Author: Professor Good Ales

Mythical poster at The LTS Good for What Ales You Beer Journal. Loves good beer. Hates same old, same old. Muses that Bud and Miller might as well be brewed in urinals. Drinks lagers too, if they are complex and interesting.
Posted on

Hey, Honey

IM44 Feature mead

Michael Fairbrother was never sweet on his career. As an engineer and later vice president and chief operating officer of software companies, the New Hampshire native’s day job was a drag. His heart lay in homebrewing, though he was hardly monogamous with barley. Since his introduction to cyser—a mead made with apple cider and honey—at a homebrew-club meeting in 1995, Fairbrother has been infatuated with making mead, one of mankind’s oldest alcoholic beverages. Mix honey with water, wait for its natural yeasts to convert sugars into alcohol and you have mead. Its discovery was likely serendipity. In the New Hampshirite’s hands, serendipity became honed artistry.

Over the subsequent decade, he began blending meads with blueberries, black currants and Vietnamese cinnamon, creating balanced, complex honey wines. Accolades stacked up and, in 2007, Fairbrother received the first of three straight New England Mead Maker of the Year titles. Could he make mead a career? In 2009, Fairbrother bumped into Surly Brewing founder Omar Ansari at a conference in Boston. Fairbrother mentioned that he wanted to open a meadery, likely part-time. “[Omar] said, ‘How can you do something you love part-time?’ ” Fairbrother recalls. “He changed my life with a single sentence.”

Want to read more? Please click…

HERE

Posted on

Texas Church Attracts New Followers with Beer

What would Jesus … brew?

A Texas church is trying something different to attract new congregates. A pub in Fort Worth is home to the Church-in-a-Pub, where members of the Calvary Lutheran Church meet for services and grab a pint at the same time.

Fox News Chief Religion Correspondent Lauren Green asked Calvary Lutheran Church Pastor Phillip Heinze about the initiative and how it’s working in his community.

Heinze explained how the idea first came about. “We we’re looking for a place off site to a hold a worship service … and this place opened up called Zio Carlo [Magnolia] Brew Pub … they weren’t opened on Sunday … it’s a great space … they allowed us to come and use it as a worship space.”

Want to read more? Please click…

HERE

Posted on

Why Heady Topper Fans May Be Out of Luck

beer-news10WATERBURY, Vt. –One of Vermont’s favorite brews is closing its doors to the public– and sooner than expected.

The news was too much for Heady Topper fans to swallow last week. The Alchemist Brewery announced it was closing its Waterbury doors to customers Nov. 15– that’s Friday. But Wednesday was the last hurrah for Heady Topper lovers to buy the beer directly from the brewery because they ran out!

 

Want to read more? Please click…

HERE

Posted on

Beer Profile: Laughing Dog’s Alpha Dog Imperial IPA

Profiled for professorgoodales.net by Ken Carman

Did we get a bad bottle? Perhaps.

Clarity good, urine color, big foamy head that lasts, some orange and tangerine in taste. Spicy hops with a hint of grapefruit. Taste is pepper dominant: this seems more than hops, more phenolic. The longer I drink it the more pepper in taste, mouthfeel, nose: nothing else. Hard to even tell the body, though I’m guessing it’s light side of medium.

Imperial? Eh, not so much, but if pepper were less maybe I could get a better sense. Visual is best part of presentation.

Millie and I thought, ”Maybe we’re just getting burned out.” We’d had a couple that night. So we saved what was left in the bottle: more than half, put it in the fridge and reopened the Grolsch we put it in 3 days later. Wrong. It was so pepper we tossed out what was left.

How does one get into mouthfeel or taste when all you’re getting is pepper? That first fruit sense gives me an indication there’s more here than met the palate this one time. Yet I would have the same comments as I had with this breweries Anubi… Imperial? Eh, not so much from what I could sense. If the hoppy part of the extra hops you get in an Imperial were pepper, well maybe they should have had a more complex hop bill.

I suspect not. Probably infected. But I’ve been disappointed twice by the same brewery.

85 at BA, this too had mostly threes but a few super high scores. In fact, here’s a brief quote from one…

“I won’t take it as general to this beer, and probably you that are reading this don’t have too…
But my first bottle was in some way contaminated… It smells like horse’s shit and the taste goes the same way…”

A 95 at Rate Beer? Almost all 3 point somethings with one 2: who also thought there was something wrong with his bottle. But a few super high scores. Anyone else see a pattern here?

I think, with this one, I’ll give it a break. I think they DO have a contamination problem, but I won’t buy another: especially since this it looks like this is the second time it looks like some folks wanting a higher score may have hacked BA and RB. But I’ll give it a 2 just in case I’m wrong and in case we got a bad bottle.

But if this normal then one almost be more than it deserved.

3361242-simple-drawing-of-a-pint-of-beer-isolated-on-white3361242-simple-drawing-of-a-pint-of-beer-isolated-on-white

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.”
Posted on

Beer Profile: Breckenridge’s Agave Wheat

Courtesy manchesterpubnyc.com

Profiled by Ken Carman for professorgoodales.net

Beer-Profile1-258x300

Nose: agave sweet with some wheat in the background: bready but not toasted in any way.

