Category: Beer

Courtesy stripes.com

Written by Tom Becham

Let me put this out there immediately: I like extreme beer. I enjoy the spirit of experimentation that results in high levels of alcohol, extremely bitter, sweet or sour flavors, unusual ingredients, or anything else that stretches the definition of beer. It shows the ingenuity and versatility of a brewer, and can be an adventure.

That being said, I also feel that Americans being who we are, extreme beer has the potential to get way out of hand. This is, after all, the land of “bigger, better, faster, louder, more”. One can walk into a grocery store, and find several dozen products which have artificial strawberry flavoring that is easily 40 times more intense than actual strawberries. The danger in this country is that extreme beer could relegate some subtler, yet quite delicious, older beer styles to the scrap heap of history. Continue reading “The Culture of EXTREME Beer”

Profiled by Maria Devan

Pours a mocha head of creamy thick foam that lasts on an opaque burnt caramel, dark brown body. Leaves sheets of shimmering lace as you drink.

Nose is roasty, milky. Sweet cream on roasted malts. Leather. Cocoa powder a nice light chocolate scent.

Taste is smooth and creamy. A big roasty malt that is so smooth and luscious. It tiptoes up to a touch of bitterness in that roast but stays shy. A silken caramel seems to come out of nowhere and glide over the back palate.

The mouthfeel is silken, creamy, soft, medium full and a touch chewy at times. Finish is sweet cream and roasted grains with chocolate on top.

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 lives in Ithaca, NY, atop a steep hill that would be great for sledding, if not for traffic. Roller skates would probably have to out of the question. She has been reviewing beer for many years, even with many homebrewers and other beer critics across the nation, on the web. We are very lucky to have her here at PGA.

Written by Ken Carman

The Topic: Palcohol… A Brave Brew World, or Not?

Ken Carman is a BJCP judge; homebrewer since 1979, club member at Escambia Bay, Clarksville Carboys and Music City Homebrewers, who has been interviewing professional brewers all over the east coast for close to 20 years.

  Palcohol. Certainly you’ve heard of this controversial powdered form of alcohol that was, essentially banned, then recently approved.
  Yup. Looks like cocaine.
  How it’s made is proprietary, though I would guess the process may be similar to how powdered coffee creamer is made. Just a guess from the guy whose father invented the liquid form, but talked a lot about how both kinds were made.
  Alarmists have wanted to keep it off our shelves because it would encourage underage drinking. Hey guys and gals: clue… that demon seeped out of Pandora’s Box long, long ago. Underage drinkers will get alcohol however they can. Does this make it easier? Eh, maybe a tad. But totally banning only encourages them to become more creative and takes essential control out of the hands of adults.
  But how does palcohol relate to beer? Continue reading “Brew Biz: Werts and All”

Profiled by Ken Carman for PGA

This exactly what the label says: as if someone made a sticky toffee pudding beer.

Yes, it’s a one note, novelty, brew, but that one note is perfect. I wouldn’t drink bottle after bottle, it could get boring. But it’s, essentially, a desert beer.

Toffee tan with great clarity, though the gravity provides some distortion. Big bubble head with some small and pillow.

Nose- caramel and toffee Aroma same with malt behind that.

Mouthfeel is like a liquid version of somewhat sweet sticky pudding: caramel with a viscosity reminiscent of the caramel pudding I had as a kid. No hops sensed.

Heavy side of medium body. Taste tad sweet: just right for pudding. Caramel lightly carbonated, but this is not candy. Luxurious, rich.

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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Ken Carman was born of a deity named Bill many moons ago when his wife Winnie was fermenting well at the time. He is a beer judge, beer writer and reviewer of brew-based business, beer commentator and BEER GOD. Do not challenge the one who ate too many hops one year, hence the green pigment you see to the left!

Profiled by Ken Carman for PGA

You know, ever since American craft brewers invented the concept of the extreme Imperial IPA there have been a few great, and far too many rip your mouth out astringent, versions of this creation. Some of the best came from the sadly deceased BrewWorks in Covington, KY. thanks to Tim Rastetter. Then came the raw/fresh hop craze, and what was too often bad got worse: like of like chewing on excessively bitter grass. The better got even more interesting, though there were even fewer of those.

Cool Springs, a brewpub in Franklin, TN, with Derrick Morse at the helm, started to bottle not too long ago. I have been impressed with most of their brews, and this is definitely one.

The nose is grapefruit perfection: that American IPA fruity sense that defines the Double IPA style. Grapefruit deluxe, which of course means cascade, centennial, Amarillo. etc. This is classic grapefruit. The malt is way in the background so more west coast.

Clarity sucked in samples we had. Slightly dark and moody gold. Pillow head with glass cling. Nice big head.

Light side of medium body. A hint chewy. The hops still hang, body-wise.

If you’re looking for hop dominance this is it. I have had more dominant, but this is what hop dominance should be. Hops in this quaff makes you hop’s bitch, but the brewer needs to know how to deliver each lash of the hop-whip. There’s “dominance,” then there’s undrinkable.

Hops are the focus, but the malt complexity, while subtle, is complex enough to provide a firm, solid, platform for hops to grow right on your tongue.

87 @ Beer Advocate,

63 @ Rate Beer

Hop heaven.

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

_______________________________________________________________________
Ken Carman was born of a deity named Bill many moons ago when his wife Winnie was fermenting well at the time. He is a beer judge, beer writer and reviewer of brew-based business, beer commentator and BEER GOD. Do not challenge the one who ate too many hops one year, hence the green pigment you see to the left!