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!

Well.....hello Blog!

Things have been crazy with my moving and job changes and figuring out what in the world I am doing with my life. However, I think things have begun to settle down (though I am still job searching and have only vague ideas about my future life). I think its time though to get back into the world of blogging....especially about beer.

On a sad note, I have lost my written beer blog. It contained probably 50 - 60 reviews that I had not written yet, including my trips to several Michigan breweries and my trip through Indiana to Louisville. It was lost somewhere in the move, so it might pop up again, but it might not. Lesson here is that I need to type my reviews sooner and not leave them only on paper.

I will be starting reviews again soon as I work my way through The Schmaltz Brewing's anniversary box that I bought at the Heorot. Each beer commemorates one more year of He'Brew brewing. The number of different malts, different hops, and alcohol content correspond to the anniversary (for example, the 8th anniversary has 8 different malts, 8 different hops, and is 8% alcohol). After I get through those beers, there's no telling what will be next, but I may just have to revisit Michigan.

In other good news, I will soon be brewing my own beer from the comforts of my new Indianapolis home! I bought my 30 quart stock pot and have a brewing class on November 15th at Great Fermentations. I have already named by fictional brewery and designed my first logo and other nerdy things that aren't entirely necessarily.

Also, I am super excited about this new brewery that is opening up in walking distance to my house! You can check out their website here: www.blackacrebrewing.com. I've been able to slowly watch construction get done on the outside, can't wait for it to open so I can spend way too much of my money to support a local brewery. And of course, reviews will follow.

Anyhow, here's to trying to get back on the blogging bandwagon (for the followers that I have)

Happy Drinking!

Left Hand Milk Stout

Brewed By: Left Hand Brewing Company

Style: Milk/Sweet Stout

ABV: 6%

IBU: 25

Left Hand brewery opened their doors in 1994 in Colorado and has been going pretty strong ever since. They have 15 awards from the Great American Beer Festival and 8 awards from the World Beer Cup, they clearly know what they are doing!

Originally named Indian Peaks Brewing Company, they changed their name because they found out that another brewery was using that name for a certain style of beer. They got the name Left Hand from an Indian chief that used to be in the area, Chief Niwot. “Niwot” is an Arapahoe word meaning “left hand.”

This milk stout has won several awards both domestically and internationally.

Lets see if I agree.

(on a side note, the brewers website has a different ABV then Beer Advocate. No clue which is correct)

Look – It was a very dark pour, almost black. There was a half finger width of whitish head that didn’t stick around for very long

Smell – It did have a decent aroma of chocolate and coffee. There was also strong mildly roasted malt making an appearance. I also smelled what might be a little caramel.

Taste – It was very disappointing to say the least. With all the awards that its won, I was hoping for something more. There was a cold coffee aftertaste but there was very little flavor otherwise. It had an extremely light body with no hop taste at all. A very watery brew

Conclusion – I was kind of disappointed because before I really drank much beer, I used to love this stout. I guess as my taste has matured, I have learned to differentiate between good beer and not so good beer. It really makes me wonder what you have to do to get an award at a beer festival. Perhaps you just have to show up and you get something? So its similar to the 4^th grade track and field competition where everyone gets a ribbon, even if you come in 54^th place out of 57 students. I guess I will find that out when I attend my first beer festival!

I give this beer a C-, its aroma being the saving grace.

I do like the Left Hand website and I am looking forward to trying the rest of the lineup. I am always looking for suggestions and comments on the blog or just on the beers themselves, so feel free to be an active part of this blog!

And as always……click follow!

Happy Drinking!

Edmund Fitzgerald

Brewed By: Great Lakes Brewing Company

Style: American Porter

ABV: 5.8%

IBU: 37

I absolutely love the GLBC website because for each of their beers, you can download a PDF of information about it and the history of the name. It is definitely the best brewery website I have seen so far, so definitely go check it out!

From 1870-1980, Cleveland was the home of 30 different breweries, but all shut their doors by the early 1980’s! So in 1988, the Conway brothers opened GLBC. It has obviously been a huge success to this day and they continue to strive in their mission to be the “premier craft brewery in the Great Lakes region.” I will say that is a tough mission to keep going with so many great breweries in this region.

The Edmund Fitzgerald is named after the ship that sank in Lake Superior in 1975, the ship had many Ohio residents on it. So lets check it out to see if it’s a fitting tribute!

