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.
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The Colour of Fall Leaves: Tasting Notes on Märzen, Oktoberfestbier, and Vienna Lager

Written by Franz Hofer for A Tempest in a Tankard

Wondering about the differences between Märzen, Oktoberfest Beer, and Vienna Lager? Check out “Autumn in a Glass: Märzen, Oktoberfest Beer, and Vienna Lager” before cracking open your first beer in this four-pack of Central European beers.img_0599

a) Märzen

Märzen is a malt-lover’s dream. Depending on the brewer, the malt character can run the gamut from toast and what I’d describe as a “Munich malt fruit” character (dark cherry-like) to dates, dried figs, autumn honey, malted milk, malt balls, and Swiss milk caramel.* My partner in crime nailed the style: It’s like a Rolo, she said.

*Swiss milk caramel is a descriptor I use often for beers like this, and requires some explanation. When I was a kid, my grandma used to send us a parcel at Christmas that had all kinds of chocolates and sweets that we never saw in Canada. She always sent along a box of caramels that were quite a bit different than the ones we used to get while out trick-or-treating at Halloween. They were much lighter in colour and had a pronounced creamy taste that brought the caramel flavour down a notch. So when I mention Swiss milk caramel, think of a very light caramel aroma and flavour with fresh cream.

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Craft beer consumers “tired of choice” – Anheuser-Busch InBev CEO Carlos Brito

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Anheuser-Busch InBev CEO Carlos Brito has suggested that the US explosion in craft beer brands may be nearing an end, saying that consumers “get a bit tired of choice”.

Brito, whose company has corralled a selection of leading craft brewers into its distribution network, also said retailers have realised they they cannot keep pace with the continued enlargement of the craft beer category. “There’s only so much shelf space that you can share and cold box that you can spilt,” Brito said.

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On The Importance Of Water Chemistry

martinheadshot_bvI’ve heard this line for years: Homebrewers worry too much about water. However, there is a reason that more and more brewers “worry” about their water… it makes a profound difference to the resulting beer. Read on to understand why this is a worthwhile step in your brewing practice.
Water is the largest component in beer and its quality can affect the other beer components: Malt, Hops, and Yeast. While it’s true that you don’t want to brew with bad tasting water, how the water tastes cannot assure good beer. You actually need to do a little more to promote your beer’s success.

Ions such as sulfate, chloride, sodium, and magnesium make a difference in beer taste. But the aspect that brewers need to be most concerned with is the pH of their wort. pH influences beer quality and perception in a major way.

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Beer Profile: Kostritzer Schwarzbier

Profiled by Maria Devan

Nose is mild roast nothing burnt.

Medium mouthfeel, mild spice from hop.

A lightly bubbly finish to show you a ribbon of chocolate and hop bitter at the end. No astringency. Only a hint of caramel. It’s like satin trim, the bitter chocolate finish in the schwarzbier. In this one it’s very mild but it smells like bakers chocolate. It finishes the beer smooth, like silk and lets you glimpse the hops herbal as it leaves drying.

The example of the style.

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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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____________________________________Beer HERE

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mdMaria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY and is a great beer writer. That’s Maria in the middle. The other two are not, but they are lucky to have her as a friend.

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Beer Profile: Void of Light, Gun Hill Brewing, Bronx, NY

darkness

Profiled by Maria Devan

Pours black and rich looking with a cocoa colored head that falls slowly.

Nose is roasty malt and the light impression of caramel. Creamy cocoa and a light char. so smooth you can hardly believe it. Hints of dark fruit that are never fully realized are sweetly satisfying.

No real hop presence on the nose but a light herbal and a firm but small bitterness to finish it. Small bitterness? You have to try it and you will see. It’s actually quite exquisite. Earthy hop takes roasty malt to the finish with a little char and dry. Starts to warm after a few sips and you could drink this all day. Food friendly because it’s not loaded with sweetness or with fruity flavors on top of cocoa.

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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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_____________________________________Beer HERE

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mdMaria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY and is a great beer writer. That’s Maria in the middle. The other two are not, but they are lucky to have her as a friend.

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Where Did All the Märzen Go? Provisioning Oktoberfest Imbibers over the Centuries

Written by Franz Hofer for A Tempest in a Tankard

Oktoberfest-Postcard-MunchenKindlSteinNearly 40,000 people headed out to the horse race just beyond the Munich gates on that first Oktoberfest day in 1810. Families and groups of friends staked out places to sit on the meadowland heights surrounding the track and began tucking into their bread, sausage, and beer as the races began. The mood was festive at this Olympic-style race, and the event was a resounding success. After all, Munich at the time numbered 40,638 souls, and most of them came out to enjoy the race (Eymold, 327). It wasn’t long before plans were laid to repeat the event annually on what soon became known as the Theresienwiese (Therese’s meadow), named in honour of Crown Prince Ludwig’s bride, Therese Charlotte Louise von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. Try saying that even once after you’ve had a few Maß of beer on today’s Theresienwiese.

