Professor Good Ales

Profiled by Ken Carman for professorgoodales.net

The nose is VERY promising in the bottle. Apricot with a hint of pit floats up with also some sweet. Wheat behind that in the glass: a hint of white bread. The sweet is almost honey like, as in Orange Blossom.

SRM almost 1, very hazy. Head faded fast, almost none with tiny white bubbles. That’s odd for a wheat beer. Tiny, tiny bubbles cling desperately to sides of the glass.

Mouthfeel is sweet wheat with a semi-full feel provided by pleasant, soothing, wheat proteins. Sweet lingers on the roof of mouth and back of palate.

Flavor: wheat and hint of apricot. Apricot is more in nose, less in mouthfeel and far less in taste, but it is there. Balance is about right: the taste also may have faded for this has been around for quite a while in my “to try” collection, so I can’t use the lessened against it. It’s bready, kind of sweet white bread-like with apricot pit following in that part of the taste: almost like they left apricots with some pit in the dough when baking white bread.

I am not a wheat beer fan, but have to give it a 4, especially since this is an old bottle. It is impressive, for what it is. A simple, very pleasant, quaff that deserves the 4.

82 in BA, 32 on RB with a 62 on style. A Park City, Utah brewpub, who also brews, bottles and serves Polygamy Porter.

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.”

Courtesy beerpulse.com

Profiled by Ken Carman for professorgoodales.net

Not enough scores to score on RB or BA. Not listed on their site, but found on a FB page run by them…

Here is what the brewery says about this beer…

“Dark Planet is a rich, earthy, English style ale that checks in at 9% ABV. Deceptively smooth and complex with hints of caramel, molasses, and dark fruit, a great beer for the fall season.”

Big light tan head that fades fast: little pillow, more bubble/big rock head. The srm is probably 18 or so, brown ale-ish. Good clarity with very nice highlights: deep ruby-ish/garnet.

The nose is carmelized sweetness with slight hopping noticed: so background hard to tell.

Firm bitter in both the taste and the mouthfeel, but to be honest this beer fails with balance. I get the caramel, molasses (very slight, not as much fruit: maybe hint of plum, but there’s a balance problem here.) The abv hits you hard and competes way too much with the rest. Harsh on the roof of the mouth, and the palate, and on the
way down. Not undrinkable by any means, but it simply ruins what would be an otherwise incredible experience. Keep the abv but even more sweet grain, more likely less hops. Cut down on bitter, combines with harsh abv in slight problematic ways. Medium body that hangs in the mouth after swallow.

“Smooth?” Uh: NO.

Note: English ale? Where do they get English ale from? Well, if the abv was less it might be more “English,” but I’d have to have it that way to be sure. English ales I’ve had have always been more about balance than this. The hops are, perhaps, Fuggles-ish. I get some “earthy,” but way in the background.

Personally I’d take this into Scottish Heavy territory because it doesn’t quite work. But they have one of those already. Another solution, maybe the best is bring it to 7abv. There are no higher alcohols I can sense here, but even when not “higher,” too much for balance is problematic.

Great brewery, and I hate to do it, but a three. Needs work, guys.

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.”