I really hate to say much about it, except it’s amazing the black cherry held on that long. I have found even before hop, fruit can fade, and I know this was opened and tipped sometime in the mid-2000s: probably at my first beer tasting around 2006. That’s incredible it was that good if it was 10 years old! Here is what else I’ve discovered…

Continue reading “From the Bottle Collection: Star Black Cherry Stout”

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From the Bottle Collection: Wild Dog Double Pale Ale

Without intent, I have collected well over 1,000 beer bottles since the early 70s. When something finally had to be done about the cheap paneling in this old modular, I had a choice. Tear down the walls while, oh, so carefully, replacing the often rotted 1X3s. Or: cover them with… The Bottle Collection.

Written by Ken Carman

Wild Dog Brewery
4607 Wedgewood Blvd.
Frederick, Maryland, 21703
United States
http://flyingdogales.com/

Flying Dog was founded in 1990 by George Stranahan.

I do remember this being nice and smooth, and the 9abv being so background you didn’t know until it hit you. The color: pale, somewhat amber with ample body: but surprisingly not as much as one would expect to cover a 9abv beer that doesn’t seem 9%. Often a brewer will hide that abv behind heavier malt sense, or hops, this didn’t seem to have either. And: excellent tiny rock head that faded fast.

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Here’s some more history and facts…
Continue reading “From the Bottle Collection: Wild Dog Double Pale Ale”

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Brew Biz: Werts and All

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 This is the entrance to Mayday Brewing in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The picture on the left: the complex from the entrance looking east, right is the complex from the entrance west. The shadow in the picture on the left is the ghost of Gasper the Friendly Gueuze who used to work here. We just happened to catch a picture of him as he stared fondly at what has happened to his old haunt: wishing he could have a Mayday beer too. Nah, just me taking a picture. Yes, the building is huge. Mayday occupies 12,000 of the 100,000 square feet, but they don’t own the building and soon, hopefully, other businesses will be moving in. A church is already being built, inside: where you can genuflect on your way to having a beer, or wash yourself of your sins after washing down a pint. Actually I’m guessing they’ll be open different hours, but more on that later.

Mayday Brewing
521 Old Salem Hwy
Murfreesboro, Tennessee 37129
ozzy@maydaybrewing.com

Written by Ken Carman

http://www.maydaybrewery.com

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

Written by Ken Carman

  Millie and I sailed down I-24 to Mayday in our Honda Element a couple weeks ago: the GPS lady with her annoying only mid-range digital whine interrupting the conversation, occasionally. I highly recommend anyone from out of town heading there who doesn’t know Murfreesboro intimately use a GPS and input the address.Yeah, the GPS lady can be annoying, but their location is a bit odd even for someone like me who made regular business trips to Murfreesboro in the 80s to pick up freshly pressed records, and then spent time culling business contacts there in the 90s..
 But be careful. Don’t take everything she says as gospel. If you come from the east and the lady tells you you’re arriving at the address, drive just a little further and look on your left. From the east apparently the GPS lady thinks that Mayday is owned by hobos who brew their batches on the railroad tracks, their John Hartford cupped hands, around brew-tin cans down this Murfreesboro back road.
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 Yeah, I managed to slip a song reference in there.
 With the size of this place a thousand or more train hopping, Gentle on My Mind singing, hobos could live here. But, ssh! …don’t tell THEM. Save it all for craft beer lovers.
 Tis holy water.
 Our interview was at four. Nothing better than to be greeted by one of the owners at the door: Pamela Nelson.
 But you just don’t walk in the door of the brewery, or the tasting room, if you parked in the big parking lot. This is a huge complex that for the past 57 years has gone through 5 plant expansions, 8 changes in ownership. Continue reading “Brew Biz: Werts and All”

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From the Bottle Collection: H.C. Berger Chocolate Stout

Without intent, I have collected well over 1,000 beer bottles since the early 70s. When something finally had to be done about the cheap paneling in this old modular, I had a choice. Tear down the walls while, oh, so carefully, replacing the often rotted 1X3s. Or: cover them with… The Bottle Collection.