Look – Dark Brown pour with a slightly red tint around the edges. There was about a half finger width of white head that dissipated pretty quickly.

Smell – Has a very nice smell to it. There is coffee and chocolate and a little bit of hops in there as well. The smell is very balanced!

Taste – The first thing I realized was how smoky it actually tasted. It made for a very unique flavor all around. There was a decent hop presence among the dark malt, slight coffee, and even slighter chocolate taste. Surprisingly there wasn’t much of an aftertaste to this beer. It also had a very dry finish. The body was decently light as well, which made this beer very easily drinkable! (so maybe slightly dangerous too)

Conclusion – Before I started drinking beer, I liked porters. Once I got an appreciation for beer, however, I started to find that porters were lacking in so many things. None were as satisfying as a stout and didn’t have the character of other lighter styles. Thankfully I found this porter, which has resurrected my beliefs that a porter can be good! A very unique brew that is essential to try!

I am giving this beer a solid A-

For anyone in the GLBC distribution area, I am jealous for sure. Thanks to the few who have become followers!

Happy Drinking!

Hofbräuhaus Newport

It’s about time for my first brewery/bar/eatery review and it is one that every beer lover (or German lover) should visit!

The Hofbräuhaus in Newport, KY!

You might be thinking the same thing I am, why is such a popular, traditional German place located in Kentucky? How did the owners of the Hofbräuhaus München decide upon Newport, KY as the very first replication of their brewery in the United States? To that question, I have no answer, mostly because I don’t speak German (but even more so because I am sure the owners would have no interest in granting me an interview.) This location opened in 2003 with two more locations opening in Las Vegas and Pittsburgh in 2004 and 2009, respectively. I am sure each location is worth a stop!

From the outside, all you see is a fairly industrial, modern looking building that blends in to the building surrounding it. Of course the big blue signs that mark the building let you know you’re in the right place. The hallway you walk down to get to the dining area has photos and history and information on their beer club. Then you arrive in the dining area.

I’ve never been to Germany, but I would imagine the people of Hofbräuhaus have made sure that the seating and general atmosphere of the place is very similar to the one in Munich. Large tables with bench seating fill up the floor with a few booths along the wall while flags with various family crests hang from the ceiling. The bar is nice and large with some huge brewing tanks setting the brewery atmosphere. Perhaps the most important part of any German beer place is apparent as well: the beer maidens, decked out in their Dirndl.

I enjoyed being in the place because it actually does make you feel like you could be in Germany, minus the German accents. The food list is mostly authentic German cuisine and the beer list is of course their beer. I won’t go too much into the food but you can see it for yourself below:

I will say that I was quite disappointed at one point during the meal. As you can tell from a previous review of the beer itself, I had a liter of the Dunkel. The ONLY reason I wanted a liter of beer at

lunch was because the menu said I could keep the stein afterwards, and who doesn’t want a liter stein? Upon finishing the meal, the beer maiden hands me the check and I look at it and realize she didn’t charge me for the stein yet. So upon her return I question her and they tell me they are running low on steins and can’t sell any. I was heartbroken to say the least, but I suppose its not entirely their fault.

In conclusion, it was a wonderful experience to be there, eat their wonderful food, and drink their decent beer. I am very interested in going back and trying the different beers they have each month.

I am going to give this a brewery/bar/eatery a B+ overall, despite not selling me a stein.

Check out their website HERE

Happy Drinking!

Old Rasputin

Brewed By: North Coast Brewing

Style: Russian Imperial Stout

ABV: 9%

IBU: 75

This beer’s reputation precedes itself, so I don’t know how much information I can provide you that you don’t know. Unless of course you’ve never had one, in which case you should stop reading this blog and go to your local beer store so you can enjoy one while you read about it!

Russian Imperial Stouts (RIS) came about from the Barclay Brewery in London in the 18^th century. Peter the Great of Russia became a fan of stouts during his trip to England and requested that some be sent to him in Russia. The first attempt was a failure because the beer spoiled before ever reaching him. So the brewery added alcohol and hops to try and make the beer last longer and created the first RIS.

Lets get into this one!

Look – Pitch black. Had a nice one and a half finger width of dark khaki head that sticks around for a good while.

