Category: Beer

Shed Brewery Mountain Ale
Middlebury, VT
(That’s the small print on bottle. Big print says “Stowe.”)

Profiled by Ken Carman for professorgoodales

Listed as a “rugged brown ale,” this brown ale might better be listed as slightly harsh, somewhat overly bitter butter brown. Those comments may seem harsh, but only if you ignore the modifiers, both “slight” and “somewhat,” and the fact that the diacetyl-like butter-sense is background, but grows once you become aware it’s there.

The bottle claims 1995. Unless they weren’t exporting out to other nearby states, or they were under another name, seems odd I’ve never seen this spending as much time as I have for the past 30 years in New England. BA and Rate list this as an old ale/English Strong. The packaging I had said it was a brown.

In my opinion it was neither old, strong or brown.

Nose was brown malt with a sense of sweet: orange-like. Maybe a tad butter? But almost all of this is in the mouthfeel and the taste.

Appearance: a deep brown that creeps up on black. SRM at least 18. Nice tan small bubble, but mostly pillow, head. Slight chill haze: probably the propane fridge it came out of. Good clarity, otherwise.

Some of the “harsh” could possibly be a hint of Black Patent, but still too much. Yet, I’m guessing too much hops at too long a boil: too early in the boil. That explains why it’s not in the nose. Nice chewy mouthfeel provides a great sense of depth to the malt in both mouthfeel and taste. Other than the possible hint of black patent adding to the bitter/harsh, the malt complexity with possible pale, brown and mix of caramel malts: maybe even a hint of Maris Otter, is pleasing. But the slight butter and the harsh just leaves me annoyed.

87 at Beer Advocate. BA says “retired.” Could I have gotten an old bottle? Purchased at Yankee Spirits in Sturbridge, MA: I doubt it. They rotate product where the six packs are displayed rather fast: this had a primo spot. Looks like most reviewers reviewed it lower but a couple went high enough to skew the results. Rate Beer has it at 59: closer to fact.

Further research shows Otter Creek purchased Shed a while back. Odd: Otter Creek usually does a great job.

I really can’t recommend this, and the sad fact here is it is much more promising than other browns often brewed by mega-brewers who disguise their mega-ness under fake brands. I’m going to go with 3, on the PGA scale, though I’d rather do a 2.5. But the attempt is worthy of 3 or maybe even 3.5. At least the brewer attempted to step out of the bland box, and wasn’t way off like some mega-brewer attempts.

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.”

The Topic: An Absinthe of Information

Ken Carman is a BJCP judge; homebrewer since 1979, club member at Escambia Bay, Salt City and Music City Homebrewers, who has been interviewing professional brewers all over the east coast for over 10 years.

 Imagine you ask for a beer. A friend hands you a glass and you take a sniff. Huh??? Then a sip: you gag. What, did he think you wanted liquid licorice, or black jelly beans? Of course what your “friend” did, most likely, is pour you some absinthe instead. Indeed it may be bad absinthe that has been flavored with star anise oil. The good absinthe uses green anise. Real fans of the legendary quaff will tell you there’s a lot more to really good absinthe than the harshest, black, licorice; and certainly not some black jelly bean drink.
 Maybe he thought he was being funny. But you probably aren’t laughing.
 Beer judges sometimes have experiences almost as off putting, and it may not be the fault of the brewer who entered it.
  A previous edition of Brew Biz mentioned a competition I was entering which had just restarted after a few years and their web site, their instructions, were confusing: at best. I understand competitions are run by volunteers, and I have no wish to dump on those who work their garbanzos off: not getting a single bean for their efforts: all for the cause of better brewing and better beer.
 Indeed let me start by saying I found the organizer helpful and kind, especially after working with him through the, “OK, what now,” phase when site instructions were confusing and links didn’t work. The web site seemed professional: until I tried to use it. Even the organizer admitted he wasn’t surprised: since this was the first competition after a long time things weren’t a little messed up. This competition had been on a hiatus for quite a while.
  Yes: I am deliberately trying to be vague to avoid giving you clues as to who I am referring to. Since we’re talking about the same competition, and I wish to do nothing but encourage more competitions: no names mentioned. Continue reading “Brew Biz: Werts and All”