Written by Ken Carman

H.C. Berger Brewing Co.
1900 E. Lincoln Ave.
Fort Collins, CO 80524

H.C. Berger was a brewer out of Fort Collins, CO. I’m sure this was one of the beers I offered at my beer events I hold in the summer. Seems to me it wasn’t all that remarkable. According to Beer Advocate they are closed. Chocolate mild at best. Not a lot of head and brownish-black.
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According to thecoloradoan.com H.C. opened in 1992, and in 2002 it was shut down due to non-payment of taxes and reopened as well known craft brewer Fort Collins. They do a Chocolate Stout, but I doubt the recipe is the same.

Here is how brewpublic.com describes that beer…
Continue reading “From the Bottle Collection: H.C. Berger Chocolate Stout”

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From the Bottle Collection: Underground Blueberry Ale

Without intent, I have collected well over 1,000 beer bottles since the early 70s. When something finally had to be done about the cheap paneling in this old modular, I had a choice. Tear down the walls while, oh, so carefully, replacing the often rotted 1X3s. Or: cover them with… The Bottle Collection.

Written by Ken Carman

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I bought this some time in the late 90’s to early 2000’s. I remember it being a very mild Blueberry, pale malt, decent head, great clarity and obviously the rest pale malt. Mouthfeel was light, from what I remember. I do believe it was blueberry extract, or mostly extract. But at low levels it can be tough to tell.

The label claims medium body, but memory tells me pretty light. Probably the malt they used that made me feel that way. There are malts that give more of a sense of fullness. I’m guessing mostly pale. So the gravity may have been higher than the mouthfeel indicated.

The brewery had to have been in Marlborough, Massachusetts for only a brief while. I go through there every year and somehow missed it. There have been at least two breweries in the area, one before, one since. I keep missing Sherwood, which started brewing in the mid-2000s, and have had their beer. Tasty. And Pilgrim Brewing that used to be in Hudson in the 1990s. Hops growing outside. Warehouse environment. If I remember right I was attracted to Pilgrim because they were, at the time, brewing Dog’s Breath beer for Eagle Brook Saloon… now brewed by Ipswich.

According to legend they brewed it on a lark and served it under the name Underground Brewery at Northampton Brewfest. I attended the first one so it’s likely I conned the server into giving me an empty bottle because from what I have read the brewery never quite off the ground.

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Beer Profile: Laika, by Straight to Ale

Profiled by Ken Carman for professorgoodales.net

laikaRISlabel-e1352407854402-200x200Beer-Profile1-258x300Light brown head: rock mixed with pillow. Obsidian. Roasted barley up front but not too much to be problematic. This is a beer worthy of the heroic dog it was named after. Sent into space, Laika was a struggling street dog who was taken from trash barrels in the old USSR where life was tough tough to begin with unless you were highly placed in the party, taken from a street life of scraps. Then he was trained, not that he needed a lot of training. Everyone who worked with him said he was brilliant. Brilliant even for some humans. He died in space because they didn’t know how to bring him back. That sucks!

Nice full mouthfeel with a sturdy abv to support. Carbonation light but perfect. Head holds and slowly fades. The pale malt plus roasted barley mix is perfect: not that much of “other” malt sense. Hint of sour, as per Guinness. Foam tingles the mustache as it gently glides over the palate.

Taste is a nice roasted barley mix with malt intensity. I would call it roasted barley, mostly… with just a hint of sour. Hint of sharp hop bitter balanced with malt sweetness: the balance here is superb. This is what a Russian Imperial should be. There are obvious sweet unfermented sugars, but: in the background.

From Straight to Ale out of Huntsville, Alabama. I will have to check this out. Sweet Magnolia is great, But this is impressive!

