I understand, I have been tempted myself with my competition: The Old Forge BIG Beer and Odd Ale Competition. OFBB is in the middle of nowhere and there are no local homebrew clubs. Getting judges is tough. Hell, getting entries is an adventure.
But I have seen the result of stipends and I’m not convinced they are that effective. And I have every reason to say otherwise. I love judging, but I have yet to let a stipend influence me if I really didn’t want to go somewhere. The Can Can Awards in Franklin, TN offers decent stipend but, to be honest, I’m no fan of the judging sheet they use that reminds me more of a multiple guess high school pop quiz than a judging sheet. It seems designed by someone who thinks every aroma, every flavor, is sensed exactly the same way by every judge. So, naturally if this was all about just me, I’d avoid Can Can, despite the stipend. Continue reading “A Beer Judge’s Diary- Of Stipends and Big Awards”
Maria Devan Reviews Burial’s Veil Honey Saison
Beer Profile: Nebraska Brewing’s Little Betty Imperial Stout
Profiled by Ken Carman
4.2 on BA, 3.8 UnTapp’d
I don’t CARE if the can says “Americanized.†When the almost fresh hop sense covers the Russian Imperial sense to the point of not being able to be sure it’s RIP that’s problematic. In fact it’s annoying.
The nose is hops, the mouthfeel is hops, the body is high side medium and the carbonation light: though plenty of brown-ish pillow foam. There is an obvious sense of complex malts but so far back to the nose, the palate, the taste it’s tough to be sure.
Odd note: the can was so cheesy the whole top pulled off with great ease.
The hops are bitter and green grassy. Little to no flavor. So little hard to tell what kind.
My guess is the base is good. Just please, please, please, back the hell off from the hops.
3.6
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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Brew Biz: Werts and All (Our VA Trip)
The Topic: A Brief Mention of 2 Worthy VA Breweries
Ken Carman is a BJCP judge; homebrewer since 1979, club member at Escambia Bay, Salt City, Clarksville Carboys and Music City Homebrewers, who has been writing on beer-related topics and interviewing professional brewers all over the east coast, for over 15 years.
Written by Ken Carman
This is going to basically be a quick commentary and contrast between two Waynesboro and Charlottesville 
The first one we kind of stumbled into: 7 Arrows in Waynesboro area. When we got off for our exit Millie saw the sign and, after reporting in to the motel, I promised to go back.
Out in the country, west of Waynesboro, we tried several brews, mostly via sample but also 3 pints between the two of us. The barleywine, to both of us, was way over hopped. We both understand guidelines have been adjusted to increase hopping on barleywines over the years, but we both agree if we wanted that many hops we’d do an IPA our a DIPA. The beer menu said it was Cascade hops, if I remember right, but most of what we got was bitter. In fact, considering the malt profile, maybe Imperial Black IPA might be more like what this was? OK, that doesn’t exist in the guidelines… yet. But it did seem more like a higher abv Black IPA than a barleywine. Continue reading “Brew Biz: Werts and All (Our VA Trip)”
Fort George, Reuben’s, and Great Notion: The Nation’s Best IPA?
There are breweries out there, in that ever-expanding ocean that is American Indie Brewing, that are quite content to make a core of maybe eight or ten – sometimes even fewer! – beers and call it good. And if those six, eight, fourteen beers are good enough and their clientele is rut-inclined and undemanding, those producers can survive and even prosper.
But some, Thank God(!), are never satisfied and it’s in that stratum that we find the great breweries and the truly great beers.
Fort George Brewing of Astoria, Oregon, is very much in that school of Never Satisfied and it’s what made me a fan in the first place and what allows me to stay interested in and a devoted purchaser of their beers to this day…
Want to read more? Please click…
HERE
Beer Profile: Mission’s Shipwrecked Barleywine
Profiled by Ken Carman
83 BA, 3.7 UnTappd
I must admit: I’m old school. To me this is too much like a double IPA. But it was submitted as a Barleywine, the cans even said that. Oh, I understand: the newer BJCP guidelines over the years have upped the hop level in barleywines, making me miss the maltier, sweet barleywines; like I’ll Have What the Gentleman on the Floor is Having. Making hops a bigger focus in barleywines to me is a mistake. Yes, you have to increase the hops for balance. But if I want “hoppy†I would go DPA. If you want to make a distinction let’s talk East Coast/West. DON’T %$#@ with my beloved barleywines!
