Category: Beer

Profiled by Maria Devan for PGA

Pours a true gold with pristine clarity. A flourish of bubbles that settles to a steady wafting of pilsner bubbles to the top. Lush and beautiful head of off white foam. This beer is a beauty in the glass.

The nose is lovely clean lightly sweet grain. It has a mysterious lightly fruity scent. It’s some kind of berries. Maybe blackberry.

For a beer that has the hops in the name you would think it would be very hop forward but no. This is all authentic pils style scents except for that exciting bit of exotic fruit. Little bit of grass in the background. Drinks like a dream. A nice lightly grainy malt that’s dry and crisp. Perfect carbonation and that fruit! So subtle so tantalizing. This beer is crisp clean and refreshing and finishes with a bit of herbal grass and just a mild little hint of hop bitter.

Love it! I could not wait to buy this beer again this year.

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

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

Profiled by Maria Devan for PGA

This beer pours with a certain ceremony. It’s lemon or banana yellow with a pleasant haze. A creamy head of white foam to top it that lasts and leaves lace. Nose is earthy and fruity. There is a whole lemon in this nose. It’s not separate it’s the juice, the bit of tartness and the bright zest but it’s together in a way that is splendid. There is some sweet earth from yeast instead of a big bad funk and a lovely and floral that is like a touch of perfume on the air. The malt is on the nose with a bit of sweetness too and bit of bread.

Taste is elegant and refined yet friendly and drinkable. The funk brett is laid into the beer so well as to be a sweet earthiness. The lemon is profound but not too tart. It’s juicy and lemony. The earth and the sweetness of the malt and the lemon peel create a musky scent as it warms. The malt keeps it on the sweeter side and there is a mild vinegar backnote. The mouthfeel is brilliant. Soft, smooth and creamy but plenty of tiny bubbles that lift it up on the palate. leaves with a lingering sweetness and a bit of funkiness and tartness combined.

This was an impeccable beer. A saison in the truest sense of the style. Without sacrificing the deep fruitiness to the brett character this one travels the palate like a wonderful but modest celebration. I loved it!

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.

 I’ve done at least two articles on Mississippi competitions, so I thought I’d try a different angle…


  Millie and I just came back from the ever well run War of the Worts, and the worts did “run well.”
  I never mentioned it, but I will now: I was honored that the folks who organized War of the Worts in Starkville, Mississippi took my idea from last year and gave every judge team a touch light to check the entries

for clarity and color. I want them to know no insult was intended by bringing, and using, my own flashlight I had altered also to shine through each entry.
  Why did I do that? Well, at another competition a fellow judge pointed out that LEDs give a bluish tint to whatever is in the glass. Now, since then, I’ve learned that there are different types of LEDs and the cooler ones, if I understand right, are more neutral. But where would I find one, and one that would work in a way I can put a sample glass on it? From WalMart, to Home Depot, to Lowes and many other haunts I found nothing that satisfied both criteria: something you could put a sample glass on safely and had cooler LEDs. Continue reading “A Beer Judge’s Diary: War of the Worts and Judging Innovations”

Profiled by Maria Devan for professorgoodales.net

Pours clear and softly golden with a flourish of bubbles and a fat white head that falls to a thin layer on top. Nose has the scent of light grain and some cut grass.

Hints of flaky biscuit in the nose and a subtle noble hop presence. Taste is surprisingly smooth.

It’s creamy and just rolls over the palate seemingly forever and without end.

A touch of herbal and hop bitterness takes this one to the finish almost dry. The biscuit is doughy and the grains start to stand out on the palate toward the end. The carbonation is ample but it does not disturb the creamy smoothness of this beer.

Overall I would call it earthy and a good and tasty lager. Mild overall and with a just enough hops to keep it interesting. My only criticism is that it’s a bit too soft for a lager. The doughy quality starts as smoothness but then drinks a bit heavier towards the end of the glass. It had some kind of sweetness like almonds in the very last moments after it warmed.

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.