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Beer Profile: Founder’s PC PIls

gpils

Profiled by Maria Devan

Pours clear and golden with a fast falling and fizzing head of white foam. Nose is more intense than the last one I had with orange. This one isn’t orange peel though it’s orange pulp. The hops are chinook, cascade and centennial. Spice and a pleasant doughy malt. Very citrusy with light zesting from the peel. Honestly it smells like fresh orange juice and that is marvelous! it tastes like tang in the aftertaste. Do you remember tang? “The astronauts drink it.” It’s very bready actually and quite crisp. Bubbly and light flavored with this fresh orange. The spice and pepper take the end but the hops don’t overtake the mouthfeel. Herbal accents come forward as it warms and I think this beer is another good one to demonstrate the American hops in this style. It’s got a good malt stance which a pilsner has to have, the same fizzier bubble that seems to be more successful in presenting the stronger fruit flavor more lightly to the palate, and this one has a crisp well defined bitterness. Dry, German style bitterness . The hops do come very close to the middle of this beer but stop just shy of too much. That is where they can make the pilsner heavy and out of balance. The flavors should not be too strong. The malt should be dominant and on the American hopped beers it never is. The hoppy middle mouthfeel is where too much bitterness is wrong and washes away the malty finish. The bubbles can do that too. I am starting to like this style. It is a variation on the pilsner that is also not exactly an IPA. Hmmmmmm

Morning you guyz!

IPA well known flavors and hops on a pilsner style beer. The wood or piney element of the one hop is actually well hidden and makes up only a light touch as far as flavor. It does not taste at all like pine which is why it does not resemble the IPA in that respect. That is important. So can we guess that the aspects we were trying to tame are in the mouthfeel because of the nature of the amount of hops used? Are less hops used in the pilsner overall as compared to the IPA? IS it the bittering hop that is showing that woody aspect completely under control. Then that also is German style pilsner and well done with the hop they used.

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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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__________________________________Beer HERE

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mdMaria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY and is a great beer writer. That’s Maria in the middle. The other two are not, but they are lucky to have her as a friend.

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Beer Profile: Ayinger Octoberfest-Marzen

ayinger

Profiled by Maria Devan

Pours clear orange with a dollop of tan foam that fell well to a nice layer on top that lasted and showed clinging spots of lace. 11 on the srm chart.

ayinger2Nose is softly bready with a slight richness. Hop spice is shy. Crisp floral background. Smells like grasses and bread. As though you have just laid out a picnic blanket in the autumn sun. Hay.

Hearty and round. Hop is softness only, no real flavor. Crisp. Light little bubbles, light bitterness. As it finishes, it’s hop pepper and spice on a bed of hay. I love how German lagers let you glimpse the hops full presence by leaving only a bit of them in a clean finish. Malt is smooth and graceful and always leading. It’s amazing how it does that so quietly while these hops shine so modestly. Clean lager, robust but not sweet. It has a fullness to the finish that is complimented by the bubble and the soft hop presence.

The model for the style. Cheers to Ayinger!

4.5

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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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_____________________________________Beer HERE

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mdMaria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY and is a great beer writer. That’s Maria in the middle. The other two are not, but they are lucky to have her as a friend.

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Seven Steps to Surviving the Great American Beer Festival

Written by Franz Hofer for A Tempest in a Tankard

It’s that time of the year again when the leaves start to turn and the National Hockey League season begins. It’s also the time of year when thousands of thirsty craft beer enthusiasts converge upon Denver for that annual pilgrimage known as the Great American Beer Festival.

Equal parts serious beer connoisseurship, Bacchanalian revelry, and street carnival, the GABF may not be as large as Munich’s Oktoberfest, but it boasts a truly impressive cross-section of American breweries and an array of beers to match.

GABF 2014 (Alaska-GABF FB)

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From Horse Races to Beer Steins: Oktoberfest Since 1810

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Written by Franz Hofer for A Tempest in a Tankard

On 17 October 1810, 40,000 people converged on a field beyond Munich’s Sedlinger Gate to watch a horse race staged by the Citizens’ Militia (Bürgermilitär) in honour of Crown Prince Ludwig’s marriage to Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. The numbers were impressive, given that the population of Munich at the time was only 40,338 inhabitants. It seems no one complained when the next edition of the festival rolled around the following year on the Theresienwiese, ushering in what rapidly became a hallowed annual autumn tradition.

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