Smell – Heavy roasted malt aroma with a decent amount of chocolate nose. You can just smell that this is going to be a solid, heavy beer with a lot of hops

Taste – It’s hard to tell what hit me first. There was a strong hop bitterness that had no intention of dissipating. Roasted malts sit on the palate while hints of coffee also become apparent. The biggest thing that surprised was still how solidly bitter this beer was without being too overwhelming. The taste lingers after every drink of this beer.

Conclusion – This is everything an RIS should be (and perhaps a little more). Throughout the entire glass, every drink stayed complex and never got boring, which is an immediate sign for me that this is a quality beer. After 5 minutes I could still taste hints of the hops and malt on my palate; definitely not for the light beer drinker.

I give this beer my first A!

For those who haven’t tried anything by North Coast, I suggest visiting THIS SITE and finding a style that interests you and finding it. I can almost guarantee it will be worth it from this brewery!

On a side note, I am going to try to increase my number of “Followers.” So if you are reading this, please click “Follow” on the left side of the screen and suggest this page to your friends. Thanks!

Happy Drinking!

Hofbräu Dunkel

Brewed By: Hofbräuhaus Newport

Style: Munich Dunkel Lager

ABV: 5.5%

IBU: 10 – 20

I was already excited enough to BE at the Hofbräuhaus (post coming soon) and couldn’t wait to finally try the beer. Of course, I had a liter of it sitting in front of me, so I was going to have PLENTY of time to either enjoy it or hate it. All the beers at the Hofbräuhaus are brewed according to the German Purity Law of 1516; the law states that beer can only be brewed using barley, hops, and water. You can read an English translation of the whole law HERE. Lets get in to this very simple, classic beer.

Look – Reddish-brown pour with a TON of head, as expected. The head stuck around for a decent while as well.

Smell – A lot of malt up front, caramel malt mostly. Not much else to speak of with the nose. Smelled a little similar to an adjunct lager and smelled a little watery/weak. Almost no hop smell.

Taste – Extremely simple tasting beer. There was the prevalent caramel malt, slighty sweet taste and a tiny bit of hop flavor. Food did bring out some of the more subtle characteristics of the beer and made the hops a little more obvious. Very light body and very easily drinkable (even if there was a whole liter).

Conclusion – There is not really much to say about this beer. It is a very simple beer with nothing flashy. It wasn’t that great, but it did go pretty well with the traditional German food I was eating at the time. I would love to go back and try the other beers though to see how different they all taste.

I give this beer a C-

Once again, I definitely suggest a visit to any of the Hofbräuhaus locations, with Munich probably being THE one to visit. If anyone wants to buy me a ticket to Germany, I guess I would go with you.

Happy Drinking!

Brian Boru Irish Red Ale

Brewed By: Three Floyds Brewing Co.

Style: Irish Red Ale

ABV: 5.5%

IBU: 40

I love when beers have a name that I have to research to find out its significance and this beer is definitely one of those. Brian Boru was the last high king of Ireland and that is how the beer got its name. Three Floyds has typically been a brewery that I wasn’t very fond of. The beers that I tried were before I really started drinking and enjoying beer and so they didn’t impress me. On top of that, I hate the taste of grapefruit and often times with the hops they use (Amarillo hops), I taste grapefruit and lose interest.

I was pretty sure I wouldn’t like this beer just from my history with the brewery, but I was surprised because I actually enjoyed it! It didn’t hurt that it was also on St. Patricks Day!

Look – Pours a cloudy copper with a slight red tint. It had a very thick head that stuck around for a good while.

Smell – It definitely had a typical Three Floyds nose. A lot of citrus, hops, and spice. A little bit of a floral smell as well.

Taste – Definite citrus taste and a lot of hops. The spice from the nose is definitely noticeable in the taste as well. I am personally not a big fan of this spice taste and how it interacts with the citrus. Even though there is a strong citrus taste, it doesn’t taste very sweet. Definitely activates the bitter taste buds much more and the bitter taste lingers for a good while. The “tea-like” flavor that typically describes Irish Red Ale’s is fairly accurate. It’s a very easily drinkable beer and very enjoyable.

Conclusion – I was glad that I enjoyed this beer because everyone always talks about how great Three Floyds is and I never enjoyed them that much. That citrus flavor has always turned me off, but I think at this point I might be able to go back and try the other beers and enjoy them as well. I have had a decent amount of Irish Reds and think this one is one of the better that I’ve had.

I give this beer a B.

Check out their headache inducing website HERE and sign up for a brewery tour! Every Saturday, 40 people are allowed to go on this tour, so sign up early!

