Monumental Jewbelation

Brewed By: Shmaltz Brewing Company (He’Brew)

Style: American Brown Ale

ABV: 10%

Continuing the journey of the He’Brew Anniversary Box!

So for the 10^th Anniversary, we have this Brown Ale which has 10 different malts, 10 different hops, and is sitting at a hefty 10% alcohol.

Look – Poured a very dark brown with a medium khaki head that was gone fairly quickly.

Smell – Overwhelming malt notes; a cacophony of malts, if you will. And if you won’t, then too bad. Hard to identify any specifics, but I am getting a decent amount of chocolate aroma and a slightly bready aroma.

Taste – Light to medium toasted malts come through, a decent amount of semi-sweet chocolate. A lot of alcohol. It has an odd sweetness to it that I wasn’t expecting, not really my thing. For having so many malts and hops, it is not very interesting, very limited personality.

Conclusion – It is a decently made beer, research seems to point out that they just added rye malt and Simcoe hops to the 9^th Anniversary ale. I don’t know that it was too much different than the previous. I feel like it lost a little bit of character. Hopefully the 11^th Anniversary ale improves a little bit.

I give this beer a B –

Happy Drinking!

Jewbelation 5677 (9)

Brewed By: Shmaltz Brewing Company (He’Brew)

Style: American Brown Ale

ABV: 9%

IBU: Once again, Jewish secret or something

I had my first brewing class this evening at Great Fermentations in Indianapolis! You can check out their website HERE. It is awesome to have such a wonderful homebrew store so close. The owner and sales people are educated lovers of beer and I look forward to working with them more as I venture into the brewing world! Can’t wait to start posting about my brews!

Anyhow…..

Continuing the journey through the He’Brew Anniversary Box!

Look – Near black pour, with dark red highlights against light. A thin light khaki head sat on the top for a short while before dissipating.

Smell – There is a strong malt nose with a little bit of chocolate in there as well. Not much hop smell. There is a strong alcohol smell as well.

Taste – A ton of malts battling for attention. A lot of alcohol taste as well. The hop profile is very balanced with the malt. 18 total ingredients between the malts and hops, nothing stands out very much. An interesting earthy taste as well.

Conclusion - I was pleased to find that I liked this beer more than Miraculous Jewbelation. I was worried with more and more ingredients coming into the mix, the flavor was going to be lost in a weird mix of tastes. My taste buds were a little tired by the end of the pint.

I give this beer a B.

Happy Drinking!

Miraculous Jewbelation

Brewed By: Shmaltz Brewing Company (He’Brew)

Style: American Porter

ABV: 8%

IBU: apparently a Jewish secret since I can't find it anywhere

Currently watching a documentary about stress and drinking a beer. Can’t think of a better way to relax!

Yeah, there's no picture......google search it if you want to see it!

On the docket for today is the first of a collection of anniversary beers from Shmaltz Brewing Co., more commonly known as He’Brew. I bought the box from my favorite bar, The Heorot, for quite a discount and was excited to open it up and start trying out these brews! There are even directions of how to turn the empty bottles into a Menorah! (and it came with candles too) I have enjoyed the few He’Brew beers that I’ve had and was looking forward to trying some more. I view He’Brew as a very experimental brewery and so they could all be pretty hit or miss for me.

Shmaltz started brewing beer in 1996 and since then, it has won a ton of awards for its unique brews. You can check out their website HERE and learn more about both their lines of beers and all about their awards!

The 8^th anniversary beer utilizes 8 different malts, 8 different hops, and sits at 8% alcohol. All the other beers follow suit according to their anniversary year

Lets dive in!

Look – Poured a very dark brown, not translucent at all. A light khaki head about a finger width wide sits on the top and lasted for a decent amount of time.

Smell – a decent semi-sweet chocolate aroma, not much else to really speak of. Some malt notes (how could there not be with 8 different malts). Surprisingly not much hop aroma.

Taste – dark malt, heavy, the taste lingers for quite a while and finishes off with a slight coffee/chocolate aftertaste. The initial taste is a little on the sour end. Subsequent tastes were not as good as the initial taste, seemed to be lacking something, but it was still very easily drinkable.

Conclusion – it’s a solid beer, but not my favorite porter by a longshot. I appreciate the uniqueness of using so many malts and so many hops to create a beer to commemorate an anniversary, but I am worried that its simply too much to produce a really a good beer. Only time will tell! I was kind of surprised that I didn't get much distinct hop aromas, but perhaps with so many smells battling for attention, malt wins.

I will give this beer a B-

Happy Drinking!

He'Brew Anniversary Box

I recently puchased this He'Brew Anniversary Box from my favorite bar, the Heorot. I got it for quite a discount just for asking about it and making it seem as though I wasn't going to pay the full price anyways, but they sold it to me for about half the price, so I'm not complaining. In the next few weeks, I will be writing my reviews of these beers as I journey through them.

It starts with the 8th Anniversary Ale which uses 8 hops, 8 malts, and is 8% alcohol. The rest of the anniversary ales follow suit with the corresponding year. It will definitely be interesting to get to the 14 hop, 14 malts, and 14% alcohol beer.

I am looking forward to this box as He'Brew is one of my favorite breweries to try new brews from.

Happy Drinking!