10. Devils Backbone Brewing Company, Lexington, VA
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Beer Profile: Blue Pants’ Peanut Butter Pinstripe Stout
Profiled by Ken Carman
Big rock head combined with some pillow, a slightly brown head holds and holds. Deep obsidian: 38 srm or more.
84 at BA.
83 at RB.
Peanut butter nose, but slight, some chocolate malt, slightest hint of roasted barley at best.
Taste is peanut butter, followed by the ghost of darker malts lingering in the background. To be honest to be more a “stout” could use just a hint more roasted barley.
Mouthfeel is full and a tad slick. Complex mix between a slight stick to the roof of the mouth peanut butter sense.
Peanut butter focus too high, a bit out of balance: though not excessive. Just needs more stout character. Not much: slight.
Says “export stout.” EXPORT? Hell, no. More a dry sweetened by…? …and peanut butter. Millie thought the sweet was lactose, I’m guessing that’s the chocolate… did they add milk chocolate or just malts? That also may explain a lactose sense. All I got was maybe chocolate MALTS.
Coffee? WHERE? Maybe slightest hint at best?
This is a pleasing, quite drinkable, quaff. But needs more to be as claimed.
4.
Welcome to the PGA beer rating system: one beer “Don’t bother.” Two: Eh, if someone gives it to you, drink. Three: very good, go ahead and seek it out, but be aware there is at least one problem. Four: seek it out. Five: pretty much “perfecto.”
___________________________________Beer HERE
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Ken Carman was born of a deity named Bill many moons ago when his wife Winnie was fermenting well at the time. That’s what they called it then, “fermenting,” though the yeast from same said vessel is really NOT suited for brewing. He is a beer judge, beer writer and reviewer of brew-based business, beer commentator and just a strange dude. He was a leprechaun last Halloween, and he could never get the green ink off.
Beer Profile: Yazoo’s Delicieux
Profiled by Ken Carman
Pale Ale fermented with Belgian yeast and two forms of Brett.
Tons of head that fades fast: pure pillow. A hazy gold/yellow. SRM probably 4-5.
Almost no aroma with just a hint of brett mix in the background. But I can forgive that because this would be the perfect crossover beer for those shy of the funk, but liking a good pale ale. The balance, otherwise: superb.
This is the best of both worlds. Obviously there’s a fine pale ale there with subtle, fruity, hopping: tad grapefruit, but the slight horse saddle, slight barnyard sense provides an earthy sense that makes the quaff more complex. Maybe some pepper phenolics. There’s also the slightest hint of rhubarb. This is NOT a high grav beer: low side of moderate at best. Mostly pale malt. As it warms the grapefruit fades, bitter rises a tad and some herbal
Perfection.
For a guy who is high grav focused, that’s even more a compliment.
4.7
No rating on BA yet, or found via google for RB. It’s a new brew.
Welcome to the PGA beer rating system: one beer “Don’t bother.” Two: Eh, if someone gives it to you, drink. Three: very good, go ahead and seek it out, but be aware there is at least one problem. Four: seek it out. Five: pretty much “perfecto.”
____________________________________________Beer HERE
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Ken Carman was born of a deity named Bill many moons ago when his wife Winnie was fermenting well at the time. He is a beer judge, beer writer and reviewer of brew-based business, beer commentator and BEER GOD. Do not challenge the one who ate too many hops one year, hence the green pigment you see to the left!
Beer Profile: Blackstone’s Pumpkin Ale
Profiled by Ken Carman
Welcome to the PGA beer rating system: one beer “Don’t bother.” Two: Eh, if someone gives it to you, drink. Three: very good, go ahead and seek it out, but be aware there is at least one problem. Four: seek it out. Five: pretty much “perfecto.”
______________________________Beer HERE
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Ken Carman was born. What you wanna know MORE? Ken was born male. MORE? Picky ain’t ya? Can’t you just leave a Certified beer judge, columnist since 1972, entertainer and educational service provider who lives in Tennessee and the Adirondacks, author of Autocide, a farce and fictional version of the auto industry in the year 2020, alone? Why should we tell you? Oh, wait. We jusy did. NEVER MIND.
