Professor Good Ales

“MR. Colbert! How DARE you steal Scribe’s pronunciation of ‘report.'”


Courtesy Beernews.org

Harvest Dance
Wheat Wine Style Ale
Boulevard Brewing
Kansas City, Kansas
9.1%

Start with unpredictable foam. Scribe doesn’t mean “open and run like HELL to the sink.” That happens and wheat can do that. Brewers USE it to bolster head. Scribe means: open it, start to pour and part way through the pour the glass suddenly fills and the bottle overflows. Let it sit there and it overflows, then not, overflows, then not. In other words: about as unpredictable as a cat dropped unto a bed of hot coals.

Ruined a TV control. That’s OK. Mrs. Scribe wanted to watch soap operas.

BARF.

9.1? Tastes like more and still loads of sweet. Aroma: sweet and wheat. Maybe just a bit of peppery yeast. Maybe.

Mouthfeel? Scuse Scribe for a sec. What did ya feel, mouth? Oh, yeah. OK. Scribe will tell them. “Foam, wheat and sweet.” This beer has about as many dimensions as Flatland. That would be: two. YUP, that’s about it: sweet and wheat. The foam doesn’t count because it’s so &^%$#@!)*&^ unpredictable.

Misty yeast/wheat haze. Slight light gold color. If labels made beer grand, at least the packaging would save this. But it doesn’t. Why didn’t they keep the red provided in the picture culled from Beer News? Looked better. This was kind of a Dracula BLAH-se’ brown.

Did they fully ferment this sucker? Barley wines can be sweet too, but to claim this is cloying is like saying the only problem a puking kid is the cement-like PBJ sticking to the roof of his mouth was a teensy weensy “cloying.”

If not for that: “drinkable,” if you can get enough in your glass between explosive foam pours to drink. Drinkable: yes. Interesting: hell no.

Now, please excuse Scribe again. He needs to go steal a jackhammer from the county to get the “cloy” out his mouth.

Written by Leah McLaren for The Spectator (UK)

The government acts as if booze is the root cause of all our social problems, says Leah McLaren, but it’s not. Drinking is an important part of British culture, the pub is the hub of the community, and health warnings can even be counterproductive.

“No drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we’re looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn’t test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power.”

— P.J. O’Rourke

Happy new year! But don’t pass the bubbly. Haven’t you heard? We are all in danger of losing our souls to the demon liquor. According to the government, alcohol expands your liver, distends your pancreas and turns your brainstem to jelly. It makes you gamble and stumble and sleep with women who aren’t your wife. It’s highly addictive, full of harmful nitrates and the latest craze among schoolchildren aged four to six. Rampant swilling explains why the NHS is overburdened, unemployment is high and Gordon Brown looks so exhausted. It makes poor people beat their babies to death and rich people put money in hedge funds.

And you wouldn’t want that, would you?
Continue reading “Don’t Worry — Drink and Be Merry”

Peter Fowler

Written by Ben Ellery for Oxford Mail (UK)

THERE are bitters, bitter bitters and then Peter Fowler’s latest creation, which he hopes will earn him the title of bitterest brewer in the world.
Continue reading “Brewer’s Bid to Be the Bitterest”

Nashville, TN area

Please be sure to attend the January meeting of the MCB. We need nominations for officers for the year 2010 (election is held in February). So far, the only nomination I know of is Brandon Jones for President. Members must be current in their dues in order to be eligible to vote in the election. Let Jonathan know you are coming – we need a pretty close head count I guess.

The club has big plans this year for the annual competition – this will be our 15th! Come and hear what’s on tap!

Thanks – and Happy New Year to everyone.

Liz

January 9th @ 2:00 pm
108 Bridge Street, Franklin, TN 37064

The Topic- How NOT to Judge Beer

Written by Ken Carman

I opened up the beer: pre-competition judging. I think I had judged 3 or 4 competitions at that point: at best. I wasn’t BJCP yet and hadn’t thought through my duties to those who had spent so much time and effort brewing and submitting beer. The smell literally filled the big upstairs room at Boscos where we were judging. A National rated judge at the other end of the table gagged and said, “Whew, all that in one bottle?”

Hence the birth of “dirty diaper beer.”
Continue reading “Brew Biz: Werts and All”

Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales
Dexter, Michigan

Can you say, “head?” When poured there was little beer: foam coats the glass and hangs, hangs, hangs on. In the glass: all pillow head. Mrs. Scribe was mad when Scribe looked at all that head with envy and said, “If only….” Malt and alcohol nose. Sour. Is this supposed to be Flemish? Mahogany brown,

Dark malts and alcohol coat the mouth. Not as much carbonation in the mouthfeel.

From their site:

“Noel de Calabaza – Deep mahogany and malty, layered hops, figs, raisins, sugar plums, cashews betwixt rum laden truffles.”

If this were an attempt at Belgian, as some claim, it should be on da bloody bottle! Mention that. Skip the hop BS. If there had been a hint of this on the bottle Scribe may have reconsidered. But not much.

There has to be some black patent in here and maybe some brown malt. If that sour sense is the hops, change the damn hops! Bottle label says “multi-layered hops.” What %$#@! hops?

If ya wanna pucker then sucker this one down. But as far as being “Christmas,” “seasonal,” or all that interesting?

Bah humbug.

Without intent, I have collected well over 1,000 beer bottles since the early 70s. When something finally had to be done about the cheap paneling in this old modular, I had a choice. Tear down the walls while, oh, so carefully, replacing the often rotted 1X3s. Or: cover them with… The Bottle Collection.

Written by Ken Carman

Continue reading “From the Bottle Collection: Suwanee Ale”

Ken Carman, for professorgoodales.org

2010 is the 30th anniversary of Sierra Nevada in Chico, California, and they will mark this anniversary all year long by celebrating the new wave of brewing that started even before Sierra was founded.nation. Sierra Nevada joins other new and better brew pioneers to benefit select charities. Obviously beer drinkers across the country will also benefit and, obviously, celebrate.

Here’s a list of the first four…

Beer #1: Fritz and Ken’s Ale. A collaboration with Fritz Maytag
Beer #2 Jack and Ken’s Ale. A collaboration with Jack McAuliffe from New Albion Brewing.
Beer #3: Charlie Fred and Ken’s Ale. A Collaboration with Fred Eckhardt and Charlie Papazian.
Beer #4: Sierra Nevada Brewers Reserve Ale.

The first four beers planned for this series of collaborative projects with America’s craft-brewing pioneers: Fritz Maytag of Anchor Brewing.

Continue reading “Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary: Brewery to Celebrate with Four Collaborations”

Pensacola Area

The January Club meeting will be held at Ozone Pizza at 4:00pm on Sunday January 17th. Bring Beer!

The Club’s website now has a revolving calendar that shows the upcoming months and has a link to previous months. It will be updated shortly with known events throughout the year. Please take the time to go to the site and familiarize yourself with it http://www.escambiabayhomebrewers.org/. The Happenings tab shows the future and past events that we have participated in. We will be adding to the website throughout the year to enhance its content. Let us know if there is anything you’d like to see on the site that isn’t currently on it.

The grain orders will be available for pickup on, or after, New Year’s Day.
Continue reading “Club Update: Escambia Bay Brewers”