Beer Truck Time!
Beer Bill Brews in Missouri Legislature
Homebrewed beers may be allowed to be poured at festivals, competitions and charity events under a bill introduced this week in the Missouri Legislature.
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Glendale, is the sponsor of Senate Bill 114, which seeks to amend a state statute that says homebrew can only be made for “personal or family use.”
Under Schmitt’s bill, homebrewers still would not be allowed to sell their beer, but they could take it out of their homes and pour it at certain “organized affairs, exhibitions or competitions, such as homebrewer contests, tastings or judging.”
Such events would include beer festivals that have obtained temporary retail licenses as well as at licensed charity events.
The proposed legislation comes after homebrewed beer was unexpectedly banned from last year’s St. Louis Brewers Heritage Festival downtown.
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Beer Profile: Laika, by Straight to Ale
Profiled by Ken Carman for professorgoodales.net
Light brown head: rock mixed with pillow. Obsidian. Roasted barley up front but not too much to be problematic. This is a beer worthy of the heroic dog it was named after. Sent into space, Laika was a struggling street dog who was taken from trash barrels in the old USSR where life was tough tough to begin with unless you were highly placed in the party, taken from a street life of scraps. Then he was trained, not that he needed a lot of training. Everyone who worked with him said he was brilliant. Brilliant even for some humans. He died in space because they didn’t know how to bring him back. That sucks!
Nice full mouthfeel with a sturdy abv to support. Carbonation light but perfect. Head holds and slowly fades. The pale malt plus roasted barley mix is perfect: not that much of “other” malt sense. Hint of sour, as per Guinness. Foam tingles the mustache as it gently glides over the palate.
Taste is a nice roasted barley mix with malt intensity. I would call it roasted barley, mostly… with just a hint of sour. Hint of sharp hop bitter balanced with malt sweetness: the balance here is superb. This is what a Russian Imperial should be. There are obvious sweet unfermented sugars, but: in the background.
From Straight to Ale out of Huntsville, Alabama. I will have to check this out. Sweet Magnolia is great, But this is impressive!
Welcome to the new PGA 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 “prefecto.” This beer was rated…
How New Hampshire Is Helping Nanobreweries Revolutionize Craft Beer
Written by Emily Corwin for npr.org
While beer sales have been down, nationally, since the great recession, the craft beer industry has been going strong – growing 15 percent in 2011, according to the American Brewers’ Association. The newest kid on the block in craft beer is the nanobrewery – a very small scale commercial brewery that produces fewer than 2,000 barrels a year. To put that in context, the Brewers’ Association defines a microbrewery as producing fewer than 15,000 barrels a year, and a large brewery as exceeding 6 million*. Hess Brewing in California keeps an online list of nanobreweries and estimates about 93 in operation nationally – although that list is probably not comprehensive.
A customer makes an order at Throwback’s tap room.
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Mr. and Mrs. Moron Brew a Lamb Bic
Beer? Wine? Hard Liquor?
Written by Tom Becham for professorgoodales.net
Gather any group of drinkers together, and you will no doubt generate some discussion – and disagreement – over the relative merits and drawbacks of any particular alcoholic beverage.
I will admit, that for me, with age comes an ability to find the good points in much anything. While I am first and foremost a Beer-Geek, I can also appreciate a nice merlot with a steak, or port with cheese, or an eiswein with a slice of gateau. There are also times when a sip of a nice single-malt Laphroaig or Talisker seems nigh unto heaven itself.
But bottom line, beer is by far my drink of choice in the majority of circumstances. The first reason is that, being in my mid-40’s, getting drunk is no longer my top priority. Rather, I’d like to simply relax a bit and enjoy the taste of what I’m drinking. So, that knocks out distilled drinks for most intents and purposes.
But why beer over wine?
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Barrel Aged Wake Up Dead is Back for the Winter
Written by Emily Armstrong for craftbeer.com
(LONGMONT, CO) – It only happens once every two years… After hibernating in the Left Hand warehouse for 12 months, the brewery has emptied its cellar and released Barrel Aged Wake Up Dead for the winter season. This dark and complex beer begins with the brewery’s infamous Russian Imperial Stout and ages in whiskey barrels before blending it to woody perfection.
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Beer Profile: Adam Bomb by Blackstone
Profiled by Ken Carman for professorgoodales.net
Pours a hazy, not clear, SRM 3-4: slightly dark urine, or dirty gold if you prefer. Head faded so fast hardly any time to tell. Pinpoint bubble mixed with pillow and big bubbles. Aromatically somewhat grapefruit. Centennial perhaps? Mouthfeel: harsh hop, brash, even astringent. Pale malt base there but hidden.
This is supposed to be their first high grav, high abv, beer. 7.3 and 83 ibu. That’s quite the achievement in Tennessee where we have been fighting stupid, I repeat “stupid,” abv limitation laws for a long time. I am assuming they got a distilling license: another long lasting fight where a local, Nashville, distillery, had to fight for years to get approval for a tasting room.
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Beer Profile: G’Knight Imperial Red by Oskar Blues
Profiled by Ken Carman for professorgoodales.net
Brewed by Oskar Blues Brewing in Colorado. 8.7abv, 60 IBUS.
Red? More like a pale, color-wise, or IPA. Nice head, pillow mixed with slight rock. Head holds. A bit hazy, could be cold chill. Their site lists it as an Imperial Red and a Double IPA. A Double IPA would be hoppier and an Imperial Red should have more “Red,” and even more of a butterscotch, Irish/toffee sense.
Aroma: caramel malt-sense with grapefruit-y-like hops.
Nice full mouthfeel: probably Brit-like malts which can provide body and some unfermentable Slight carbonic tingle as carbonation flows over the tongue with a slight coat.
This really isn’t a red. And there’s a funny buzz going on in the background, taste-wise, that seems to be coming from the hops. A bit grassy is the sense I’m getting and drying on the hops. The “dry’s “OK,” but the grassy? Nah, if this were a fresh hop beer might be more appropriate. More of an IPA.A bit boozy, but the best part of this is the higher abv is well hidden behind the dry and, yes, the grass.
What I think happened here is that they didn’t know what the hell to call it. Really: a beer seeking a style but not quite making it, though IPA with a hidden ABV pop might be closest. Not bad, but there’s far better, and without it being a fresh hop, the grassy might be a bit annoying for those seeking any of the styles they claim that this beer should be.
Welcome to the new PGA 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 “prefecto.” This beer was rated…
Meanwhile, Across the BIG Pond: A Case of WAY Too Much New Year’s Cheer
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