Happy Drinking!

Dark Horse Special Reserve Black Bier Ale

Brewed By: Dark Horse Brewing Company

Style: American Strong Ale (pretty much a stout)

ABV: 7.5%

This beer is the oldest in the Dark Horse family, and I will also add that it’s the best I’ve had so far from this brewery. Not only is the bottle worth it, but the beer inside is excellent.

I was recently able to visit Dark Horse on my trip to Michigan (review of that to come soon enough), but I had already reviewed this beer so I didn’t get to sample it fresh from the brewery because I had others waiting for my reviews!

Look – Poured a dark black with a nice thick tan head sitting on top. Most of the head vanished pretty quickly, but there was a thin layer left on top while I drank this beer.

Smell – Excellent smells! I get a ton of roasted barley, dark chocolate and burnt coffee beans. Somehow, it all seems to balance rather nicely and creates a very high expectation for the taste. There wasn’t a noticeable hop smell, but there rarely is with heavy stouts (excluding the Imperials).

Taste – Totally lives up to the nose. A full roasted malt, chocolate, and coffee taste that yet again balances out to create a wonderful mixture. It’s got a medium body to it, but is very easily drinkable despite the heavy flavors. A very pleasant bitterness sits on the back of the tongue for a good while after the last drink. The only negative aspect of it was that it DID NOT pair very well with the Cajun sweet potato fries I was eating (see picture). It’s not a versatile beer as far as food pairings go, but boy was it excellent with my steak! The other thing I liked about this beer is that it never got boring, I felt the same way about the flavor profile at the beginning and end of the glass.

Conclusion – This is definitely the best beer I have reviewed so far. I have very few bad things to say about this beer. One was the food pairings and the other is simply that I would have liked for it to be a little less carbonated to make the mouth feel a little heavier, but then again, it’s not officially a stout, the brewers say that it sits somewhere between a porter and a stout. I am also glad to finally read brewers comments about a beer that are actually true.

I give this beer an A-

Go check out the Dark Horse website here and definitely pick up one or two of this fine beer.

Happy Drinking!

Michigan Trip! (a short update)

I recently returned from an excellent trip to Southwest Michigan, in which I was able to visit three breweries (Bells, Dark Horse, and a small local brewery) and drink some great beer! Unfortunately, I am fairly behind on my reviews but will do my best to speed things up a bit so that it's not too long before I write all my reviews on that wonderful trip!

If anyone is looking for a good place to go for beer though, Southwestern Michigan is the place to go. I was based in Kalamazoo but there are several cool beer bars and breweries in the area.

Happy Drinking!

Shiner Bock

Brewed By: Spoetzl Brewery

Style: Bock

ABV: 4.4%

IBU: 13

Since 1909, The Shiner Brewing Association has been providing Texas, and now other places, with their beer. Not too long after their founding, Shiner Bock (1913) made its first appearance. The following year, Kosmos Spoetzl was brought in as brewmaster as changed the brewery into the successful business that it is now. He was the head of the company for 36 years. Anyhow…..enough about the company. If you have further interest, the Shiner website is very informational and can be found here: www.shiner.com

I used to love Shiner Bock. It was my go to beer back when I didn’t really drink that much beer, so I was looking forward to reviewing it now and seeing how different my tastes had become. There is a plethora of interesting information about Shiner Bock to be found on the world wide web; people complaining about it not being true to the style, differing opinions on whether it’s a worthwhile beer or not, and varying opinions on the ingredients. So lets check it out!

Look – It poured a reddish brown, almost copper with about a finger width of light tan head that dissipated rather quickly.

Smell – Not much to talk about. I smell yeast and a little bit of some sort of malt. No hop smell at all.

Taste – So much yeast taste! It wasn’t until I did some research that I found they remove the yeast they use during the fermentation process and add a bottling yeast right before bottling. So that explains that. There is hardly any hop taste, there is no alcohol taste (with an ABV of 4.4%, I guess I’m not surprised), but there is a slight dark malt flavor. I will say that Shiner Bock is very crisp and refreshing. It has a light body and a very clean taste to it. It might be a little over carbonated, but then again, it might not be as crisp as it is if that aspect was changed. I was enjoying a pizza while drinking this beer and they went together very nicely.