Welcome to the new PGA 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 “prefecto.” This beer was rated…

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Brew Biz: Werts and All

                                                     

Mike Kraft

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Written by Ken Carman for Professorgoodales.net

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

Turtle Anarchy
216 Noah Drive
Franklin, Tennessee 37064
(615)595-8855
Brewer: Mike Kraft

  Mike Kraft facts from a previous Brew Biz interview

 
 Mike’s from Nashville originally, Siebel trained. His first job as a brewer was at Hubcap Brewing in Veil, Colorado, and he spent nine years as the head brewer at Two Rows Brewing, with brewpubs in Allen, Houston and the Dallas area. Like many pro-brewers Mike comes from a ‘mixed’ background where he started out as an electrical engineer, but found his ‘happy’ in brewing.

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  Once up a time a brewery like Turtle Anarchy wouldn’t expect a lot of visitors. Over the years I have interviewed many a brewer in industrial locations and business parks and, at best, there may have been a tiny tasting room: mostly for the few who would stop by out of curiosity. Tucked away in industrial locations, business parks and other odd places, it was a quieter time where the beer went out a door that few folks, except the brewers, would pass through. Continue reading “Brew Biz: Werts and All”

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The Brew Biz: Werts and All

Written by Ken Carman

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

The Topic: Judging Mead Part II

Greetings from the beer judge who likes to challenge how things are being done, perhaps a bit too much. If you remember, a few weeks ago, in another edition of BB, I suggested that we streamline the process of taking the Mead exam with a provisional Mead judge status and an online exam. The response I got back was intriguing, and logical. Considering the response I wanted to write just a little more on the topic.

Before I do that, I must state that I am happy that the BJCP responds so well, so quickly, to its members. As with any organizations there are certainly those who don’t always do this well… and admittedly there are those who challenge who think their “challenge” is more important than the organization itself. I am not one of those folks.

In addition I will add that anything I say could be wrong headed, or misguided. I do understand that I am not directly involved in designing and implementing these programs. Having been an entertainer who designs and sells my own shows for children since 1984, I very well understand there’s a big gap between conceptualizing, then designing something, and even more so: implementing something. Sometimes people suggest ways of doing things and they really don’t understand because they aren’t actually involved in “making it happen,” that it simply won’t work that way. Things rarely work when put to use exactly as one expects them to when you put them into practice.

Now, to address some of the concerns raised about my last proposal…

Continue reading “The Brew Biz: Werts and All”

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From the Bottle Collection: Sheaf Stout

Courtesy skullbrain.org

Without intent, I have collected well over 1,000 beer bottles since the early 70s. When something finally had to be done about the cheap paneling in this old modular, I had a choice. Tear down the walls while, oh, so carefully, replacing the often rotted 1X3s. Or: cover them with…

The Bottle Collection.

 

Written by Ken Carman

Although some reviewers rate this as lightly sweet, I seem to remember it as medium to very sweet for a milk stout. Bare in mind, it’s no Mackeson, which to my palate can sometimes come close to “sickeningly sweet.”

Haven’t seen it for a while, but I haven’t been looking. A lot of malt character: mostly pale with the obvious roasted barley that defines a stout. The head was good, plentiful and very black. The taste lingered for quite a while: sweet dominant backed up by the malt and few hops.

Aroma: sweet with dark malt sense, from what I remember. I remember the aroma as the best part of an otherwise good, but could be better, beer: via balance.

Mouthfeel indicates if there’s not any oatmeal in this, it’s like there is. I’m guessing the gravity is not that high, but the complete, cover the palate, mouthfeel gives the perception of more boy. If I had to liken it to fruit I would say a hint of milk coated plum.

I would rate this as close to a classic of the style, from what I remember, but not quite. Back off on the sweet/lactose/milk sense just a tad.

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Brew Biz: Werts and All

Written by Ken Carman

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

Diary of a Beer Judge: Fugetaboutit

Bottles waiting for the judges, and glasses.
   A few years ago Tony Giannasi from the Barley Mob Brewers: Chattanooga, convinced a few of us at the Music City Brew Off to come on down and judge at the first Fugetaboutit homebrew competition. Since then we’ve judged for Fugetaboutit at Terminal Brewhouse, the third year at a business in downtown Chattanooga. Continue reading “Brew Biz: Werts and All”