Category: Beer

Profiled by Tom Becham for professorgoodales.net

Let it never be said that I don’t admit my mistakes, or that I don’t try to be fair with beer. That is one reason why I always give any particular beer at least two tries. Beer is so easily spoiled that it is almost a miracle to find it in the right condition upon drinking.

Some time ago, I had written the following:

“Our second AleSmith encounter was during lunch at the Stone Brewing Bistro and World Gardens in Escondido (more on the Stone experience later on). Unfortunately, this resulted in my tasting the first AleSmith beer I didn’t like. It was a red/amber ale of about 6% ABV called My Bloody Valentine, but it should have been called “My, What a Bloody Mess”. The first hint of trouble was the beer’s appearance. While it was the proper hue of red for its style, it had a cloudy, turbid look that was disturbing, and absolutely no head. It had a very strong grapefruit hop aroma. The mouthfeel was like mud, and quite off-putting. The flavor had a decent malt backbone, with resiny, grassy hops dominating the aftertaste. All in all, it was a thoroughly unpleasant drinking experience. I would like to give AleSmith the benefit of the doubt on this one, and attribute the faults with this beer to Stone’s shoddy keg maintenance. At some point, I shall have to give My Bloody Valentine a second chance.”

So, one would obviously grasp from that paragraph that I usually love the beers of Alesmith, but that My Bloody Valentine was somewhat less than stellar. I am now happy to admit that my initial impression was probably due only to some hygiene issues with the keg and/or lines when I initially had the beer on tap. The bottled version was fantastic!

I had some trepidation when I first saw this bottled in my local liquor store early in February. Nonetheless, having a “two tries” policy, I felt I had to give My Bloody Valentine another shot, and am I glad I did.

This was the first bottling of the beer, it having only been available on tap before now. And I do think that Alesmith has changed the recipe a bit, too, and worked out a few bugs.

On the pour, this beer is now more of a reddish-brown, with a small head (about a finger-and-a-half) appropriate for an English Bitter. The head dissipates somewhat quickly which isn’t unexpected for a beer of (honest to dog) 6.66% ABV.

The aroma is still hoppy, but not as potent as on my first try of this beer. Now, it smells not floral, as the label states, but still somewhat grapefruit-y. In fact, if you are familiar with Anchor’s Old Foghorn Barleywine, it is almost a dead-ringer for that beer, aroma-wise.

The flavor is much improved, as well, and starts with a toffeeish, bready malt, followed by a mellow and pleasant resiny hop bite. I want to say these are Noble Hops, but this version of the beer is so well-blended, that it’s difficult to tell.

Finally, the greatest improvement lies in the mouthfeel. It is no longer muddy and disgusting. It is still a bit on the “chewy” side, but not overly so, given the overall structure of the beer.

The finish is pleasing, balanced perfectly, and fades slowly.

All in all, I am greatly pleased I gave this beer a second chance, and wholeheartedly give it a 4 Glass rating.

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.”

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

Wild Dog Brewery
4607 Wedgewood Blvd.
Frederick, Maryland, 21703
United States
http://flyingdogales.com/

Flying Dog was founded in 1990 by George Stranahan.

I do remember this being nice and smooth, and the 9abv being so background you didn’t know until it hit you. The color: pale, somewhat amber with ample body: but surprisingly not as much as one would expect to cover a 9abv beer that doesn’t seem 9%. Often a brewer will hide that abv behind heavier malt sense, or hops, this didn’t seem to have either. And: excellent tiny rock head that faded fast.

Here’s some more history and facts…
Continue reading “From the Bottle Collection: Wild Dog Double Pale Ale”

 This is the entrance to Mayday Brewing in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The picture on the left: the complex from the entrance looking east, right is the complex from the entrance west. The shadow in the picture on the left is the ghost of Gasper the Friendly Gueuze who used to work here. We just happened to catch a picture of him as he stared fondly at what has happened to his old haunt: wishing he could have a Mayday beer too. Nah, just me taking a picture. Yes, the building is huge. Mayday occupies 12,000 of the 100,000 square feet, but they don’t own the building and soon, hopefully, other businesses will be moving in. A church is already being built, inside: where you can genuflect on your way to having a beer, or wash yourself of your sins after washing down a pint. Actually I’m guessing they’ll be open different hours, but more on that later.