Conclusion – I keep going back and forth on whether or not I liked this beer, even as I write this blog I flip back and forth. On the one hand, its has a very poor flavor, but on the other hand, it’s refreshing and I could easily see myself sitting outside on a nice summer day, grilling some burgers and drinking this beer. I remember seeing ads on T.V. of people jogging and then grabbing some light beer (Miller Lite maybe?) and thinking that no one would ever do that. After revisiting this beer though, I feel like it would be a good use for this low alcohol content beer because it is so crisp!

I will say that the taste is not worth it, but the drinkability and feel of it are.

I will grant this beer a C+

Go out and grab a six pack of it this summer though for sure!

Happy Drinking!

Schlafly Coffee Stout

Brewed By: St. Louis Brewery

Style: Oatmeal Stout

ABV: 5.7%

IBU: 30

The St. Louis Brewery has been brewing for about 20 years now and was the first brewery to open in St. Louis after Prohibition ended. This Oatmeal stout was combined with Kaldi’s coffee to create its unique flavor and aroma (Kaldi’s coffee is a St. Louis based coffee roasting company). I will say that Oatmeal stouts are generally very low on the stout totem pole for me, but I was pleasantly surprised by this brew. I was not very impressed by the last coffee stout that I had either (see previous review), so I was already hoping for something a little better.

Look - It poured a near black/dark brown with a half finger width of light tan head sitting on top of it. The head did stick around for a good while as well.

Smell – Has a VERY strong coffee smell. If I was blindfolded and forced to smell a cup of cold coffee and this beer, I don’t know that I would be able to tell much difference. There is a slight hop aroma, but those coffee notes overshadow most of it. Also a decent chocolate and malt smell.

Taste – Well….I can say that it doesn’t differ much from the smell, which is good because I love coffee. I could ALMOST see myself waking up in the morning and having one of these before heading off to work, but alas, my employer would not like that. Despite the strong coffee taste, there was a decent amount of bitterness from the Marynka hops, which have a high content of bitterness substances. It was still a very refreshing taste and was decently light on the tongue for having so much of a flavor profile. I think part of that is that it might have been a little overcarbonated, so it didn’t sit very heavily on the palate. Surprisingly, there wasn’t much of an aftertaste to this beer.

My food choices tonight were chocolate based to see if the complex chocolate taste would downplay the taste of the beer. With the mint chocolate chip ice cream (yes, beer and ice cream), it tasted really good still. It didn’t actually change that much when paired up. Then I went to straight chocolate, Dove chocolate to be exact; yet again, not a whole of change in the flavor of the beer. The chocolate based actually really complimented the coffee and chocolate flavor of the beer.

Conclusion – For an Oatmeal stout, I was pleasantly surprised. If you are not a fan of coffee, you will not like this beer and will hate everything I have said about it. It had a decent body, strong aromas, and quite a coffee taste. It’s the only beer I have tried from this brewery, but I am definitely going to look into trying some more. You should pick up a bottle or two of this brew to enjoy in the morning….or whenever you want.

I give this beer a B+ (I try to reserve my A’s for exceptional beers)

This brewery also has free tours. So if anyone wants to go to St. Louis….TAKE ME!

Happy Drinking!

Clay County Coffee Stout

Brewed By: Bee Creek Brewery

Style: American Stout

ABV: 6%

I always like trying local beers; supporting local breweries and businesses in general is just good for your surrounding economy. So when I noticed that this brewery was located in Brazil, IN, I had to pick up a beer to review.

The Bee Creek Brewery was started in 2007 and continues to be a family owned and run business. Mark Snelling is the Brewmaster and has over 25 years of brewing experience. As of right now, they have 3 beers that they brew with ingredients from right here in Indiana. I chose the Clay County Coffee Stout to review first.

Brewer’s Description: “A dark, rich beer brewed with roasted malts and combined with Brazil Santos Coffee (from Jameson in Greencastle). Expect a full-bodied beer with a sumptuous coffee aroma topped only by it's opulent flavor.”

Look – Poured a dark brown, near black. Very little head that dissipated rather quickly.

Smell – Wonderful aromas coming from this beer. There was a strong coffee smell, very similar to just smelling a cup of coffee. There is also a strong chocolate aroma and a very faint hop smell.

