Category: Beer

  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

 The collection has grown so big I have no more wall space. Now I’m cleaning out the house and have to throw out so much, be far more selective. In an old box I found Alimony Ale, billed as “the bitterest brew in America.” Hardly, though I do remember it being very bitter. Brewed by Buffalo Bill’s in Hayward, CA.
 I haven’t seen this brew in quite a while. I’m also thinking it’s probably been out bittered, due to the peak of hopheadedness.
 78 and 83 on BA, 38 and 11 on Ratebeer. Here is what RB said…

 ”This traditional India Pale Ale was first produced in 1987 for a customer going through a divorce. Alimony was one of the first craft IPAs and gained cult status after articles appeared in Newsweek and Playboy. Brewed with an abundance of hops from the Pacific Northwest, 70 IBUs and 6.8% ABV. “

  They say it’s brewed by Mendecino, which I am guessing is their vender. Kind of like how Matt’s Brewing/Saranac has brewed for Sam Adams in the past. Buffalo was started in 1983. According to their own site…

 ”In the early 1980s, beer enthusiast and famed photojournalist Bill Owens envisioned opening an authentic brewpub similar to those that existed in England. It would serve homemade, hearty libations with character and integrity. At the time, California law prevented the joint operation of a brewery and pub, and true beer lovers had few alternatives to watery, mass produced beers, unless they could figure out how to make their own home brew.”
 “The law changed in early 1983, giving brewpubs the green light to draft their own beer on the premises. Owens, a pioneer in the early brewpub movement, made his dream a reality and opened Buffalo Bill’s Brewery in Hayward, California.”
 “In 1994, Owens sold Buffalo Bill’s to then, brewer, Geoff Harries, who continues to carry on the brewing legacy. Harries started homebrewing beer in his parents garage, and began working with Bill in 1987.”

 Here is Wiki’s entry on Geoff.

 From the Bottle collection is a column by Ken Carman: homebrewer since 1979, collector of bottles and such, Certified beer judge and columnist. Ken Lives in Nashville, Tennessee, Eagle Bay and Beaver River, NY.
©Copyright 2017
Ken Carman and Cartentual Productions
all rights reserved

Profiled by Maria Devan

I have not had a beer from birra del borgo before and when I saw this I grabbed it. The number on the bottle says 25 but the word is dodici and that does not mean twenty five. This is a Christmas beer as you may have guessed because docici /25 would be 12/25. The brewer lists this as a winter warmer but I think this beer is one of the best barleywines I have tried. In the category of barleywines you will notice three variations on the style. The american barleywine, the english barleywine and the old ale. However because of the addition of bitter orange peel it is classified as a winter warmer. This beer is 9.5 percent. Malts are Pilsner malt, Munich , vienna , cara munich , cara weizen, chocolate. Hops are hallertau northern brewer, hallertau hersbrucker, styrian golding, simcoe.

Dodici

Pours a sweet rusty orange. hazier at first then clearing with a few big bubbles but no head in the tasting glass.

Nose is brown sugar, orange, toffee, spice, hints of lemon, caramel and earth.

Drinks beautifully. Complex malt and vivacious fruity character. Rich and mellow but the hops dance on the palate. Pepper, spice and a generous herbal. Orange. The herbal form the hops will show you a very generous malt that is so sweetly done you almost have to close your eyes to really see it fully. When you do you will taste nuts, brittle caramel or hard crack caramel, sweet cake-y bread. A wild hint of medicinal alcohol and then the perfect swallow. No harshness, no bite and hardly any bitterness from all those hops. Instead the bitterness you taste is from the orange and that is a bit of an illusion because the tip of your tongue does tingle a little as you notice a light mineral softness to the body of the beer. Tobacco leaf, light cocoa. It feels like silk.

This was one of the best beers I have had this year . Cheers and Happy New Year everyone!

4.5

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 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.

Profiled by Ken Carman for PGA

This Louisville brewery is somewhat new to me, but to be honest other brews I’ve had have been, well, unimpressive.

Not this one. Yes, the wood and the nut are a tad overbearing, but the brown is there. Even ta hop bitter pops out as it warms. The aroma is almost wine like, and I get that in the taste too. Low carbonation, most of it in a huge big pillow, big bubble, head. The body is lighter than it seems: low side of medium. The bitter it’s the top of the palate.

There a tad pepper sense to it too, but I think that’s the wood, walnut coming though.

Great clarity with a light brown.

Very quaffable.

36, 33 style on Rate Beer (Wow!) 82 on BA.

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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Ken Carman isn’t his real name. He’s not even human. Short, annoying, supposedly from Mars, “Ken” eats rocks and doesn’t jump very well, Earth’s gravity is so high. But he likes beer.

Profiled by Ken Carman for PGA

I usually love almost anything Sierra does, but this has some issues. “Lemon?” yes. “Sourness,” slight if any. Doughy malt? NO. Salt is close to absent. Nose is pretty much lemon. Hint of sour in aroma, true. No hops, as expected.

Head almost none existent. Some haze. Light yellow. Hint of pepper from coriander.

Low carbonation, at best, light body. Suggest more wheat for mouthfeel, wheat sense absent.

Misses the mark in several categories, but a great quaff.

84 on BA, 81 Ratebeer.

3.8

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

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Written by Franz Hofer for A Tempest in a Tankard

The last autumn leaves cling to the trees, holding out against the onslaught of wind and the first snowflakes of the season. A dense fog shrouds Vienna’s church spires in mystery. Night has descended, and the last faint warmth of the day has long since faded. I cut through the park and pause at the side of a partially frozen pond where a few ducks seem to be wishing they had followed the geese south. Spring is a long way off, I think to myself, and make for home where a warming drink of malty goodness awaits.

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HERE