Category: Beer

Written by Brandon Jones for Embrace the Funk!

I guess this is the longest lapse in updating the website I’ve had, but wow has there been a lot going on! I’ve had some questions on what pre-filling procedures we use at Yazoo and since wood barrels are readily available to home brewers nowadays I thought we would go over our techniques.

But first let’s rewind the calendar to October 2nd, 2014 in Denver for yes…The Great American Beer Festival. The first night we were in town we served up 3 different beers at What The Funk? Once again it was an awesome night put on by Crooked Stave that gathered brewers from all over serving up their finest funky beers. Continue reading “Barrel Filling Procedure and ETF Updates”

Profiled by Ken Carman for PGA

Upfront we have a wine/rum like sense. That’s the barrel. The head is off white to tan with a pillow but it fades fast to almost nothing, except edge glass. Behind that… not much at all. It’s there: just so hidden that it almost might as well not be there.

Obsidian black.

It’s an excellent barrel focused quaff. But where is the Imperial Stout? Hidden well behind the barrel, that’s where. Don’t get me wrong: the barrel is marvelous, but the stout needs to be there.Yeah, it is: very well hidden.

The nose is barrel, with the slight hint of stout behind that,.

Balance is off, basically, otherwise interesting. If this were labelled as barrel focused, would have absolutely done better. There’s a hint of Guinness like sour, or some slight infection maybe?

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

Ken Carman is an editor at PGA, endofthenet.org, entertainer, educational service provider, BJCP beer judge, columnist since 1972, author of Autocide and one hell of a weird dude.

Profiled by Maria Devan

Pours not completely black. It has darker brown hues and from the very middle of the glass emanating softly is a shy ruby blush. Fat mousse like head of mocha colored foam that lasts, falls to a ring and leaves lace.

Nose is deep with roasted malt scents. There’s a sweet lush caramel, a bit of weak coffee, bitter chocolate and some scent from oats in the background as well. This beer has an earthy woody scent too that is hard to pin down.

Taste is luscious. Smooth, creamy and full. The sweet caramel is first to grace the palate and then a big roasty taste follows. It has a bit of bitterness to it and it dries on the tongue leaving the coffee a bit stronger than on the nose and the bitter chocolate to come to finish. At the last moments there is that woody and earthy taste again with that sweet and very soft caramel to linger alongside all those big roasty flavors of bitter malt. I detected no hops on the nose and I can find none on the palate save for that bit of woodiness and to say this beer is well balanced and a delight to the disposition if you ask me. I like it precisely because it’s not too sweet although it has an ample sweetness. Finishes with a bit of bite from carbonation.

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

Maria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY and is frequent reviewer of beer and a beer lover deluxe.

Profiled by Maria Devan

Pours straw gold and with pristine clarity. A white head of creamy foam that lasts to a ring and leaves a bit of lace as you drink. Serene int eh glass with no bubbles coming up from the bottom.

Nose is clean and crisp. A bit of grainy sweetness from malt and a floral backnote from the hops. it becomes herbal as it warms but it is not too much for the style. there is s slight pungency from sulfur on the nose. No fruity scents. Lovely.

Taste is dry and a bit rich with a lovely light honey to grace the malt . crisp on the palate with a good smooth mouthfeel. The bite from carbonation is perfect and does not hit until the swallow. There it resides with a moderate hop bitterness. A touch more bitterness than the usual but not offensive. The hop herbal sings on the mid palate and the light touch of sulfur adds a bit of dimension to this beer and actually accents the sweetness of the malt by contrast. Finishes dry and with a bit of noble hops to linger in the aftertaste.

Eu quero sempre mais.

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

Maria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY and is frequent reviewer of beer and a beer lover deluxe.

Written by Tom Becham for PGA

I confess my impressions of Kauai Island Brewing were somewhat confusing, however.

Keep in mind I will make every effort to be fair here.

I had visited KIB once before when it was still called Waimea Brewing some years ago. I left unimpressed. Admittedly, I was still a newbie to craft beer at that time. Plus, where beer is concerned, I will always give it a second, or even third, chance.

The brewpub is an airy place, mere feet from a municipal fishing boat dock, so the result is the rare brewpub that specializes in fresh fish dishes. And to give you an idea of how good the food is, when I

visited, two locals were sitting behind my table having lunch. One was drinking Heineken, the other Coors Light. Yes, the food is so good that even industrial beer drinkers will come in for a meal.

The beer is kind of a mixed bag, however.

