Posted Just For the Fun of It
Be prepared… a LOT of profanity. Believe his claim, but one must ask, “Are the socks actually to be used as silencers?” This guy has problems…
Beer Profiles: A Saranac High Peaks Comparison
Profiled by Ken Carman
For our homebrew competition: Old Forge BIG Beer and Odd Ale Competition, Saranac gave us glasses, openers and five four packs of High Peaks. High Peaks is Saranac’s extreme, high abv, occasionally one off brews, and whatever pushs style boundaries. Here were the 5…
Imperial IPA
Clouded Dream: wheat beer with spices. We thought more a Saison, than a Belgian White.
Immortality: an “imperial amber” with German malts and local hops
Tramonay: brewed with grapes and a Belgian yeast
Imperial IPA
Single Malt: Scotch Ale aged in bourbon barrels
Here was our preference…
Single Malt
Tramonay
Clouded Dream
Imperial IPA
Immortality
The last 3 were a close call, to be honest.
As beer judges an “imperial amber” is beyond a contradiction in terms. The German malt: interesting, somewhat unique, but not that impressive. The Imperial IPA was really just a great IPA. Yes, like the Immortality, the abv was popped up just a hint, but “Imperial?” Not really. Clouded Dream was exactly as advertised just, once again, not that interesting. Just a hint more interesting than the other.
Let’s be clear: all were brewed professionally, carbonation perfect, clarity, except Dreams, perfect. The mouthfeel, excepting low abv sense, about what they should have had. It’s just if you’re going to compete with Sierra, Dogfish and Rogue, well, timidity isn’t the best approach.
Both of the top two were perfectly balanced, obvious high abv, and we really wanted to have Tramonay as the top. It is INCREDIBLE. Wine-like, smooth, hint of sweet yet not anywhere near cloying, this is a unique quaff. The body is medium yet the bourbon sweetness pushed on by the grape-sense dominates the mouth: demanding, insistent.
Here’s the problem: while more unique, quite pleasing, and the Single Malt is something many other brewers are doing slight versions of, this recipe for an 80/Scotch Strong is perfect. I would have problem at the judging table keeping my score below 45. I think in my 16 year judging career I may be able to count on one hand, at best two, any entries that have received anything above 45, 50 being the top. I’d have to see Mother Mary and she gives me the best… I’ve ever had to give a 50. Well, maybe a 49 and she’s have to grant me an eternity of?
Single Malt is just incredible, yet simple, exciting, yet right in there with what has become a standard of the craft beer world’s variations on classic styles.
Single Malt: 4.8
Tramonay: 4.7
Clouded Dreams: 4.2
Imperial IPA: 4
Immortality: 3.9 (Minus .1 only for being annoying)
BUT, since all were 4 or above, except one so close it can taste 4…
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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Ken Carman. What can we say about Ken Carman? Not much.
It’s The Great Pumpkin
I loathe pumpkin beer. I loathe the fact it’s been elevated to such a cult-like status that it has caused a seasonal creep so severe it’s starting to make St. Nick and his 7 dwarfs jealous. Sure, holiday themed corporatizations may show up in late October, and now beers flavored by a seasonal gourd with spicing reminiscent of wintery pies and Yankee Candles are beginning to appear as early as mid-July.
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HERE
Scientists Find Comet Releases as Much Alcohol as 500 Bottles of Wine
Comet Lovejoy lived up to its name by releasing large amounts of alcohol as well as a type of sugar into space, according to new observations by an international team. The discovery marks the first time ethyl alcohol, the same type in alcoholic beverages, has been observed in a comet. The finding adds to the evidence that comets could have been a source of the complex organic molecules necessary for the emergence of life.
“We found that comet Lovejoy was releasing as much alcohol as in at least 500 bottles of wine every second during its peak activity,†said Nicolas Biver of the Paris Observatory, France, lead author of a paper on the discovery published Oct. 23 in Science Advances. The team found 21 different organic molecules in gas from the comet, including ethyl alcohol and glycolaldehyde, a simple sugar.
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Now You Can 3D Print Things Using Beer (and maybe coffee!)
Almost all manufacturing processes result in a waste byproduct. The same is true for beer and coffee, two beverages that get many of us through the day. Unfortunately, much of the waste resulting from brewing both ends up in landfills.
3Dom, a company that produces material for 3D printers, has partnered with c2renew to create a beer-based filament called Buzzed made from those recycled waste products. c2renew is a biocomposite company that takes supposedly unusable material and makes it usable.
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HERE
First look: Goldhorn Brewery
CLEVELAND, Ohio – The signs are up. The murals are painted. The bar is installed. The vats are polished and the fermentation tanks are ready to go.
Hub 55 owner Rick Semersky is ready to get brewing. And he’s not the only one excited about progress at his upcoming Goldhorn Brewery on East 55th Street.
“If I had a dollar for everyone who asked me when the brewery is going to be open … well, I wouldn’t need to open the brewery,” says Semersky with a laugh.
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HERE
Beer Profile: Ithaca Beer’s Creeker
Ithaca Beer’s Creeker 2015 Box of Hops!
This was bottled on 10/7/15
Hazy golden with a short creamy head after a vigorous pour. Bubbles are buoyant. Sure does make a splash in the glass.
Nose is pungent with citrus. Floral and a light honey. Peppery herbal hop and pine . Grapefruit lemon and fruit peel.
Taste is a generous helping of tangy citrus with a pineapple backnote. Good smooth malt that is crisp and just sweet. Pine needles. An expert bitterness flourishes as it lingers to show lemon pith and more grapefruit. Finishes crisp and with pepper.
This is the best Creeker yet.
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4.2
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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Maria. There once was a beer judge, steward, beer writer, Ithaca living, hill walking up and down-er to her apartment, gal named MARIA!
Returning for Another Sip of Terroir
Written by Franz Hofer for A Tempest in a Tankard
I pause from reading the newspaper to take another sip of my coffee. A melange –– a Viennese classic coffee that goes by a French name sans the accent. A true mix: no single-origin beans here. This evening I’m experiencing a mélange as well: a mixture of the beloved Viennese pastime of wiling away the afternoon in an elegant setting with a coffee whose very name blurs its origins.
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HERE
A Beer-y Good Story: Un-Wrecking the Wreck
Written by Ken Carman
I bought The Great Chocolate Wreck by Good Nature Brewing, out of Hamilton, NY, with the intent of doing a PGA profile and to serve at my beer tasting in Beaver River I do every Labor Day weekend. So I had two champagne bottles. The first was interesting: a complex quaff with a little roasted barley to define the style (RIS), tons of malt, I suspect, of various types on the roast scale and tons of tons of chocolate, including the sensations of cocoa nibs, milk, bakers, dark… every chocolate known to humankind. Just a hint of over the top ABV. Continue reading “A Beer-y Good Story: Un-Wrecking the Wreck”
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