Category: Beer

Written by Ye Olde Scribe for Professorgoodales.net

Avast Maties! Sprecher the Black Bavarian pirate here. Tis cold these nights as we look for booty on the high seas. But da women think we stink too much so we gets no booty at all? So, to satisfy our thirst, and down our lustful desires, we often down a bottle or ten of Sprecher Black Bavarian, named after da Captain himself, otherwise known as Ye Olde Scribe with extra sea barnacles. No extra charge.

It glimmers in the glass like dark ruubies and has a nice roasty nose right in the glass. Just fish it out with your nostrils, landlubbers! Tis almost a stout to the taste. Did they put some roasted barley in this delight? A medium body, far nicer than the on ship wench who graces the front of the boat. Ya’y ya may get wood looking at her but since she’s made of wood, good luck.

Has just the right amountr of bubbly to it. A great malty mouthfeel yet medium to medium low body! The brewer tis a Captain of Brewing, he is, if not an admiral! Almost as if a double concoction was used, what ever da hell dat means!

 

 

Profiled by Ken Carman for Professor Goodales

Nice long lasting head, brown, caramelized nose but not much else, lots of body to the mouthfeel with darker malt sense: perhaps a tad to heavy for a Scottish, this is very interesting. Kind of an odd Scottish Heavy with parts of the profile on steroids, and at least one a little bit off.

Did they put chocolate malt in this? Maybe Marris Otter too? The Marris is already, but I’d drop this amount of chocolate in the mouthfeel and taste.

The carbonation in the body is light, which is OK for the style. Not as sweet as say Old Peculier, but a tad sweet malt-wise. Hops: none, but none expected. Way in the back of the taste if at all. But that’s the style.

This is a beer you should try for yourself.

That surprises me I would even give that recommendation. The last French Broad (no perv jokes, please) I tried was pretty bad. Rye Hopper: so astringent I had to toss the rest of the bottle. Both BJCP judges felt the same: one Certified, one an Apprentice. Maybe I got a bad bottle? It does happen, I know. But there’s too much beer out there to try, and to profile for The Professor I won’t waste my money. Rye Hopper was so bad I probably wouldn’t try it again. The kind of “bad” that gives craft a crappy reputation. Yet the astringency really seemed like the rye and the hops, through one hell of a long boil, had combined to bite back: hard.

This had none of the astringency, and even had a hint of peated malt: not unexpected in the style.

But I think I’ll try another French Broad. Hopefully she won’t slap me with astringency again. Damn, there I go doing what I promised not to do!

Profiled by Ken Carman for Professor Goodales

I love Barley Wine. I paid almost $20 for this champagne bottle of Abomniable… explaining why I’m kind of pissed. This had all the markings of a great Barley Wine packaging-wise, but it was Barley Wine light: mouthfeel, taste, aroma-wise. Looks good: solid gold, a bit foggy probably due to chill, plenty of head with a mostly pillow to it. So far so good, though the pour seemed a little light gravity-wise. But then I hit the aroma. Hops: some, not much else. Usually there’s some sweet complexity to the nose that damn near drags me into the bottle. The hops were citrus-y. I usually resist fruit comparisons because it does true fruit beers a disfavor, but this was that Centennial-like citrus some compare to grapefruit. I do a grapefruit ale. trust me: not the same. Where the hell is the alcohol? Where’s the body? This was more a nice, somewhat sweet, IPA over all. Do not spend 20 on this. It’s not worth it if you’re looking for Barley Wine.

I looked over several reviews and found the color seems to vary. Perhaps the malt profile varies from batch to batch, though I seemed consistent with other reviews otherwise. Note: I might have given a better review if the price wasn’t a bit out of line for the product. Regardless of the bottle size I expect one hell of a Barley Wine for 20. I’m one of the supplier’s for Big Bob’s Barley Wine bash in Pensacola and you can get better, more punchy, Barley Wines for less than 20, and in large bottles too. Might qualify as an American-hopped English of the style, though the body should be more substantial in that case.

Profiled by Ken Carman for professorgoodales.net

Greeted by very fine bubble head upon first pour and a vanilla, smoked, whiskey aroma: this beer is as advertised. You can taste the whiskey barrel. The sweet vanilla clings to the roof of the mouth as the smoked, peated, whiskey sense passes over the tongue.

Ratebeer has this as an Imperial Strong Porter. No way. Tis not heavy. In fact, though black as any stout, it seems more a moderate bodied ale with all already mentioned. Hops: not really present. It’s almost sweet despite the whiskey sense, that due to the vanilla. A decent amount of carbonation pierces the tongue, lightly as bubbles flow over the palate. Red Brick says “Porter.” That seems more accurate. Perhaps a Brown Porter, not Robust.

Why would anyone drink Bud or Miller when you can have something as interesting as this?

