Posts

Posted on

Beer Profile: Saranac Legacy IPA

Profiled by Ken Carman for PGA

Beer-Profile1-258x300saranaclegacy

85% on Beer Advocate, 77 Rate Beer.

Bordering on being a Pale, but still an IPA, Legacy is splendor in a glass. The clarity is superb with jewel like light yellow highlights. SRM about 3. Fine bubble head mixed with pillow it seems to linger forever.

Aroma: pale malt way in background with hops dominate… light pepper spicy. These are not pepper-like phenols: hop driven, and not strong in any sense. Hint of malt sweetness.

This presentation is Utica Club-like, but the taste is that of a fine ale yeast, pale malt: light, and solid hop bitter. A hop focused light ale, yet the malt supports that as the perfect platform. A fine quaff for sure. Smooth, easy to down as one admires a remote Adirondack lake.

Impressive in its perfection.

4.5

3361242-simple-drawing-of-a-pint-of-beer-isolated-on-white3361242-simple-drawing-of-a-pint-of-beer-isolated-on-white3361242-simple-drawing-of-a-pint-of-beer-isolated-on-white3361242-simple-drawing-of-a-pint-of-beer-isolated-on-white

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.”

1-2-3-4-5-fingers-on-hand1

____________________________________________Beer HERE

IMG_20141004_160514791_HDRKen Carman, on the right, is an obnoxious man who smells like over roasted Fruit Loops and who just happens to own PGA. Don’t like it? Tough bananas baby.

Posted on

The Uncritical Embrace of Craft Beer?

Written by Fraz Hofer for Tempest in a Tankard

IMG_1176We 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.

Want to drink in more? Please click…

HERE

Posted on

Beer Profile: Boon Oude Gueze Marriage Parfait

Profiled by Maria Devan for PGA

pgaprofileparfait

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.

3361242-simple-drawing-of-a-pint-of-beer-isolated-on-white3361242-simple-drawing-of-a-pint-of-beer-isolated-on-white3361242-simple-drawing-of-a-pint-of-beer-isolated-on-white3361242-simple-drawing-of-a-pint-of-beer-isolated-on-white

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.”

1-2-3-4-5-fingers-on-hand1

_____________________________________Beer HERE

meMaria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY and is frequent reviewer of beer and a beer lover deluxe.

Posted on

Beer Profile: Paulaner Salvator

Profiled by Maria Devan for PGA

pgaprofilesalavator
Pours a hazy pastel orange with subtle honey hues in it. A fat head of tan foam that is slow to fall.

Nose is malty. Brown crusty bread. Rich dry malt that is expansive on the nose.

As the beer warms a hint of chocolate comes forward. Light caramel sweetness underneath There is a dark fruit presence. Some prune, raisin and a faint whiff of alcohol. Taste is malty and rich. bread-y malt, dry and crisp. The middle of the drink is fruity. The edges have some grassy hops in them and the finish has a touch of medicinal alcohol. The alcohol dries out the palate and the malt lingers with a light bit of that caramel sweetness. A bit of bitterness comes from grass and from alcohol to finish this one dry. Lighter mouthfeel than some dopplebocks but medium and full enough. Slight warming from alcohol.

4.

3361242-simple-drawing-of-a-pint-of-beer-isolated-on-white3361242-simple-drawing-of-a-pint-of-beer-isolated-on-white3361242-simple-drawing-of-a-pint-of-beer-isolated-on-white3361242-simple-drawing-of-a-pint-of-beer-isolated-on-white

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.”

1-2-3-4-5-fingers-on-hand1

_____________________________________Beer HERE

meMaria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY and is frequent reviewer of beer and a beer lover deluxe.

Posted on

4 Hotels Making Rooftop Honey Beers

 

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.

Want to read more? Please click…

HERE

Posted on

Beer Smells Good to Attract Flies

Fly eating from a yeast colony. Image: Cell Reports, Christiaens et al.

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.”

