Category: Beer

Reported by Ken Carman for Professor Goodales

A few weeks ago fellow Music City brewers gathered under this holy symbol for what many would consider an unholy activity.

Centuries ago some might have considered demons had entered our beer, or witches cursed it. Now we know defects are caused by wayward yeast, improper fermentation temperatures and other variables. Thank God, especially when it comes to yeast problems, we have been able to put those myths out to “Pasteur.”

Pause for a brief musical humor break sung to my recently spoiled homebrew: “Louie, Lou-i, oh, wort, wild yeasties put a spell on you!”

Of course, since learning to identify beer defects is a holy of sorts for beer judges and homebrewers, we need a high priest. Enter Father Stephanica Johnson, holder of the holy grail: a Certified BJCP Judge-ship, plus president of our brew club many times over. As Steve knows I’m Certified too. Many in the club know as well. Quite “certified.” Ahm…

OK, Steve isn’t really a priest, and he certainly wasn’t “high,” except maybe only on helping us all learn more about DMS and diacetyl. So we all sat and studied defects, listened to descriptions of defects as a light, yet polluted, beer was passed out.

Yum!

Yum!

Continue reading “Drinking Bad Beer for “Fun””

Profiled by Ken Carman

I believe I may have Foreign Extra in Montreal a long time ago. But so long ago: hard to be certain. Wiki does not have it currently being sold in Canada, but hey… twas way back in the American beer dark ages: the early 70s.

Both decent head, the Foreign seems to have a little more depending upon the pour. So… probably about the same. The Extra is obsidian with a few vague garnet highlights. Foreign is just obsidian.

Aroma on the Extra is a little soured, as expected due to Guinness addition of a bit of soured beer. Deep grain sense that could be mistaken at first for a lot of Black Patent roast, but more very roasted barley sense.

The Foreign has almost a slight phenolic sense, and little to no soured: just malt and roasted barley… more than the Extra.

Mouthfeel: the Extra… foamy carbonation tingle and deep roast. Foreign: alcohol higher, smoky… peated malt perhaps? Can you “peat” roasted barley? I would think so. Less foamy carb.

Taste: the Extra seems lighter and, again, a bit soured. The Foreign is impressively malty and roasted barley-ish. So much more complex. As it warms you do get more “soured” sense, but the malt.roasted barley mix dominates. Both have about the dame level hopping, which obviously means more hops in the Foreign, otherwise that would seem less hoppy due to body/abv jump.

Overall, as much as I like Extra, Foreign is just so much more to enjoy: Guinness on steroids. I recommend both, but prefer the Foreign: only cause as I have said so many times, “I have taste buds that need beating.”

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.

Written by Ken Carman

A Brief History of Home Brew Stores in Nashville, TN

This is going to be more than a bit sketchy. Most of these folks I never even knew their last names. But home brew stores have grow along with the hobby. They are more than a mirror or a reflecting pool. Sometimes they have led the charge. And sometimes, even these days, they have held back progress.

The first store, owned by Wine Art out of Ohio I believe, was Little Ole Winemaker in the Green Hills area. I was a new resident of the Nashville area and working as a security guard to make ends meet. This was 1978. That’s right: 78. I was making my rounds when, in the store front, I saw a sign, “Make Your Own Beer!”

I walked in and asked the shopkeep, “This is legal?”

“Oh, yeah, they just made it legal.”

Her name was Joan and I will never forget her. You will soon understand why. She was thin, about 5’5′, kind of sandy brown/gray, curly, short hair… but not “butch” short, as we would have referred to it back then. Hey, it was still the 70s.
Continue reading “Brew Biz: Werts and All”

Profile by Ken Carman

In the 90s I was touring northeast Ohio and decided to pop into the Thirsty Dog on the northwest side of Akron, back when The Dogs were a small Ohio brewpub chain. Often, after performing as an entertainer, I would stop and write something about what happened during the show. Honestly? It was an excuse to try local cuisine and good beer.

I sat at the bar and asked what they had that was hoppy. I sighed to myself when I heard the answer, “Only an ‘ESB?'” A moment later the tender came back and I sipped a little, wrote a little and… “wait, there’s another hop in here…” wrote a little, and… “Damn, another hop!”

That ESB literally unfolded one hop at a time as it warmed. I immediately asked if the brewer was in. It takes talent, a knowledge of brew science and hops to do that. While I have had some incredibly great hopped up beers over the years, no other brewer’s beer has come close to that amazing experience since.

Fred Karm: short, black hair, beer/brew hyper in an absolutely pleasing way for those of us fascinated with the craft, looks a bit different than the picture from Hoppin Frog’s web site. In fact, if you’ve ever seen Warehouse 13 on SyFy, Stargate SG-1, Unforgiven or Rush Hour 2, he looks a lot these days like the picture of a young Saul Rubinek you see to your right. The height is about right too. I found it a bit spooky.

Last year I wrote a Brew Biz column on Ohio brewer Tim Rastetter and the new Thirsty Dog; my second interview with Tim over the years, and asked Tim what ever happened to Fred. He told me he was at Hoppin Frog. I should have known: I’m a giant fan of extreme beers and have given out samples of B.O.R.I.S., their Russian Imperial, at my two yearly summer beer tastings in Beaver River Station, NY, and at Big Bob’s Barley Wine Bash on Pensacola Beach every September.

Of course I did. How could I resist sharing a beer with a fascinating name, label and such a grand savor: all before I knew it was a GABF Gold Medal winner in 2008?

I promised Fred I would come back and do a Brew Biz on Hoppin Frog in June. Right now they’re expanding and pictures simply wouldn’t do it justice. It may be August, depending upon my schedule. I will stop by though.

Continue reading “Brewer Profile: Fred Karm”

Written by Tom Becham for Professorgoodales.net

On the next leg of our journey to Northern California, my wife and I stopped in San Francisco for a few days. Besides some of the more obviously touristy stuff, we also did some beer tourism.

Our first beer-related stop was at the Magnolia Pub and Brewery. Located in the Haight-Ashbury District of San Francisco, the neighborhood around the Magnolia still retains a bit of the old funky, hippie-ish vibe it was known for in the 60’s and 70’s, but with a more tourist-centric aspect now. The interesting people watching on the streets could fill a volume on its own. Continue reading “The Beer Highway in Northern California, Part II”

Profiled by Ken Carman

I have had Ommegang Abbey many times. I’ve met the brewers and shared a mutual goal: brainstorming a trube problem for another brewer in Pensacola. It is a very complex Belgian Brown Ale fermented in open fermentation tanks right here in the states in Milford, NY just south of Cooperstown, NY. Half moon Belgian farmhouse brewery. You drive through the middle of the building to get to the parking lot.

Some list it as a Dubbel. Taste wise, that could be accurate. Brown might work too. But while all Browns aren’t Flanders sour, there is a tendency to think of Belgian Browns as such.

Out of the bottle it foams, and foams and… hard to pour. A bit more of a very dark, hazy, amber, or light brown with a tinge of red. Head fades fast but lingers with just a bit of head at the very end.

Mouthfeel pure foam at first. Caramelization in the malt and that very obvious Abbey yeast that dominates the taste on the roof of the mouth. It clings with an almost brassy feel.

The taste is, again, the yeast and the caramelized and brown malts. The foam adds to the pleasure. The viscosity is moderate, yet the seems to complexity belie that. I’m guessing most think of this as a “heavy” beer, but it’s not. Hops are very background and… aged?

I would recommend this for anyone looking for an interesting, complex, less than sour Belgian Brown, or a Belgian Dubbel. In short: I recommend it. And on the plus side, brewed in America!