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: A Marketing Wish for the New Brew Year

If I had a few wishes come true for the New Brew Year, when it comes to the commercial beer scene, one would be for better marketing. I was leafing through an April 2011 Beeradvocate I had never read… yeah, I know, I’m slow… and I saw a blurb about Mexico’s Cerveceria marketing beer specifically targeted towards the GLBT community: Gay, Lesbian, Bi and Trans. Please, if the terms have changed, excuse my ignorance: there is no intent here to offend. And I’d like to state up front that I have no problem with someone appealing to this community.

But when when it comes to beer there is no GLBT only beer, no hetero only beer, no only homophobic beer, no skinhead only beer, no beer only for people of color of all kinds… (What? Since I’m white does that make me translucent?) Just like there’s no White only, or Black only, food. There’s just beer.
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

Look!

Over, or up, there!

Is it a bird?

Is it a million tornadoes, nuclear destruction, or fire, or a flood?

Is it a comet, or an asteroid?

Killer virus?

Or will the Mayans just give us the bird?

Being New Years and all, as you may of heard: and if you haven’t you really need to crawl out from under that Stone Mountain-size pebble you’ve been living under, this is the last year for humanity. The Mayans, who somehow missed Cortez and are now extinct, somehow managed to predict that this is the year we’ll all give up our holy, and less than holy, ghosts: or spirits if you will.

So, let’s par-tay!

But if I had to choose only ten beers before the calendar kacks us all… damn this is so hard… which ones would I choose? There’s so many that have been, oh, so delightful. No insult to those who didn’t make the list but still I love. Hey, I was headed to my apocalypse bunker so I grabbed quick.

So here are my top ten: not in order of best to better, or better to best; which is why I used letters instead of 1-10. They’re all just heavenly quaffs to have before I go to hell, or heaven, or the planet Beetlejuice where the death zombie bureaucrats will occupy my time as I avoid sandworms…

Continue reading “From the Bottle Collection: Ten Beers to Have Before the Mayans Kill Us All”

Profiled by Ken Carman forprofessorgoodales.net

The Vixen
Samuel Adams

If you have a beer for the New Year this is one I would recommend: chocolate dominates, slightly in the taste. Slight Bock lager sense but very much in the background. Deep malt complexity evident without a lot of very roast-y, or astringent sense, like over use of Black Patent. Munich seems evident in the malt mix but blends well. Very well balanced.

Mouthfeel is full with slight sweet malt sense. Nose is sweet too with some Bock-lager yeast sense. No hops. Some chocolate in the nose too. The sweet is a light, sweet, pepper sense in the background. Hey! Tis a pepper beer too, which is very much in the background and probabky responsible, in part, for sweet. Very smooth; almost soft and cushion-y.

This beer doesn’t have a lot of nose, but it makes up for it with everything else with a deep malt in all of the other parameters: mouthfeel, taste and appearance. Appearance: black as midnight, pours thick with nice tan head, a mix between rock and mostly pillow. A sweet chocolate Bock in a glass, kind of a mix between dark and milk chocolate.

The complexity here is fascinating and I think with take a while to uncover, I shall “suffer” through it… with great joy. I am no lager fan, but this is a damn good beer.

One Bottle Collection beer for every day before Christmas. Rating system: not actually meant as a “tense” comment. All these beers either don’t exist anymore, or I tasted in the past. Hopefully, if not so hot before, they’re better now. If they do still exist. Or hopefully, if not better they’re as dead as the… Dickens.

Note: the ghosts have varied a bit over the various versions, but even Mr. Magoo’s version the Future was bleak. In the pictures chosen for this series the most visually pleasing ghost was Present.

Ghost of Christmas Present… remember him? Jolly, fun: the kind of guy you’d invite to a party for the season, and the kind of beer you could bring to a festive affair and not be totally laughed out of the room by festive beer geeks. That’s the best a beer gets in this series. Now Ghost of Christmas Past isn’t a great award. You can see from the picture he can be a bit of a grump. Probably from mediocre’ beer. And best not bring a Ghost of Christmas Past Beer to a beer geek festive affair. You’ll be the limp wet noodle of the party. A Ghost of Christmas Future beer? You remember that guy, right? If you want to be laughed at, have to bring most of your offering home and feel like you’ve just attended your own funeral instead of a party, bring a Ghost of Christmas Future beer. Some Ghost of Future Beer might best serve as embalming fluid.

Written by Ken Carman

Stark Mill Holiday

Wow. I do remember this. Stark is no longer in business. The last thing I knew Milly’s Tavern replaced it. I would assume some of the owners, or the staff, are the same since they had a beer with Milly’s picture on it: a black Lab I believe. Just an assumption. Looks like they no longer brew this according to Milly’s site. The Facebook page still uses “Stark Brewing.” There’s a coffee concern in the same restaurant: Stark had the same and a coffee beer.

I remember the brewery as a bit cellar-ish. The beer as complex… a lot of malt: deeply dark with a big, multi, grain. The abv was a tad high but not a sink into the alcoholic warmth beer. More just right for the rather substantial body. Just like the hops. Centennial? That’s a little tougher to remember, to be honest. If it twere spiced: not much. I think I would remember that.

So our highest award goes to Stark’s Holiday.
Continue reading “From the Bottle Collection: 1 Day Before Christmas Beer”