I’m not saying the beer was bad, by any means. It just seemed monotonous and without variety. Admittedly, they were out of their award-winning brown ale, and their lilikoi (passion fruit) ale. But every single other beer on their list (8 of them) were hop bombs except for the Pakala Porter. I can appreciate a hoppy beer. But I like variety, as do most beer geeks. And newbies will be absolutely turned off by this line-up.

Individually, here are my impressions: Continue reading “Let’s Go Brew Through Hawaii with Tom Becham! (Part 2)”

PGA: we republished Maria Devan’s profile at at the end of this one so the reader may compare.

Profiled by Ken Carman for PGA

The nose is cascade/American hop/citrus like with a light grapefruit sense. Very light pilsener malt in the background.

Mostly good clarity with the very slightest sense of haze. The head is pillow with a few bubbles big to small.

I have to ask up front: what the hell makes this “wild?” I understand; they used wild hops, but if you get the same result as if you used regular commercial hops: what the hell’s the point?

Otherwise: if you’re looking for a light, slightly hoppy beer that has a slight pils sense to it, but none of that lager/sulfur sense: this is it For that it’s exceptional. A great gateway beer for the somewhat hop adverse quaffer.
Continue reading “Beer Profile: Saranac Wild Hops Pils”

Written by Ken Carman

  Note: for those who get The Music City Brew-Score at the end of the year there will be even more pictures and stories regarding the 2014 MCBO. Oh, and after the column, stay tuned for the winner list.

 We missed the main event at Music City Brew Off last year. Judging in Albany, NY, at Knickerbocker, we only ended up doing prejudging in 2013. Flash forward (zoom!) to the 2014 Music City Brew Off: this year we fermented our way through all the activities, and since we’re old fogies that “fermentation” was probably just a wee bit funky.
 To be honest, I think we both forgot just how intense it all can be. Almost every third day we were prejudging beer at Czanns: owned by long term Music City Brewers member Ken Rebman. Ken is one of the few old time members left: and when we joined in 98 (99?) I think he was already a member.
 Music City Brewers has more members who have become professional brewers than any club I have visited, or we are members of. And I have been to many homebrew club meetings from NY to Mississippi. We’re members of three. So what makes Nashville so different? I think it may have to do with the serious, educational, path the club has taken over the years. And, to be honest, having been in Nashville since 1978, on the air, hawking songs on Music Row and working in the music industry, the fact Nashville seems to attract a lot of type-A personalities might have a little to do with it.
 Chuckle.

 Czann’s worked well for prejudging, and having been part of MCBO since the very late 90s I can tell you some of our prejudging locations weren’t always the best, not to mention any names. (Spew, sputter, cough up dust, “I’m hot! I’m cold! I’m hot! I’m…” upstairs Boscos.)
 Thanks Ken. Great first name you have there, by the way.
 This year we had a new location for the actual competition: Ramada Inn Stadium Hotel in downtown Nashville, TN. Continue reading “A Beer Judge’s Diary: Music City Brew Off”

Profiled by Maria Devan for PGA

Pours luscious and a bit thick. Perfectly black with a good head of khaki colored foam that lasts and leaves lace. Eventually the head falls to a thick ring and the bubbles seem to want to hug the glass as I swirl the beer around.

Nose is deep and rich and a bit sweet. Roast and chocolate, a sweet caramel and weak coffee. This has a mellow quality to the nose that I really like. It smells soft and like it does not have any rough edges. A bit of earthiness and a faint and elusive nuttiness comes forward as it warms. I am not getting any smoky qualities from the nose.

Taste is smooth and well blended. There is a bit of smoke on the palate and a touch of earthy bitterness form the roast. The coffee stays weak in the drink and the chocolate is also a bit fainter on the palate than on the nose. The sweet underpinnings of caramel carry through smoothly to a dry and bitter finish with a nice drying effect on the tongue from the alcohol. That’s all you see of the alcohol though. You do not taste it and it’s not in the nose. Only a ticklish bit of warmth as you swallow and it’s faint at that. Lovely! It does come across with a bit of a cereal taste in the middle but I think I would say that is richness of roast without a lot of heavy or sugary sweetness. Mouthfeel is full and creamy, but not too thick or too heavy. It is not terribly complex There is no fruit character and the malt says supple and soft throughout the drink as the sweetness of the chocolate creeps shyly onto the palate more and more as you drink.

This one has a charming simplicity and is very easy to drink. Well done.

4.25

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

Maria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY and is frequent reviewer of beer and a beer lover deluxe.