A bit hazy, 2srm, light gold or urine colored. Poor head retention for a wheat that fades fast into just rim of glass with tiny bubbles. Very white: like fresh fallen snow.

Mouthfeel: wheat proteins provide a fullness: surprisingly solid, bready fullness: sweet wheat bready. Low abv sensed. The main start here, both in MF and taste is the wheat, agave second that backs it up with a nice hint of sweetness. This sweetness increases as it warms and starts to dominate.

Taste: more of the same with great balance between the agave sweet and the bready wheat. This is what some call “lawnmower,” and if I liked the term it would be “craft lawnmower.” I prefer “light quaff.” Tis simple, but it is exactly what it’s supposed to be.

This one is tough for me, for it really isn’t outstanding enough to get a 4, but spot on enough to not be given a 3. I’d give it a 3.6, but since not possible: 4. Don’t expect outstanding, just no problems noticed and exactly what you’re probably looking for as per the name. Lacks complexity, but sometimes I think less beer geeky quaffers are looking for simplicity.

39: RB, 56 style, BA: 77.

3361242-simple-drawing-of-a-pint-of-beer-isolated-on-white3361242-simple-drawing-of-a-pint-of-beer-isolated-on-white3361242-simple-drawing-of-a-pint-of-beer-isolated-on-white3361242-simple-drawing-of-a-pint-of-beer-isolated-on-white

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.”
Posted on

How To Stop A Fermentation


Quite often we’ll have someone ask us how to stop a fermentation before it is ready to stop on its own. Usually the reason for asking is because they have tasted their wine and they like the amount of sweetness it currently has–sounds reasonable.

Stopping the wine from fermenting any further would preserve the current level of sweetness. And likewise, allowing the wine to continue fermenting further would only make the wine less sweet with each passing day.

Eventually the wine would become completely dry at which time the fermentation would stop on its own. This is because during the fermentation process wine yeast turns the sugar into alcohol.

Wanting to stop a fermentation is all good in of itself. But unfortunately, there is really no practical way to successfully stop a fermentation dead in its tracks.

Using Sodium Bisulfite or Campden Tablets…

 

Want to read more? Please click…

HERE

Posted on

BJCP – Mastering The Taste Exam

There has been quite a bit of back and forth in the BJCP Forums lately about how to create a Master level score sheet. I’ve discussed that exam a couple of times in the blog, once in July 2012 and again in November 2012. I still get people who want to blaze their own path and IMO that is a recipe for disaster. So let’s briefly go through what you should and should not do.

 

White Space
It’s simple, leave no blank lines. When you are writing try to write phrases of useful content, not simply a single word or lines of BS. Instead of saying fruity, ester, or fruity ester, say fruity pear ester. Now the grader can instantly realize the ester and which fruit you meant and you filled up white space.

Stylistic Grid…

Want to read more? Please click…

HERE

Posted on

Four Horsemen Taps Out

Four Horsemen taps out

 

SOUTH BEND – There was no last call for Four Horsemen Brewing Co. fans.

The brewery’s owners abruptly announced Monday morning via social media that it’s closed.

“This is a decision made by the owners after careful examination of the craft beer segment, future growth and other factors,” Ben Roule, one of Four Horsemen’s co-owners, wrote in a statement to The Tribune.

“We want to thank all of our distributors, local establishments, consumers and supporters for enjoying our beer over the last couple years,” he continued. “Please continue to support your local breweries and businesses. Cheers!”

Want to read more? Please click…

HERE

Posted on

Beer Profile: Anubis Imperial Porter by Laughing Dog Brewery

Courtesy beerpulse.com

Profiled by Ken Carman for professorgoodales.net

Beer-Profile1-258x300This is supposed to be an Imperial Coffee Porter? Coffee, I get: almost espresso, but not quite. About 30 srm, black, but clarity for that srm good. Low side of medium body that clings, along with the coffee, to the roof of the mouth. Imperial? No, not really: one would expect more body and at least the slight sense of a higher abv.

This has a long lasting, tan, pillow head. The presentation was pleasing, for a robust with coffee. Well, perhaps a tad too much coffee for balance. Malt bill seems rather simple: pale, hint of chocolate, maybe splash of roasted barley… in no way as complex as even just a robust porter should be. I can only give it a 3. Nice. Pleasing. But, frankly, I think the consumer would be looking for, um, Imperial Porter?

86 at BA. Looks to me like they may have been hacked. A lot of lower scores then a few super high. I always find that suspicious. Rate Beer was even worse. A 97 yet I noticed quite a few in the 2 point range. A few jacked it up high… that’s even more suspicious.

Seriously, stop hacking the ratings folks. Thank God you can’t touch us here at PGA.

The nose is the best part. Anubis does smell like a robust: not Imperial, porter should. And the rest, well, OK, but not impressive enough for the style it’s supposed to be.
3361242-simple-drawing-of-a-pint-of-beer-isolated-on-white3361242-simple-drawing-of-a-pint-of-beer-isolated-on-white3361242-simple-drawing-of-a-pint-of-beer-isolated-on-white

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.”