  The seventh Beaver River Beer Tasting was on August 31st at 2pm. As you can tell from the Brew Biz column posted after this it almost didn’t happen, but I will leave that all for my usual vent space.
  At 2pm quaffers gathered at 168 Railroad Street: otherwise known as “The Carman Camp.” We probably had a total of 20-25 people: down from previous years, but with the circumstances, that was amazing. Mark Franey also brought two wines: a dry and a sweet Riesling, but I was too busy to get to try them. Ei! Continue reading “Beaver River Beer Tasting: 2013”

The Topic: The Death and Rebirth of a Beer Tasting

Ken Carman is a BJCP judge; homebrewer since 1979, club member at Escambia Bay, Salt City and Music City Homebrewers, who has been interviewing professional brewers all over the east coast for over 10 years.

 I think the first Beaver River Beer Tasting was in 2006, at The Beaver River Hotel: now called Beaver River Lodge. During those years, for a brief time, the tastings expanded to three different locations. The Labor Day beer tasting was always the most successful, with Millie, my wife, counting about 60-70 people at one point. For a town with no roads going to it, only accessible by boat, barge or trail: that’s incredible.
 Beaver River Beer Tastings have always been a mix of commercial beers and homebrews: commercial examples bought, by myself, from stores like Yankee Spirits in Sturbridge, Beers of the World in Batavia, NY, Marcy Discount, in Marcy, NY, Tully’s in Wells, Maine and Midtown in Nashville. Basically stores all over the east coast: from Mississippi to Maine.
 A few were from brewpubs who bottle their own or do growlers. All commercial examples had already been taxed and almost all had gone through distributors, the few exceptions: growlers and bottled examples from brewpubs. This year I had three, out of probably 200 different brews. Most years all were bought from stores who were supplied by distributors.
 Of course, being a homebrewer and a member of three clubs homebrew was part of the mix. Continue reading “Brew Biz: Werts and All”

The Annual Beaver River Beer Tastings Will Be Held Saturday, August 24th and Saturday 31st @ 2pm at The Beaver River Lodge.

Also known as “the old hotel.” The 24th will be a casual affair with the number of beers offered varying with attendance. The second will be 30 plus beers from all over the world, homebrews PLUS several braggots.

For more information contact Ken Carman @ 315-376-6625

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

  This is a bottle from my collection I have used for this column before. I do have more information, though I really don’t remember much, except I think it was brewed, in this case, by a brewery just south of Cincinnati. I didn’t have a lot of respect for them because once touring it I was told when a customer: essentially someone who wanted them to brew their commercial beer, gave them a recipe for a beer they don’t brew, “We give them whatever we have that is closest.”
  No way to run a contract brewery, in my opinion. Best to just refuse the contract. I found it odd that their representative actual seemed proud of this “pawn whatever off on them.”
  But since I’m not sure, and can’t remember how it was, I’ll reserve the rest of my commentary.
  Here’s what Wiki says…

Hudepohl Brewing Company was a brewery established in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1885 by founder Ludwig Hudepohl II. Hudepohl was the son of Bavarian immigrants and had worked in the surgical tool business before starting his brewery. Hudepohl combined with Schoenling Brewing Company in 1986. Today, the Hudepohl-Schoenling Brewing Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Christian Moerlein Brewing Co..

  When Hudepohl went out Boston Brewing started selling the beer. Here’s something I do know: for a while that brewery: barely in Kentucky, was contract brewing for Boston, like Matt’s in Utica. Then the Hudepohl brand was bought out by Royal Brewing, whose main executive had been and exec at Heileman. The Kentucky brewery also vended out for Heilman for a while.
  Seems very likely somewhere in this 90s, early 70s, time frame this bottle was filled: most likely in kentucky. Why? Because this brand had been in flux for all that time and the execs who had anything to do with the Hudepohl name also had connections with this contract brewery. The original brewery shut down, production shifted elsewhere at time and the 90s and 2000s were pretty bad for them. At last report the recipes were sold, and the original brewery being deconstructed.