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We see a similar narrative trajectory in the craft beer world. We know the broad outlines of the story. Insipid lager washes over North America like a tsunami in the post-war period, itself answering a desire for lighter beers. But then along comes a new generation of beer drinkers not content to drink marketing form over brewing substance. Hops carried the day, the more bitter and aromatic, the better.
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Pours the color of a ripe apricot with the blush on it. Hazy and almost opaque except for it does let enough light in for you to observe it’s lovely color and the bubbles that are starting their way up from the bottom. 2 fingers of white foam top the beer and last until they become a light layer of film on top.
Nose is funky with barnyard and earth. Wet damp earth. Some fruit tartness and a sour you can smell. A drop of vinegar and some overall lemon fruitiness. There is some vanilla on the nose that is like a fragrant flower that has grown in this earth and is sweetly in bloom.
Taste is outstanding. Funky, sour, citric, the embodiment of the lemon. The essence of the icy bright peel. The vinegar is not too strong. The earth and the wood come together as like is to like. The headiness of the fruit sweetness meets the light sweetness of the crisp wheat and lay a soft foundation for this dynamic beer. Sour, acidic, earthy, and with a touch of some kind of green but woody herb to round out the flavor. Dry crisp and bubbly mouthfeel.
This beer is intense. The coming together of powerful earth and a bright bit of uplifted sweetness. The shyness of the musty earth after it rains and the greeness that lies in wait for when the sun comes to shine again. The fruit is the culmination of this beer and is taken whole in it’s every aspect from sweet peel to the tartness of it’s flesh , right through to it’s final incarnation – sour and like vinegar in decay. This beer is truly a perfect wedding of elements.
4.
Maria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY and is frequent reviewer of beer and a beer lover deluxe.
Urban beekeeping went from hipster chic to mainstream when the first big hotel chain hired an apiarist. Now, hotels that are housing thousands of bees on their rooftops are adopting yet another hipster trend and brewing their own honey-infused beers.
Here, four hotels where you can get rooftop honey beer.
The Fairmont San Francisco
Made in partnership with the local Almanac Beer Company brewery, the Fairmont Hotel Honey Saison is a Belgian-style ale brewed with spicy noble hops and, of course, honey from the hotel’s four rooftop beehives. The hives are surrounded by rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, cilantro and lavender, which add a subtle herbaceous, floral flavor to the honey.
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The familiar smell of beer is due in part to aroma compounds produced by common brewer’s yeast. Now, researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Cell Reports, have discovered why the yeast, formally known as S. cerevisiae, make that smell: the scent attracts fruit flies, which repay the yeast by dispersing their cells in the environment.
Yeast lacking a single aroma gene fail to produce their characteristic odor, and they don’t attract fruit flies either.
“Two seemingly unrelated species, yeasts and flies, have developed an intricate symbiosis based on smell,” said Kevin Verstrepen of KU Leuven and VIB in Belgium. “The flies can feed on the yeasts, and the yeasts benefit from the movement of the flies.”
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Every night is Green Drinks Night at Asher’s all-organic brewery and taproom in Boulder, Colorado.
Surprised?
Probably not, though you should be.
In a town with as progressive a reputation as Boulder has, you’d be forgiven for expecting to find a handful of all-organic breweries.
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OK you guys! You have all heard me rave about Troegs. Heard me say how their beers are seamless, intricate and as delicate as a hand tatted piece of lace. Well this is a monster of a beer! This beer here seems to me to show Troegs as the skillful brewers they are.
They have created a west coast style mouthfeel that you cannot imagine. This is a 6.2 % beer that drinks like a session IPA. EXCEPT for the flavor of it which has the bit of alcohol in it. I think it’s tongue in cheek and is brilliant. Grapefruit with it’s inherent sweetness light even amidst all it’s pith and peel.
The biscuit malt dry, flaky and sweet without honey. There is a mysterious tropical fruit in this that at first seems to be the honey I am looking for, but then is really a light tropical fruit I cannot name. Light spice to finish this one with the perfect bitter. I remember talking about how a bitter in an IPA should come from underneath the beer and not ride roughshod over the entire flavor profile. That is what this one does. Now that’s BOLD brewing that speaks to what is possible and to what people seem to be clamoring for.
OH! I am in love. I only bought one and I have to admit I like it better than perpetual IPA which is more sugary than this one. This one is the tantalizing grapefruit and not 5 other things, light as an angel food cake.
4.5
Maria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY and is frequent reviewer of beer and a beer lover deluxe.
Pours the color of burnt caramel with a frothy head of khaki foam that’s creamy and lays itself on top of the beer. When the glass is not too full you can see cola colored hues and honey golds. Lace is shimmering like sea foam in the bright moonlight.
Nose is lush caramel and a fainter molasses. Coffee, chocolate and roasty malt. A sultry whiff of sweet bourbon and a bit of vanilla. The malt is earthy and fragrant. Some elusive dark fruits seem to flash and fade like twinkling stars but the one that lasts is a alight plum.
Taste is dry roasty malt with it’s sweet underpinnings. washes over the palate with a surprising milky sweetness. Strong bitter coffee, dry bittersweet chocolate, subtle vanilla and tempting bourbon. There is a wood so light on this that it seems to be afloat, weightless on the beer. A slight warmth from alcohol as this one finishes crisp, dry, thinnish to the palate but with a medium mouthfeel and with some hop bitter to linger alongside all that smooth caramel.
4.
Maria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY and is frequent reviewer of beer and a beer lover deluxe.
It’s that time of the year again when the leaves start to turn and the National Hockey League season begins. It’s also the time of year when thousands of thirsty craft beer enthusiasts converge upon Denver for that annual pilgrimage known as the Great American Beer Festival.
Equal parts serious beer connoisseurship, Bacchanalian revelry, and street carnival, the GABF may not be as large as Munich’s Oktoberfest, but it boasts a truly impressive cross-section of American breweries and an array of beers to match.
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The last thing hedonists participating in Oktoberfest this week need to hear is that beer can make you smarter. While that’s not true—as far as we know—new research suggests that a certain compound found in one of the main ingredients of beer can actually improve cognitive function.
Researchers at Oregon State University discovered that doses of xanthohumol, a flavonoid found in hops, improved memory and thinking in a lucky group of mice. Flavonoids are a class of compounds present in plants, known to have numerous health benefits. Last year, researchers discovered that a flavonoid found in celery and artichokes could potentially fight pancreatic cancer.
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