Category: Beer

Profiled by Ken Carman for professorgoodales.net

I really, really, really wished I had bought a second bottle for my beer tastings in the Adirondacks this summer. Black as all hell, full brownish head that fades, yet clings at the end as if it doesn’t want to give up. A bit pillow. There’s a barrel sense to this: bourbon barrel-ish. that lingers. Medium body that, with all that’s going on here, might fool some as “full.”

I have had many Yazoo beers. This is the best, and the most interesting, I have ever had. A damn shame it’s a one off. Nose a bit sweet, with malt background; somewhat roasted. Bourbon nose dominants, with a woody: almost oak, sense. Pours as if it is a lot heavier than it is.

Taste: bourbon, lactic, roast very much in the background. This is a very delicate, a tad sweet, and a beyond “pleasant” quaff. It’s not as much dark as it is multi-layered.
Continue reading “Beer Profile: Yazoo’s Fortuitous”

Profiled by Ken Carman for Professorgoodales.net

Aroma: citrus grapefruit Cascade/Centennial-ish, But there’s a subtle rye sense: spicy; seems to balance the citrus with a hint of pepper: probably the rye. Visual: copper, pillow head with a hint of rock. Clarity good.

Mouthfeel caramel chewy: slight malt heaviness but, to be honest… this is moderate in body. Sweet, yet firm dry sense without being over bearing.

I have had many Sierra beers, but this is one of the best balanced when it comes to Specialty. It’s a nice IPA with a good background spicy rye sense: a bit peppery.

This beer is deceptive: you would think a rather simple brew… but not. There’s a great body and a nice background rye sense that merges well with the American-citrus-like hops

Written by Ken Carman for Professorgoodales.net

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.

The Topic: Tasting for the Test

For the uninitiated, let me start here with a very brief: incomplete, synopsis. Judging at BJCP beer competitions is somewhat regulated by the BJCP who has a test that ranks you as a judge. I am Certified: which is in the middle of the rankings. One does not have to pass the test to judge, you become an apprentice. One doesn’t even have to take the test to judge: you simply check “experienced,” or “unranked,” or whatever they happen to have on the current official judging form. Most of the time you won’t be head of the table, which technically means you have a boss: the highest ranked judge at the table. I don’t tend to run it that way unless necessary, and I’ve never had to. The only time we came close is when one judge insisted we sit in utter silence through all 11 or so beers… (A bit high for one round of judging, but that’s what we had.) ..and only go back over; adjust scores so we’re within a certain spread… often 3-7 points. I thought it not the best approach, so the other Certified judge and I compromised.

Recently the BJCP has changed the test, at least the parameters on the test, again. I’d like to focus on one aspect of that change.
Continue reading “Brew Biz: Werts and All”

Profiled by Ken Carman for professorgoodales.net

Nestle’s Quick. For anyone who has had Nestles Quick: dominant taste and aroma. Color: dark amber, clarity great with amber highlights. Head pillow with a hint of rock. Mouthfeel: Nestle’s Quick. Hint of peppers. There are several peppers here but they are way in the background. The peppers are more in the mouthfeel: which while wonderful: needs to be more in the taste. Why put them in unless a little more dominant? Pepper sense kept fading in and out, probably because peppers were late additions or dry hopped. Body is full: even a tad chewy. But that is more the cocoa and the peppers: not as much the malts they brag about on the bottle which are well hidden.

Needs just a few more early additions: just a tad to make it more dominant in the taste.

Nice, pure white, pillow head.

The taste is incredible. Great chocolate background. “Mole” is appropriate, as in a mole you might prepare for cooking. This dominants with a malt mouthfeel background that supports; but unfortunately never quite expresses itself. The peppers seem to pop in and out out, I suspect because they’re more in the aroma, a bit less in the taste as the beer warms.

Or, hey, you could just back off just a smidge on the mole guys! That might make the rest express itself a tad more.

But, if you would a like Nestles Cocoa beer, this is for you. Very pleasant and appealing.

Kevin: a man in love with a great system. But as brewers we tend to be in love with great brew systems. We know the… drill.-Ken

Editor’s note: this was passed on to The Professor by our own Ken Carman. Welcome to Music City Brewers who click the link in The Brew-Score to see “the full report.” Ken has also added a note here and there. For homebrewers brewing has become an occasional communal experience where more heads can make a better brew, and a fun time! Brewing is, if nothing else, a creative endeavor.- The Professor

Written by Kevin Jones for The Brew-Score

Ed Wildermouth, Pat Bush, Ken Johnson, Julieann Kapelan, Patrick and I brewed a Belgian Wit (Wit Your Whistle) during the February MCB meeting. I included a text version of the recipe below.