Taste – I was pretty disappointed by the taste overall. The first thing I noticed was how light the body was (in contrast to the brewer’s description). It almost tasted like it was much too watery. A lot of the taste is very front-end and doesn’t stick around. I do taste a decent amount of hops but am otherwise disappointed by how little chocolate and coffee taste there is. As always, I tried this beer while eating some food; today’s food being popcorn. I will say that with the popcorn improved the taste a little and brought out a little more of the chocolate and hop taste. It’s a rather easy beer to drink because of the light body, but just doesn’t provide any complexity in its taste.

Conclusion – Overall, I didn’t really enjoy this beer. The smell made me think it was going to be a high quality beer but it didn’t end up meeting that expectation. I was very surprised by how light the body was and how very little taste it had. The beer also tasted kind of flat.

I am giving this beer a C-

I am sad that I didn’t enjoy this beer more because I would have loved to find an awesome local brewery that I could tour and review. I might still visit the brewery and try their other beers because every brewery deserves a second chance!

Support your local breweries!

Happy Drinking!

Marathon Lager

Brewed by: Athenian Brewery

Style: American Adjunct Lager

ABV: 5%

IBU: 17.5

On a lonely street in Anderson, Indiana sits a Mediterranean restaurant called, “The Nile.” You might assume it is an Egyptian restaurant from the name and the Egyptian decorations that adorn the entire inside of the restaurant (see picture); however, it is primarily a Greek restaurant. So I of course had to find a Greek beer to review while eating Greek food. Marathon was my choice.

The Athenian Brewery has been brewing Marathon Lager since 1971. I won’t go into why it’s called Marathon because that’s an obvious association. So lets jump right into the beer itself.

Look – Pours a translucent golden color with about a half finger width of white foamy head that dissipated rather quickly. It was clearly very carbonated because there were a ton of bubbles coming up from the bottom of the glass.

Smell – It amazes me how similar the smells are when you have two beers that are the same style. This fits right in with most other American adjunct lagers but does present a slightly fruity smell as well. From just the smell alone, it doesn’t appear that hops will be very present in the taste.

Taste – The initial taste of the beer was somewhat surprising. It had a high malt taste that was very smooth and sweet. It also tasted very yeasty on the front end. It’s a very easily drinkable beer as you would expect because of the very light body that comes along with this style. I was eating Saganaki while first drinking this beer and was surprised at how little the beer taste actually changed with such a complex food taste. The malt and yeast is kind of pushed out but the beer keeps the same character. Interestingly, while I was enjoying a Falafel, the malt and yeast taste reappeared and remained prevalent through the glass. My conclusion on pairing this with food is that the beer remains pretty steady through different kinds of food so don’t be afraid to have this beer with whatever is for dinner.

Conclusion – As far as Adjunct Lagers go, I enjoy this one. The malt flavor is sweet and creates a very smooth feeling in the mouth. Unfortunately, it is still an adjunct lager and well below par of what I would consider a “good” beer. I look forward to trying other foreign attempts at American adjunct lagers and seeing if all of them are better than cheap American beers!

I am going to give this beer a C-

On a very important side note: Beer and olives DO NOT go well together. If you know of a beer that does, please fill me in because this one didn’t work. Also, if you happen to read Greek: http://www.athenianbrewery.gr/

I have to go play Fallout 3 now.

Happy Drinking!

Old No. 38 Stout

Brewed by: North Coast Brewing Company

Style: Dublin Dry Stout

ABV: 5.5%

IBU: 53

I would like to say that I am always pleased by what North Coast Brewing has to offer. They consistently show that they know how to make a good beer and this one is no exception.

The Old No. 38 Stout is identified as a Dublin Dry Stout. The reason that Dublin is before the type is simply because dry stouts were traditionally made in Ireland. In fact, an Irish stout is interchangeable with the term Dry Stout. The big name in this style of beer is of course Guiness….but Guiness also sucks, unlike this beer!

As you might be able to tell from the bottle, the Old No. 38 is named after a steam engine that used to run on a track through the Redwoods. Fort Bragg was on the line and that is where North Coast is located. In fact, you can still take train rides down the line and while you’re there, you might as well hop into the brewery for a few samples!

On to the beer!

Look – The brewery calls the color of the pour “Onyx.” I can’t really agree with that. It poured more of a very deep, dark brown. In the right light, I could see through the glass, which is definitely not Onyx. The light tan head was fairly thick and once it dissipated, a very thin head continued to sit on top of the beer for most of the drinking.