Mayday Brewing
521 Old Salem Hwy
Murfreesboro, Tennessee 37129
ozzy@maydaybrewing.com

Written by Ken Carman

http://www.maydaybrewery.com

 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

  Millie and I sailed down I-24 to Mayday in our Honda Element a couple weeks ago: the GPS lady with her annoying only mid-range digital whine interrupting the conversation, occasionally. I highly recommend anyone from out of town heading there who doesn’t know Murfreesboro intimately use a GPS and input the address.Yeah, the GPS lady can be annoying, but their location is a bit odd even for someone like me who made regular business trips to Murfreesboro in the 80s to pick up freshly pressed records, and then spent time culling business contacts there in the 90s..
 But be careful. Don’t take everything she says as gospel. If you come from the east and the lady tells you you’re arriving at the address, drive just a little further and look on your left. From the east apparently the GPS lady thinks that Mayday is owned by hobos who brew their batches on the railroad tracks, their John Hartford cupped hands, around brew-tin cans down this Murfreesboro back road.
  
 Yeah, I managed to slip a song reference in there.
 With the size of this place a thousand or more train hopping, Gentle on My Mind singing, hobos could live here. But, ssh! …don’t tell THEM. Save it all for craft beer lovers.
 Tis holy water.
 Our interview was at four. Nothing better than to be greeted by one of the owners at the door: Pamela Nelson.
 But you just don’t walk in the door of the brewery, or the tasting room, if you parked in the big parking lot. This is a huge complex that for the past 57 years has gone through 5 plant expansions, 8 changes in ownership. Continue reading “Brew Biz: Werts and All”

5.9 abv
Made by Blue Dog Mead, Eugene, Oregon

Profiled by Ken Carman for professorgoodales.net

Beer judges judge mead. This type of entry is one of the reasons it is not a favorite table to be on, competition time.

Applish nose with an effervescent bubble tingle. Not much else.

Clarity good with bubbles rising. Head foams up fast with pinpoint bubbles. Goes away faste. Almost clear with a slight yellow tinge.

Light, smooth, yet tingle, on the palette, with bubble tingle. Slight dry sense but sweet lingers too.  Sparkling.

We must ask: “Where’s the honey?” I would call this semi-sweet bordering on sweet.  You have a slight apple-ish taste, but the honey sense is missing.

Carbonated apple water. Can does list “apple,” though promo material I read does not. Vanilla? Not really. They really need to be a little more forward as to the vanilla and the honey: both in recipe and telling the consumer. And they need to be more forward as to apple in telling the consumer, but either less in the recipe, or no more, depending on how a revised recipe balances out. This is not balanced, in my opinion.

Balance would be great, for a lightly carbonated, very light, apple fermented product. Not cider, really. How many clear, light on the palate, watery, very thin apple ciders have you had? Yup, too many out there and, for me, too many thin, watery, very clear meads.

Bear in mind,this is a commercial example, yet honey is gone, apple too high… in fact when would that kind of “balance” EVER appropriate in a Mead? Seems they could do better than this.

Welcome to the new PGA 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.” This mead was rated…

Image courtesy beerlens.com

Profiled by Tom Becham for professorgoodales.net

If you take a careful look at the labels on a bottle of Worthington’s White Shield, right away you know you’ve come across something special. It states that the beer is an India Pale Ale, but also says that it is bottle-conditioned, and carries a stamp from CAMRA (the UK organization “Campaign for real Ale) declaring it “real ale” (pretty much the same meaning as bottle-conditioned).

So, a bottle-conditioned, old school English IPA? Count me in!

But first things first. Understand that if you are an American Hophead IPA Lover, you will be disappointed by this beer. English IPA’s are notoriously milder on the bitterness side of things compared to their American brethren. As well, they tend to be lower in alcohol content, as well (White Shield clocks in at 5.6% ABV, while most American IPA’s START at 6.5%). The flavor of most English IPA’s comes across more like an America Pale Ale in both bitterness and malt backbone.

So, keeping that in mind, how does White Shield stack up?

Well, the color upon pouring is a pale amber, with the thick fizzy head typical of abottle-conditioned beers. Thin trails of carbonation keep rising to the top of the glass, probably for far longer than it would take for you to down a bottle of it.

The aroma is sublime, with an herbal/earthy hop aroma (I’m guessing East Kent Goldings, with perhaps a bit of Fuggles, as well) wafting out over an undertone of toffeeish malt. None of it is overwhelming, and it all melds seamlessly.

The taste is well-matched to the aroma, with a more aggressive – but still mild by American standards – hop being most prominent. It is slightly flowery, slightly herbal, and… has another note I can’t quite identify. The caramel-y malt backbone is obvious throughout, and has slight notes of Asian pear on the mid-palate.

The finish is short and clean, as is typical of English ales.

All in all, this is a masterwork of the subtle art of English brewing. It won’t blow you away with flavor, but if you want a well-balanced offering that will go well with food and that you can drink for a whole evening without getting drunk, and also being able to enjoy the flavor, White Shield is an excellent choice. An added bonus is that the crown cap is about the coolest one out there.

Welcome to the new PGA 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.” This beer was rated…