Want to read more? Please click…

HERE

Posted on

A Beer Judge’s Diary: The Old Forge Old Ale Competition, Part 2

By Ken Carman
By Ken Carman
 Well, I wasn’t eaten.
  Are you surprised?
 Disappointed?
 Hungry?
 Well, I’m NOT on the menu, or at least I wasn’t that night.
  Being the only person on a lake: miles away from any house, I still wonder. By morning it was obvious that someone, or “something,” had an issue with the on site outhouse door with heavy springs that probably kept them out, or kept slapping them on the posterior. Who, or what dragged a rock and then put it between an outhouse and its door? At thirty minutes past midnight? At a campsite half way around a lake that’s not even the main part of said campsite?
 Was it someone desperate to bring me a late entry but decided to dump it?
 Someone who passed by several outhouses past midnight to do a different kind of dump far off the beaten path?
 Who “beats” these paths, and do they complain? Call 911? Should I have called 911?
 No cell phone service.
 Or, was that what’s considered the “caviar,” or “sirloin tips” of late night snacks for bears?”
 OK, when I lived here they fed at the dumps, so… maybe?
 Gross.
 Anywhosie…
 I arrived at The Back Door early and my judges were right on time. Continue reading “A Beer Judge’s Diary: The Old Forge Old Ale Competition, Part 2”

Posted on

Beer Profile: Kulshan Brewing Co. Bastard Kat India Pale Ale

Thanks Terry Urbanik for the chance to try this wonderful beer.

pgaprofilePours perfect yellow amber with a fat creamy head of foam that lasts and leaves a bit of lace before receding to a thin ring. Looks perfectly clear at first glance but then reveals some very tiny particles floating in suspension. By the time I am done with the glass they are gone. The beer has some small bubbles floating upwards.

The nose is lovely bright lemon that becomes sweeter and more bountiful as the beer warms. That is met by a bright bit of orange.

Lovely combination on a soft and subtle sugar cookie malt. Light as your grandmother would make. There is a serenity in this malt that is both delicate and crisp. It verges on so many things but stays true to it’s simplicity always . Light spice as the beer comes toward the finish which is delightfully light and dry. West coast style mouthfeel all alaska bthe way and the only real weight in the mouthfeel is from the alcohol which is not on the palate. Brilliant! Then just as you think it’s almost done a small stickiness comes over the palate and a bit of pine. Nothing too forceful now, just some light lip smacking delight. There is a lovely bitter to end this beer that really does linger a bit and showcase all that delicate flavor but it also brings out the tartness of the lemon.

I love this and think it’s extremely well crafted. It has every measure of an IPA but not in copious amounts. It does not run roughshod over your palate it is subtle and perfectly balanced. The malt in this is superb and I wish I could describe it’s grace better. The lightness and the crispness of it. Reminds me of a lemon drop candy by the end.

4.5

3361242-simple-drawing-of-a-pint-of-beer-isolated-on-white3361242-simple-drawing-of-a-pint-of-beer-isolated-on-white3361242-simple-drawing-of-a-pint-of-beer-isolated-on-white3361242-simple-drawing-of-a-pint-of-beer-isolated-on-white

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.”

1-2-3-4-5-fingers-on-hand1

____________________________________________Beer HERE

meMaria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY and is frequent reviewer of beer and a beer lover deluxe.

Posted on

A Beer Judge’s Diary: The Old Forge Old Ale Competition, Part 1

Courtesy http://weeklyadk.com
Courtesy http://weeklyadk.com
As with any adventure in life, there’s always a background story…
By Ken Carman
By Ken Carman
 I started liking: really “liking,” beer in late 1972 when my first college friend, Dave, brought me to a bar with dark beer. It was probably mostly food coloring, but I think it was an ale. Or was it Dave sharing his love for Genny Bock? A lager, but more malt, and a hint more malt complexity. For the time? A lot. Remember this was a time when Bud-like beer really was king, and almost every brewer on the east coast was generally doing what now would be considered almost a clone of Bud, Miller, Schaefer… With recipe changes even Ballantine was fading into yet another, “So what?”
 When I got married in my hometown at Big Moose Chapel my father-in-law had them bring in Heinekin Dark. For the Central Adirondacks: especially Big Moose, this was real exotic. By the time I went home again I found out the Big Moose bars had started stocking Heineken Dark. Even compared with the rest of the Adirondacks, the Central Adirondacks always seemed to have been a tad slow to bring in what we now call “craft beer.” And homebrew? Well, even these days I’ve had to go to Watertown or Syracuse for supplies.
 So I decided to start a competition.
 Location was problematic. I thought at first we’d do it in Beaver River: bring them down the reservoir in style on the Norridgewock Riverboat, stay at my cabin and the local hotel or motel. We’re a tiny community with no roads going to it on the eastern end of the Stillwater Reservoir. What an adventure! Continue reading “A Beer Judge’s Diary: The Old Forge Old Ale Competition, Part 1”

Posted on

Green Pints at Asher Brewing Company

Asher - Pints

Written by Franz Hofer for Tempest in a Tankard

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.

 

Want to read more? Please click…

HERE