Smell – There was a very heavy chocolate smell right away with the expected coffee and roasted malt scents in there as well. As with most dry stouts, I couldn’t smell too much more than that.

Taste – Love the initial taste of this beer! Unfortunately, it doesn’t stick around for long and it leaves a rather dry aftertaste (though I guess that’s one way to get people to keep drinking). That first taste is strong with dark, roasted malts and barley and very light with the chocolate. It doesn’t taste very hoppy because the other flavors kind of take charge in the whole mix of things. I was eating pizza while drinking this one and found that food seemed to bring out the hops a lot with each drink. I think the beer goes great with food because it kept the taste interesting and brought out more aspects of the beer.

Conclusion – It’s a solid beer for sure. Good taste, good smell and a lot better than some other dry stouts that I’ve had. If you don’t like Guiness, you should definitely try this beer to give Irish stouts another chance.

I would give this beer a solid B

Thanks for reading, come back often!

Happy Drinking!

Finnegan's Irish Amber

Firstly, let me apologize for the very poor quality photo to the right. For some reason I lose my camera like its my job; if I were to get paid to lose my camera, I would own my own brewery at this point and not be trying to get you to come back and read my thoughts on beers.

Anyhow, lets continue.

Finnegans is a beer brewed by the Summit Brewing Company based in Minnesota. Coincidentally, you can only find this beer in the Minnesota area. The cool thing about Finnegans is that all profits of the sale of this beer go towards charity. You can read ALL about it at the Finnegans Website. You can even donate to the organization without drinking the beer (which might be a good option).

Lets talk beer.

Finnegans is brewed with potatoes (on a side note, I can never remember whether an 'e' goes in that word or not so I google searched it and still don't have a definitive answer) and three varieties of malts. Reading the descriptions of the beer as provided by the manufacturer is quite misleading because saying that this beer has a "complex malt character" is simply a lie. I will go ahead and throw "flavorfully rich" into that same category.

Look - It poured an opaque copper/amber color. It had VERY little head to it which didn't stick around for the party very long anyways. Appears to have a perfect amount of carbonation bubbling up.

Smell - Couldn't really smell the potatoes at all. Very little malt smell to it and almost no hop aroma. I am not one of those people that will be able to smell a beer and tell you that it appears to contain berries from the lush mouth of the Rhine River in Holland. My nose just doesn't work that way. So there's not much else to say about the smell other than it smelled remarkably similar to most American lagers that I have had.

Taste - I think the nice thing to do is make what some people call, "a compliment sandwich." Start with a compliment, then all the negative things, then end with a compliment. (I won't go into how logistically wrong the term compliment sandwich is....or maybe I will. Last time I had a sandwich, I called it a turkey sandwich because that was what was inside my two pieces of bread. So REALLY, its a "negativity sandwich with two slices of compliments." Which reminds me that I should correct everyone on creating a "Nathan sandwich." If there are two Nathan's standing on either side of a person, that is NOT a Nathan sandwich, we are both just slices of bread cut from the same Nathan loaf. If you want a Nathan sandwich, he must be in the middle).

Anyhow..... the beer does have a decently sweet taste to start that fades rather quickly into a slightly hoppy aftertaste. Once again to say that the beer has a complex malt character is a lie. There is a faint, very faint malty taste but it is quickly eviscerated by the dryness of the beer. I kept feeling as though I wanted to drink a glass of water. As will be my usual MO, I tried the beer with a couple foods to get a feel for how well it went with certain things. I felt like this beer was very similar to adjunct American lagers, which was my last review, so I figured I would try it with chocolate as well, however it did not turn out so well. Something about the richness of the chocolate made the beer almost tasteless. I say almost because I still got the malts and ALL of the dryness, which did not help the taste of the beer. So I scoured my cabinets for something else to eat and found some Pringles. BBQ if you're wondering. I will make this suggestion: DO NOT DRINK THIS BEER WITH ANY FOOD THAT HAS A LOT OF FLAVOR. After having a few Pringles, I tasted the beer and wanted to pour the rest down the sink. This beer is not one to be enjoyed with foods.

Conclusions: It's an okay beer, but nothing special. I love the fact that the proceeds go to charity to help those in need, but feel that I could make a difference in other ways and drink good beer while I'm at it. If you do want to try it and you find yourself in MN, I would suggest simply drinking the beer by itself and not trying to have dinner with it (it's not a very good date anyways).

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Happy Drinking!