I had some excellent help that day from our five MCB members. They were interested in learning more about transitioning to all grain brewing so I was happy they took me up on my offer to do a joint brew.

Brew day went great. We (I) had the usual amount of oops moments. Such as… while explaining how the malt husk-supplied enzymes would convert the flaked grains, I realized that we (I) had forgot to add the flaked grains to the mash! No problem, we were only a few minutes into the mash, so a quick add and another 45 minute wait for conversion. Our target was 20 gallons at an OG of 1.055. We got 20 gallons at 1.054. Gotta love the ProMash program.
Continue reading “When Brewers Gather Together to Brew: A Brew Session Report”

Readers at PGA may remember this Nashville-based brewery from a Ken Carman column about a year ago. This beer is about to be released this weekend. For further information please click… HERE.

Written by Brandon Jones for embracethefunk.com

About 9 years ago when I was first learning to brew I remember hearing about this new brewery planning to open in Nashville. A guy I worked with knew I liked good beer so he told me about his buddy Linus who also knew how to brew beer. Well he happened to be the guy who was opening the new brewery called Yazoo. A few months later I remember meeting Linus and trying his beer for the first time at The Music City Brewers Festival. Chit chatting with him at the festival I remember thinking what a nice guy he was to give me some brewing tips and to take time for beer chat. Fast forward to 2011…while much has changed like Yazoo outgrowing their old location at the Marathon Motorworks building or the fact you can order a Yazoo at almost any restaurant in Nashville, one thing that hasn’t changed is Linus still makes the time to sit a chat about beer. I’ve been fortunate enough to follow Yazoo from the beginning and in 2009 even brew a batch of beer on their system for a taproom only release. 
Continue reading “Yazoo “Fortuitous”…A Conversation With Linus Hall”

Profiled by Tom Becham for Professor Goodales

Widmer Brothers is one of the more widely-known, and one of the earliest participants in the craft brewing game.  Their Hefeweizen (which is actually an American Wheat Ale and not a true Hefeweizen) almost singularly popularized wheat beers in America.  Lately, their efforts have seemed somewhat bland and lifeless compared to a lot of the extreme brewing going on in the craft community.

Hence, Widmer recently introduced the Brothers’ Reserve series.  These are limited edition beers with unusual ingredients, higher alcohol levels, and/or stronger tastes.  They have been somewhat hit-and-miss for me.

So, upon first seeing Widmer’s Brothers’ Reserve Lemongrass Wheat Ale, I was intrigued enough to pick up a bottle.

My wife and I split the bomber into Belgian chalice glasses after lunch one afternoon.

The first thing noticeable about this beer is the bright orange-yellow color, almost like a Saison.  The head is somewhat small for a wheat beer, probably due to the high alcohol content (9% ABV).

The aroma is pretty much as expected.  Lemongrass dominates the nose, with small hints of graininess, some grape, and a tiny bit of bubble-gum phenol.  Upon discovering the grape aroma, I looked at the bottle again, and discovered that the beer is also made with muscat grape juice.  Hmmm.  This was going to be interesting…
Continue reading “Beer Profile: Widmer Lemongrass Wheat Ale”

Written by Ken Carman for Professorgoodales.net

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

The Topic: Brew Ghosts

One of the most haunting things about getting older is the ghosts. Oh, I don’t mean the obvious: parents, pets, the bullies we buried in our backyard. Shhh… don’t tell the police. I mean floors we used to walk that don’t exist anymore, places we and our friends used to play, walk and, yes, even drink beer: like The Barber Shop in Utica, New York. When I was in college it was a fun place to go drink dark beer for a 50 cents a glass and eat small paper trays of shelled peanuts for free.

The Barber Shop advertised “Where John and Mary meet.” Well, like my ex-girlfriends who I took there, John and Mary don’t meet anymore: the streets rerouted like our lives, as time tends to do. Or the fact that one such ex… short redhead… was a total b…

Never mind.

Then you have breweries. I used to hang around Newman’s in downtown Albany, NY: one of the first craft breweries when the trend started to nibble on the northeast in the 80s and 90s. Newman’s was in a somewhat disgusting part of downtown that, since Newman’s is long gone, has probably gone to “brewing” less legal substances.

Sorry. That was a not so funny… crack… I just made.

Cough Cough.

Then you have Laughing Pines in Slidell, Louisiana, and many other breweries long gone.

I think that’s why the following story caught my interest from syracuse.com…

The Otisca Building, a historic but hazardous former brewery that looms over a block of Butternut Street on Syracuse’s (NY) North Side, is destined to be demolished within weeks.

City officials plan to seize the rambling two- and three-story brick complex for back taxes and sell it to a company controlled by St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center and Home HeadQuarters, which will pay for the six-figure demolition.”

But the story doesn’t end there…

Continue reading “Brew Biz: Werts and All”