Appearance: longstanding big pillow head with a few small bubbles. Great glass coat. A slightly dark yellow with relatively good clarity. Bitter approaches a little too much astringency.
Nose: hint of caramel malt, more pale and hops. A sweet orange-ish and zest-like sense behind that.
The mouthfeel is caramel and slight fresh hop-like sense under the very dominant bitter side to the hops. A tad more bitter than caramel. More caramel malty than most barleywines these days. Hop bitter lingers, fruity orange-ish tangerine mix fades fast, obviously hop driven. More early additions would have helped hop perceptions, less late. The bitter becomes annoyingly astringent after a while. I’d enjoy one glass but not go back for a second. And if I like barleywine I always go back for a second! Higher abv be damned.
Although I prefer the more sweet versions of old, and the astringency is annoying for me; especially in this style, I feel this is well crafted and enjoyable. I would have given it a 4.2 if it had been an Imperial/Double IPA, but even for the newer Guidelines over the years I feel it just a tad overboard. As far as Imperial I understand my comments are a matter of taste. But I stand by my Barleywine concerns. Even if hops should be the focus, this is DIPA focus.
NOTE: Only after I wrote this did I discover the beer sites list it as a DIPA. Not sure what happened here.
3.8
Readers: for now we are using only BA since InBev owns Rate Beer. We may get UnTappd but their site security is done with something that resembles a bad version of Candy Crush!
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.”
______________________________Beer HERE
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A Beer Judge’s Diary: Can Can II
Nathan opens up his house in the Franklin Westhaven community for us. Westhaven reminds me of cross between Seaside on the Florida panhandle and The Villages near Orlando. Unlike either Westhaven inner streets are a tad convoluted. Ms. GPS decided to put our Green Honda Element through its paces.
Sure glad Ms.GPS is patient. Continue reading “A Beer Judge’s Diary: Can Can II”
Maria Devan Reviews Ommegang Pale Sour Ale
The IBU is a LIE! Kind of…..
An IBU by any other name would taste just as bitter… or would it?
That’s the question that we set out to discover recently with the help of our volunteer IGORs.
For this experiment, the goal was to determine how closely IBU estimates in a recipe match the actual finished beer. Whether homebrewers use a spreadsheet they put together themselves, a pencil and paper, or brewing software, everyone sets an IBU target and then tries to figure out how to hit it. But variations in hops and brewing processes can mess with the actual figures, making them diverge from the predictions. We set out to see how close the finished beer was to the prediction of bitterness.
What’s an IBU
What is an International Bittering Unit? Colloquially we think of it as a measure of how bitter a beer is.
That’s kinda wrong.
Want to read more? Please click…
HERE
Beer Profile: Ommegang Rosetta Ale (aged on cherries)
Profiled by Ken Carman
Cherry nose with a light pale malt background for the nose. Almost perfumy. Tis pleasing an inviting.
Off white pillow head that fades fast, a little redish. A little hazy, but that could be chill haze. Legs rise fast. Some glass coat.
Firm cherry flavor, less juice than actual cherries. Slightest hint of skin. Ale behind this is light to the palate intensity-wise, but on the lower side of medium. Obviously the cherry is the star here.
Mouthfeel: firm foamy carbonation like foam in a sea wave without the salt. Low side medium body. Quite pleasurable.
The best Ommegang beer I’ve had. They always play a little too safe for me. Almost a wine
90 and 90 BA
Readers: for now we are using only BA since InBev owns Rate Beer. We may get UnTappd but their site security is done with something that resembles a bad version of Candy Crush!
4.3
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.”
________________________________________Beer HERE
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