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!