From the Bottle Collection: Silverback Gorilla #9


 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

 I know, I haven’t written for a while. I have no excuses. And this hasn’t been brewed for quite a while. I’m sure they have plenty of “excuses;” better known as “reasons:” formerly brewed in Dubuque, Iowa, like they went out of business in 2006? This has been on my best of shelf for a long time.
 This was the first coffee beer I ever had, I remember it being dark but not real stout-ish. Just enough dark to balance out the coffee. Indeed, just guessing, I think the base beer may have been like a London Brown is: a tad sweet. Therefore the balance.
 Since then I have had quite a few coffee beers and, to be honest, I’m a tad gun shy. Some are quite good. Too damn many are like chewing on coffee grounds, and a very small portion of them… really, there’s coffee in there?
 This was brewed by Dubuque Brewing Company. It’s very hard to track them down because, apparently, they weren’t in business that long, or/and it was so long ago, and there was a long lived brewery of the same name that died due to Prohibition.
⁦The label claims Dubuque Brewery was America’s oldest micro brewery. The was a Dubuque Star Brewery, but there’s no way to tell if they were ever connected. History sites seem to skip over it.
 A bloody shame that such a unique beer seems to have been lost in brew-lore.

 From the Bottle collection is a column by Ken Carman: homebrewer since 1979, collector of bottles and such, Certified beer judge and columnist. Ken Lives in Nashville, Tennessee, Eagle Bay and Beaver River, NY.
©Copyright 2018
Ken Carman and Cartentual Productions
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