Category: Beer

Courtesy Huntsvillebeer.com

Profiled by Ken Carman for Professor Good Ales

Definitely has the nose of an Old Ale with carmelize malt up front and a sense of “aged.” Creamy head that fades fast. A bit dark for an Old Ale. Probably at least high 20s on SRM scale, which is a bit off the scale according to BJCP standards. No hops in nose: expected. Nice ruby highlights barely shine through. It is a little dark for the style. Nice pillow head.

Taste: caramelized malt up front, oaky elements and hint of Brazilnut-like taste yet: hint of malt sweet. Quite complex, malt-wise:especially when it comes to caramelized malts. Hops addition to the mix not worth the mention, as expected.

4.39 at Beer Advocate (before I added my comments) 92 @ Rate Beer.

While not listed as “barrel aged,” it tastes barrel aged and a little oak-y.

The mouthfeel is a bit slippery and malt full. Carmelized malt caries through to the Mouthfeel.

I have yet to have a BAD Straight to Ale beer.

11 plus abv? That’s just a tad high for an Old Ale according to BJCP guidelines, but the beauty is: you’d never know. That’s talent.

This goes down well, smooth, yet is a tad dangerous due to abv. A hint of sweet malt balances it out well. If I were having this in a pub in England, Wales or Scotland I would think I had returned to the home of my ancestor’s fav brews. While “technically” I could take it down a peg for very slight overage in SRM and abv, but I won’t because when it comes to the experience: can’t say anything neg about it. Beer, while the technical normally counts, should be rated for the experience first and foremost, at least outside competition. If with an experience this incredible I am willing to forgo the technical: especially when so very, very minor points as slightly higher abv and SRM. So once again a Straight to Ale beer gets…

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.”

Simply put, this is dark chocolate delicious. Nice full mouthfeel, light carbonation tickles the tongue, head fades fast with a mix of mostly pillow and some rock to start. Nose chocolate, but very light. Full body. Taste-wise this is an uncomplicated beverage: dark chocolate, full deep body hidden by dark chocolate: not much else.

The aroma: chocolate, pretty much nothing else. Very black and a bit murky, probably from chocolate. No light shined through the quaff. Head tan that was small and faded fast: my guess either a tension to the surface problem, or more likely the glass it was poured into. This was sampled along with many others, so ran out before could check with a bigger/different glass. Sometimes small glasses are not friendly to decent head.

95 on Beer Advocate. Nothing noted on ratebeer.com.

According to their website…

Around 50,000 barrels of beer annually. The hand crafted ales are now available in more than half of the United States, as well as parts of Australia, Denmark, Japan, Philippines, Singapore, Ontario, British Columbia, and the United Kingdom.

Founders Phineas DeMink and Allen “Skip” Yahn started the brewery with the vision of reviving the practice of small batch brewing to a region rich in brewing tradition. Very thick in a pleasant way.

ABOUT THE BEER
STYLE: Imperial Stout brewed with Chocolate
BREWED SINCE: 2007
ABV: 10.0%
FERMENTATION: Ale yeast, two varieties of hops, four types of malts, bittersweet Belgian chocolate
COLOR: Opaque, very dark brown
EFFERVESCENCE: Lightly carbonated
NOSE: Chocolate, sweet caramel notes, hints of vanilla
FLAVOR: Chocolate, dark cherries, lightly woody and bittersweet
BITTERNESS: Medium
BODY: Creamy, heavier bodied
SERVING TEMPERATURE: 48°F
GLASS: Tulip glass, snifter, oversized wine glass
AVAILABILITY: November release / 22oz / 1/6 keg
CELLARING: 35-40°F

The deepness, and the darkness, of this brew is incredible. While simple, I don’t find that a problem: more a positive. 10%? You’d never know. No hops noticed.

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 “prefecto.”

Written by Tom Becham

Just What IS Beer Anyway?

It occurred to me that many of the readers of this website may be “beer newbies”. So, while detailed and arcane explanations of brewing gravities, obscure styles of beer, and labeling from long-gone brews may appeal to those of us well-entrenched in Beer Geekery, some more basic writings may also be appropriate.

So, to begin, just what the hell is beer, anyway?

Beer is defined as a fermented grain beverage, usually containing hops. (So, technically, sake is a rice BEER, not a rice WINE.) In the past, to further confuse things, “beer” and “ale” were considered separate things, beer containing hops, ale not containing hops, but some other bittering/preservative agent. Now, however, the umbrella of beer holds under it both lager and ale.

So, what’s the difference between the two?
Continue reading “Beer 101”

The Topic: Adventures in Braggotland, Part I

 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.

