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Seven Steps to Surviving the Great American Beer Festival

Written by Franz Hofer for Tempest in a Tankard

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.GABF 2014 1Equal 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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OctoberTest

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Chris McQuistion measuring dry yeast to prime our bottling sugar mixture. This was the special sideways room that defies gravity so it facilitates great yeast growth. Uh, actually we had no way to turn the picture here at PGA, so just blame it on us.

Written by Jerry Buckley

jerryIt has been well said and oft repeated that “necessity is the mother of invention”. It may also be fairly postulated that “laziness is the mother of discovery”. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy brew day: the pre-game putting together of the grain bill and the coming together of a plan; the soothing smells of grains mashing and wort boiling, the feel-good mojo of creating an enjoyable end product from scratch. But at another level, I don’t wish the brew day experience to be any more time-consuming or difficult (not to mention expensive) than needs be. Continue reading “OctoberTest”

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Beer Profile: Gonzo Imperial Porter Gonzo Imperial Porter

Profiled by Maria Devan for Professor Goodales

pgaprofile GonzoPours a rich and dark. If it’s not completely black it may as well be because there are no hues and no edges. A thick creamy head of mocha colored foam graces the beer and lasts. leaves lace and plenty of bubbles to linger on top.

Nose is deep roast. Soft bready-ness with a caramel backing. Some bright dark fruits and a sweet bit of chocolate. There is a powerful vanilla on the nose but as fragrant as it is it does not dominate.

Taste is supple and full roast. Chocolate and a bit of nuttiness greets the palate. There’s a surprisingly bright dark fruit. This malt is substantial and faintly acrid. There is a smoothness to the flavors form the vanilla which is light on the palate. Creamy full mouthfeel with a touch of it’s weight from alcohol. The alcohol is a light warmth as this one finishes bitter with a only a small measure of the sweetness to linger.

Bold as brass!

4.

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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.”

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____________________________________Beer HERE

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

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Beer Won’t Make You Smarter, but a Compound Found in Hops Might

beer_hops

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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Beer Reviews by Maria Devan: Hofbrau Dunkel

Profiled by Maria Devan for PGA

pgaprofilehbdunkPours a fiery copper orange. This beer is aglow with light and with radiance. A fat tan head of foam fell well and left a ring and some spots of lace to look at. Inside the glass it is as serene as a perfect pane of colored glass.

The nose is bready. Dark crusty bread that is lightly toasted. There is a baked grain sweetness on this plus a sweetness from caramel. No fruity esters, no hops, wonderfully clean.

Taste is tantalizing and smooth. All that malt but no heaviness. The body is thin and the lighter side of medium,. The malt is crisp. A brief hint of chocolate comes out as it warms but remains largely and delightfully unfullfilled. It envelops the palate just as it’s light sweetness comes up to rescue you. The finish on this one is malty, breaddy and dry with a light touch of bitterness from subtle hops. Perfect.

4.5

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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.”

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__________________________________________________Beer HERE

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

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Gose Gone Wild: Anderson Valley, Bayrischer Bahnhof, Choc, and Westbrook

Written by Franz Hofer for Tempest in a Tankard

The Tasting Sessions

Anderson-Valley-Gose-https-avbc-comI tasted the following beers this past spring and summer under different circumstances each time. The 750mL bottles of 2012 and 2013 Choc Signature Series Gose (Oklahoma), along with the 330mL bottle of Bayrischer Bahnhof Gose (Leipzig) were tasted blind and in the company of an ever-reliable drinking compadre. I sampled the 12oz cans of Westbrook’s Gose (South Carolina) and Anderson Valley’s curiously named “The Kimmie, the Yink, and the Holy Gose Ale” (California) in a non-blind session.

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Medieval Belgian Town Installing A Beer Pipeline Because — Wait, A Beer Pipeline?!

(Neilhooting)

Colin “My Waggling Eyebrows Are Hypnotizing” Farrell’s character was so wrong to be cranky about being stuck in Bruges in the movie In Bruges (pronounced “Brooooszh” in my head) — that city is about to be the first in Belgium to install its very own beer pipeline. I repeat: A beer pipeline.

Alas, all of our hopes of a beer sink in every home in Bruges are for naught, my friends — the medieval town in Belgium did approve the construction of a beer pipeline under the city, but only to link its 500-year-old De Halve Maan brewery to a bottling factory nearby that will send its liquid wares out to the far corners of the Earth, reports the AFP.

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