Category: Beer

(97 and 100 at BA, 100 and 99 @ RB!-PGA)

Profiled by Maria Devan

Today I have my friend Roger Addante to thank for sending me this beer Brasserie Dieu Du Ciel’s Peche Mortel. I don’t know how old the beer is but the notches are like the photo shows. Thank you Roger.

This was a beautiful way to start my day today. New Beer Sunday is coming.

Peche Mortel

Pours viscuous with a creamy head of light chocolate foam . Color is black, opaque. Bubbles leave a film and ring. They refresh on each tip to show you a sheet of khaki colored lace.
Nose is bold roast and coffee. Chocolate is born on the nose of the beer and it courts a dark fruit background that has been elevated to an airy perfume. Caramel.

Taste is chewy roast with a bitter edge and sumptuous dark coffee. Bakers chocolate glides over the palate lightly like silk as the lively espresso explodes with flavor. A small warming in the finish as the bitterness swells just a bit to show you the richness of the malt and a moment of sweetness that finishes the espresso coffee so authentically. It lingers with a touch of the alcohol to remind you this was strong. Lingering roastiness and a bittersweet drying of the palate.

I love this beer. Complex, textured and rich. Bold, even a touch aggressive. Peche Mortel is French for Mortal Sin.

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.

Profile by Maria Devan

Middle Ages Tripel Crown. Another good beer from them.

Pours hazy yellow with a slight orange blush. The color is the color of ripe apricot. So many tripels look just like this with a perfect stream of bubbles that rises form the center. White head in the tasting glass I cant’ speak to it. Fruity nose with lots of earth.

Nose is fragrant with wheat and with spice. Pear. Clove is demure and perfumey and there is coriander. No actual citrus on this nose but the ringwood yeast is tangy and shows you that element. Sweaty, vibrant No alcohol on the nose. The beer is light like a soft sweet little punch.

No real biting carbonation despite the stream of bubble you can make out through the haze. Still, it drinks bready from wheat and very creamy . Esters from yeast are crisp like banana peel. Not overly ripe banana that smells like bubblegum. Spice clove and a good hoppy finish. Bitterness reveals a light floral and the soft pear as the earth that was so deep literally evaporates on your palate to reveal a soft alcohol presence that has no sting at all. A mouthfeel that is deceptively light.

Outstanding.

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.”

__________________________________________Beer HERE

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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.

Written by Tom Becham

Things have been somewhat quiet on the beer front for me lately, for various reasons. But I am still in the game, and have two short reviews for the readers of Professor Good Ales.

Now, these might seem like gimmick beers to many. But they are so well done that they are worth trying, even if you don’t like odd twists on more traditional styles.

The first is The Bruery’s Arrrggghhh! (Yes, that is the actual name of the beer.) This beer with a piratical twist is billed by The Bruery as an Imperial Pilsner at 7.7% ABV. It is modified by the use of rice and coconut. My general experience with coconut beers is that the coconut is seldom discernible on the palate (I’m looking at YOU, Maui Coconut Porter!). Not so with Arrrggghhh! (Oh, dammit, it’s just fun to say and type.) Continue reading “Tom Becham Reviews”

Written by Ken Carman

Ken Carman is a BJCP judge; homebrewer since 1979, club member at Escambia Bay, Clarksville Carboys and Music City Homebrewers, who has been writing on beer-related topics, and interviewing professional brewers all over the east coast, for over 15 years.

  Once again we ventured forth to explore what was once a wasteland…
  Nashville, in my opinion, was once a city which used to be way behind the times as small brewpubs and breweries started popping up all over the east coast. I would come home from tour and find none, to one or two at best. Now, after a few failed attempts early on, Nashville’s becoming a true brewery/brewpub Mecca. Two of the newest entries to our beer scene: Bearded Iris and Southern Grist, were our destinations.
  Bearded Iris sits in an odd location. Continue reading “Brew Biz: Werts and All”

Profiled by Maria Devan

I have happened upon a regional brewer that I am really starting to like a lot. Middle Ages in Syracuse. I bought a sixer from them called beast bitter and I almost had nothing to show for it because they disappeared that fast. Lucikly I put one away.

You have to love a brewer who has for their photo a half naked man inside of big mash tun wielding a paddle. Beast is a beast indeed. Pours beautifully. Nice and clear with a coppery and orange hues on a beautiful golden body. Off white head that did not last too long. Appearance is outstanding.

Nose is vivacious with malt. Biscuity and caramel. Firm dry caramel , none of that soft sweet stuff. The hops twinkle like fuggles do and show you soft earthy, woody spice. There is good citric backnote to them that makes them smell fresh and tangy and even a bit like zest. They also use cascade I think. Toasty malt is so crisp it’s almost crunchy in there. I love it! As you drink the beer it simply takes over your mouth and your will to fight. It’s abundant with malt. The hops are forward and keep forward until the very last moment in the swallow when you smile because it’s the malt that finishes this beer medium dry.

Taste is like toast! Lightly buttered and bitter. So delicious. The finish and the balance is what kept this beer in my glass until literally there was no more beer. Hops give an expert bitterness that never gains speed or strength. Steadfast, although it’s not really too gentle either. As all the flavor from malt fades, even the hop fruitiness fades off to tangerine pith but the bitter remains.

Outrageously good. I’ll take a few big mugs of that! I also hear that this brewer is using the ever elusive strain of yeast in this beer called Ringwood. I would love to know if that yeast is in any way responsible for the flavor that this beer has. You just can’t stop drinking it.

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.”

____________________________________Beer HERE

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Maria Devan. Not all three. Just the one in the middle.

Profiled by Ken Carman

Some dark malt, mostly pale. Very fresh smelling, but mostly elderberries stand out in aroma. The malt sense in background. Very.

Foggy, brown. Almost no head.

Elderberry deluxe with firm malt mouthfeel. More than a tad tart and a hint of sour. Not all that pleasant to be honest.

High side medium mouthfeel. A little harsh and bitter from the fruit. Too long of a boil with fruit, perhaps?

This is kind of like a gruit, tho from what I’ve read they did use hops. You’d never know. Elderberry sub’d for hops, essentially.

Yes, it is palatable, but not as pleasant as one would hope. 3.8. Way too elderberry focused, which makes it hard to continue drinking after a while. I really like the concept, but more focus needed to be had for drinkability.

81 BA, 55/22 RB.
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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Ken, WHO???