Maple Tavern Owners in Trouble After Serving Minnesota Only Beer
This is what you get with the three tier system.-PGA
A Minnesota bar was busted for illegally pouring a Wisconsin exclusive.
The owners of Maple Grove’s Maple Tavern could face felony resale charges for selling pints of Spotted Cow, a farmhouse beer brewed in Wisconsin and distributed only in-state, police said.
The Minneapolis-area bartenders drove across the border and loaded up on kegs of the coveted New Glarus Brewing Co. ale before they were busted during a sting last week, KMSP reported.
Undercover officers went to the Maple Tavern on April 13 after several anonymous tips. The pub had been bragging on its Facebook that the elusive brew was on tap, and some customs reported seeing the handle behind the bar, police said.
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First Round: Nashville, with Dee Gross
4 Rules for Finding a Drinking Buddy In the World of Craft Beer
The wild world of craft beer is a wonderful, beautiful thing. My 10 years of magical memories (and many a hazy, hop-fueled night) in this hobby are a testament to that. But for all its merits, the beer community isn’t exactly conducive to newcomers, especially now that the “craft beer movement†has fully hit its stride. Every passionate pastime has its share of bad apples, and when it comes to craft beer, there can be an awful lot of downright assholes ruining the fun for everyone.
By and large, beer nerds are fine, upstanding people but occasionally, we can be petty, immature, insecure, and completely exclusionary to someone who’s just discovered life outside of BMC (Bud/Miller/Coors). Seriously, look at all the crap that fresh craft converts get whenever they ask innocent questions such as “What are sour beers?†or “Where can I buy a bottle of Pliny the Younger?â€
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In the Cool Shade of the Beer Garden
Written by Franz Hofer for A Tempest in a Tankard
It was one of those August days when the sun-baked cobblestones seem to transcend themselves in mirage-like fashion. Since arriving in Salzburg earlier that day, we had been exploring a baroque palace here, a castle overlooking the city there, and churches everywhere. Definitely time for a beer, one of my friends declared. Another suggested a visit to the Augustiner, where we could relax in its chestnut grove with a cold beer. With one last burst of energy we glided across the foot bridge over the Salzach and climbed the hill in the direction of the Augustiner.
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Elysian’s Dick Cantwell Resigns From A-B InBev
Just three months after the brewery he helped start was acquired, Dick Cantwell has
resigned from Elysian Brewing and Anheuser-Busch InBev, Brewbound has learned.
“I am a craft brewer, however you cut it,” he wrote to Brewbound in an email. “A-B has been extremely courteous through all of this, presenting exciting opportunities to me and my brewing folks, but I can’t do it.”
It makes for a quick end to a union that had been shaky from the start: when the acquisition of the 20-year-old Seattle based brewery was announced in January, Cantwell expressed his opposition to striking a deal with the world’s largest brewer.
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Tom Becham Reviews: Sours
Written by Tom Becham
It seems appropriate since my last article took to task the fans of sour and barrel-aged beers that my latest review should be about sour beers.
It goes without saying that since sour beers (usually) rely on both spontaneous fermentation and bacterial action to attain their unique flavor profiles, sour beers can be wildly variable. Certain amounts of control can be obtained by blending, but there are always some factors that will vary from year-to-year, and even batch-to-batch. That said, certain allowances must be made for sours.
First on my list is Almanac’s Farmer’s Reserve Strawberry. Almanac falls under the category of “Most Undeserving of the Incredible Reputation They Possess,†for me. I’ve tried over a dozen of their sours, and with one or two exceptions (Valley of the Heart’s Delight was quite good), they were, at best, mediocre. Nothing different with their Strawberry. Strawberry can be difficult to work with, as the flavor fades extremely quickly. But for a fairly new vintage, I wouldn’t have even known this had strawberries in it, were it not for the label on the bottle. Continue reading “Tom Becham Reviews: Sours”
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