     My wife and I have been homebrewing since 1979. To be honest I started with what was probably close to a Russian Imperial, minus the roasted barley since I didn’t know any better, and did variations on that for quite a while. Then we stopped homebrewing for a few years: late 80s and early 90s, because of some physical problems, and returned in the mid-90s. By then homebrewing had gotten real serious with homebrewers owning equipment that would have made George Washington and Tom Jefferson jealous.
  Yes, our forefathers were homebrewers.
  And it seemed they were all out to brew the most perfect Pale, or IPA. Everything had gotten so tech-y and extract brewing, even with additions, was frowned upon. Of course we obediently followed their lead.
  Not.
  Just went all grain year before last, but even there we shrunk our brewery rather than trying to brew 10 plus gallons. Now we brew 2 to 2 1/2 gallons and can focus even more on wild and wacky recipes that seem to fit no style. Ciders? Yes, but blueberry, raspberry, and a few apple ciders/cysers. (Yes, I know there’s a difference when talking to the true cyserman, as one of our former club members called themselves.)
Continue reading “Brew Biz: Werts and All”

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

Wynchwood Brewery
Witney, Oxfordshire, UK

  I have mixed opinions about Wynchwood. Some of their beers are marginally impressive, a few “why did they bother?” The last Wynchwood brew hardly seem worth the effort.
 To me, Scarecrow is probably one of the best, if not the best, I’ve had from this brewery. Not the hops, which seem mostly not there. The body, the malt, nice, but nothing to rave about. It’s the yeast. The yeast is marvelously bready, almost like a loaf of hardy, wholesome, multi-grain bread from some small, whole food, bakery that only uses natural ingredients. Yet it’s not “dark” or dense, more complex, yet light.
 Not rated that high at Beer Advocate: 71, and Rate Beer only a… 23? YIKES!!!
 Is it me, or did the reviewers miss the yummy yeast? Personally I think some Americans think yeast should be neutral when it comes to all the flavor components in a beer. Ferment: yes, but otherwise neither be seen or tasted. To me, done well, it’s delicious: if not for how yeast changes beer many Belgian brews would be considered inferior in craft beer world.
  This beer used to be called Circle Master, but I never saw that name in the stores here in the states.
 Here’s some history and facts… Continue reading “From the Bottle Collection: Scarecrow”

 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.

Written by Ken Carman

The Topic: The New Brew-Jewels of the Gulf Coast and Alabama

Written by Ken Carman

 This will be a very general overview of three new breweries; one in the panhandle of Florida, one near the coast of Alabama and last: northern Alabama. Hoping to stop by Props and Fairhope next year to do full interviews and updates and, for my next big Brew Biz project, I hope to go Straight to Ale!

 Millie and her weird, blond monster, husband, have always had a passion for the Emerald Coast, or Gulf Coast to include Mississippi and Alabama. So not too long before my birthday we headed south for a few days. I won’t tell you how old I am, let’s just say I’m close to double the old fashioned number journalists used to use to tell editors an article has ended, and I use at the end of every Brew Biz and Inspection column in honor of old time journalism.
 You’ll figure it out by the time you scroll to the end. Continue reading “Brew Biz: Werts and All”

Craft Brewed
2502 Franklin Pike
Nashville, Tennessee 37204
(615)873-1992

Written by Ken Carman

  When I first saw a picture of the sign out front of Craft Brewed on Facebook: like what’s at the end of this column, I wondered where it was. Once I found out I knew what one of my first questions would be when I interviewed the owner: “Why?”
  What I found out made a lot of sense. This portion of Franklin Road has gone through many changes since we moved here in 78, though not as problematic as parts of East Nashville used to be, also going upscale. But, as owner Chip DeVier said, it’s… “becoming a hot area, rapidly gentrifying and, well, it’s close to home!”
  While small, Craft Brewed is a comfortable, easy place to down a pint with perfect product placement in visually artistic, locations. Continue reading “Brew Biz: Werts and All”

Written by Jerry Buckley for The Brew-Score and professorgoodales.net

Those of us who have been around long enough to have a little (or a lot) of gray around the temples, can surely remember the hit song “Anticipation” by Carly Simon; a top twenty radio standard from 1971, which relates the artist’s state of mind as she awaited going on a date with superstar Cat Stephens.  The song was resurrected as a soundtrack for a Heinz ketchup commercial in the late 1970’s.

Well, “anticipation” seems an apt way to summarize my feelings each time I cook up a new batch of homebrewed beer.  Being an adventurous rookie brewer, I have yet to brew the same style of beer twice.  Each brew day finds me seeking to expand my repertoire, searching for a certain self-fulfillment of doing something a bit different from the standard fare.  I suppose you might say I am still seeking to find my “favorite” style of homebrew.
Continue reading “Anticipation”