Professor Good Ales

Profiled by Maria Devan

This poured golden and with bright clarity, a fat head of white foam that did persist in the form of lace that clung to the glass. The nose is faint grain and a bit of corn. The taste follows the nose all the way. it’s mild. It has a bit of corn grits, a touch of corn sweetness and not too much malt. The carbonation is ample and bites a bit. There is a sour taste on the back end. I can’t place it. Is it the beginnings of metallic? is ti yeasty? It gives a slight pucker tothe finish and a nice edge to the drink.

This beer was actually quite pleasant. Had no off flavors, no fruitiness at all and drank easily and without effort. It did not develop any off flavors as it warmed. It leaves a touch of sweetness as it finishes dry.

Serving type: can

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

(Reuters) – Beer fans line up every winter at Intuition Ale Works in north Florida for the annual tapping of Underdark, a world-class dark brew aged for a year in bourbon barrels that sells out quickly even at $15 a bottle.

Ben Davis, who owns the four-year-old local craft brewery in Jacksonville, counts on Underdark’s two-day spike in revenue to grow his small business.

But a bill pending in the Florida Senate that would cut into Underdark’s profit has craft beer-makers crying foul.

The law would force craft brewers to sell their bottled and canned beer directly to a distributor. If they want to sell it in their own tap rooms, they would then have to buy it back at what is typically a 30-40 percent mark-up without the bottles or cans ever leaving the brewery, according to Joshua Aubuchon, a lawyer and lobbyist for the Florida Brewers Guild.

The rule would not apply to draft beer.

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The resources for the study of George Washington at The New York Public Library are important, and include such singular icons as the autograph manuscript of the great man’s Farewell Address to his fellow citizens upon leaving the Presidency. But certainly the most effervescent item of Washingtoniana in The New York Public Library is the first President’s personal recipe for “small beer,” which appears in the notebook dating from 1757 that Washington kept while he served as a colonel in the Virginia militia.

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Continue reading “Announcement of Official Change in Policy @ PGA”

Homebrewers are often confused by the terms crystal and caramel malt and are sometimes uncertain as to whether these are basically the same thing and can be used interchangeably, or whether they are quite different animals. Partly this comes from the fact that crystal and caramel malts come in a range of different colors, and that individual products from one maltster may not be identical to those from another producer. They are in fact proprietary products and are often given proprietary names, which only serve to increase the confusion. That’s a pity because when they are properly used they are important cards in the discriminating brewer’s hand. In this story, we’ll talk about how they originated, and what they are, and see if we can’t clear up that confusion.

The first point in this discussion is the fact that these are roasted malts, and the roasting is carried out in a specific manner (there are exceptions as we’ll see later). Crystal malt came first and originated in England, at some time around 1880. The roasting process to produce black malt had been practiced since 1817, when a man by the name of Daniel Wheeler took out a patent on the procedure. Black malt was widely used to replace brown malt in porter brewing, but porter drinking declined during the 19th century as the public developed a taste for pale ales. At the same time original gravities (and therefore alcohol levels) were also falling in Britain, which led to brewers producing lighter, weaker, and less flavorful beers. This trend was further enhanced in 1880 when a new law was introduced which allowed brewers to substitute some base malt with sugar.

So, I presume that some bright maltster saw that there was (or would soon be) a need for a malt additive that could be added in small amounts to improve the body and flavor of pale beers, just as black malt served to give porters and stouts their characteristic flavors. So, since this maltster had already had a roaster, he or she experimented with different levels of roasting and came up with crystal malt. The new product met with approval from brewers and went from strength to strength through to the present as British beer original gravities continued to decrease throughout the 20th century. Crystal malt is now the predominant colored malt used in Britain and is used in most ales brewed there.

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