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!