Review: He'Brew Bittersweet Lenny's R.I.P.A.

He'Brew Bittersweet Lenny's R.I.P.A. from Shmaltz Brewing Company (He'Brew)
Rating: B+

Appearance: beautiful white head, absolutely incredible head retention, the best I've ever seen. It must be the rye. Body is a clear ruddy color.

Smell: inverted from the other he'brew beers, where sweet malt is dominant - this one has a very strong spicy hops character, with the malt playing a supporting role. Somewhat bready.

Taste: spicy hop bite up front, which gives way to sweet malt. Alcohol fairly well-hidden, I thought. Not my favorite of the he'brew line, I have to say. Drinking this beer is like a kick in the head, it's very strongly flavored.

Mouthfeel: medium-heavy mouthfeel, dry acidic finish that aids drinkability a little, but the aftertaste lingers.

Drinkability: I drank this one slower than the others. I enjoyed it, but I won't be seeking this one out again.

Serving type: on-tap

Reviewed on: 07-25-2006 02:34:58

Review: He'Brew Genesis 10:10

He'Brew Genesis 10:10 from Shmaltz Brewing Company (He'Brew)
Rating: B+

Appearance: Auburn color with a slightly purple tint to it, little head or lacing, clear.

Smell: sweet malt, dark fruits, background hops

Taste: sweet, malty, with a good amount of hops in the background. some fruit and caramel, but in supporting roles. pomegranate shows up in the finish. reminded me a bit of a less-hopped version of Bigfoot barleywine. some alcohol warming at the swallow.

Mouthfeel: heavy, slightly syrupy, good carbonation,

Drinkability: alcohol level fairly well-hidden, fairly drinkable, especially considering the style (think barleywine, not fruit beer!)

Serving type: on-tap

Reviewed on: 07-25-2006 02:25:35

Hebrew Genesis Ale

Review: He'Brew Messiah Bold

He'Brew Messiah Bold from Shmaltz Brewing Company (He'Brew)
Rating: B+

Appearance: very dark, not quite opaque, with some dark red highlights. Good head and lacing.

Smell: lots of dark chocolate, and some caramel. Not much in the way of hops.

Taste: chocolate, caramel, enough bitterness to back it up. Nutty finish. A little bit on the sweeter side.

Mouthfeel: rich and creamy, very nice, but light enough to be drinkable.

Drinkability: could easily be a dessert beer. a little too sweet to be a sessioner. Better than the last couple nut browns I've had in brewpubs.

Serving type: on-tap

Reviewed on: 07-25-2006 02:17:19

Hebrew Messiah Bold

Review: He'Brew Genesis Ale

He'Brew Genesis Ale from Shmaltz Brewing Company (He'Brew)
Rating: B

Appearance: Amber copper color, clear, good head and very nice lacing. a fine looking beer.

Smell: sweet malt dominant, but with a firm backbone of hops

Taste: Interesting cross between an american amber and an american pale ale. sweet malts in the forefront, but with enough citrusy hops to stand on their own. If I had to choose between one and the other, I'd probably put it more in the American amber category than the APA.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied, but light enough to session. fine finish and aftertaste, although the taste is on the sweeter side, it doesn't become wearing.

Drinkability: High! the brewer calls this a "craft session beer" and I think the description fits.

Serving type: on-tap

Reviewed on: 07-25-2006 02:11:26

Beer Bar Review: The Brickskeller

The Brickskeller in Washington, DC
Rating: A-

I've visited Brickskeller twice now, once just for drinks and once for a beer tasting of He'brew's offerings.

Atmosphere: hard call on this one. It's enjoyable for what it is, but it's not what I was expecting. It's an old building, the age shows (at least downstairs). If you just saw pictures of the place, you'd think it was something of a dive. Lots of graffiti in the bathroom, that sort of thing. Upstairs, where they held the tasting, is a different story, much more "upscale," whatever that means.

Quality: lots of good beers, no complaints. Glassware was... different from my expectations.

Service: our waitress was attentive, almost too attentive because I hadn't made decisions on what to have next yet (with so many choices, it's hard)! She knew beer, though, which is always nice.

Selection: it's Brickskeller, what more can you say? 5 out of 5!

Food: I had the turkey reuben to go with the ryePA in the he'brew tasting, and it was pretty tasty.

Reviewed on: 07-31-2006 03:06:31

Review: Catch Her In The Rye

Catch Her In The Rye from Olde Auburn Ale House
Rating: B

Garnet in appearance, small head with little retention. Aroma is fairly subdued, I was expecting more rye character. Instead I get a good bit of malt, with a touch of rye "sharpness," if that's the way to describe it. Taste is surprising, considering I was told by waitress it was "kind of like an IPA." I was expecting something like a He'brew's Lenny Bruce Double RyePA, but this is more like a brown ale with rye added. It's still good, just not what I was expecting. Well-balanced with a good amount of E.K. Goldings, but certainly not at IPA levels. Mouthfeel and drinkability are good.

Serving type: on-tap

Reviewed on: 10-15-2006 23:05:29

Battle Between Good and Evil (Beer)

In perhaps the most amusing wrap-up column of the GABF, the AP's religion writer sees a cosmic struggle between the beers:

"It's the oldest story ever told — the struggle between good and evil," said Arthur, 35, a product of Catholic schools in his native San Diego. "There is a battle being waged between those who make good beer and those who make evil beer."

Without question, unholy excess is in evidence anytime 18,000 gallons of alcohol is served to 46,000 people over three days. See: women in Bavarian maid outfits and "Beer Pong" tables.

Yet perhaps surprisingly, God could be found at last week's Great American Beer Festival — in the crassly commercial, in homage to religion's long history in brewing, in needling faiths that turn a suspect eye on drinking, and (if the prophet of home-brewing is to be believed) at the bottom of every glass.

From Belgian ales brewed by monks and all the beer culture they have inspired, to Schmaltz Brewing Co.'s He'Brew, brewers have certainly embraced religious themes and imagery. They say not to talk about religion, politics or money at the dinner table - at the bar stool, the rules for one of those, at least, are relaxed.

NYT on Session Beer

Leedy writes in with a story from The New York Times on the growing trend among craft brewers to produce more low alcohol, "sessionable" beer:

“We’ve all been saying the same thing for about 18 months now, which is, enough of the high octane.”

Mr. Feinberg imports boozy Trappist and farmhouse ales, but in April he introduced a brew from another Belgian tradition: bières de table.

“When I lived there in the late ’70s and early ’80s,” he said of his time in Belgium, “everybody drank it for lunch, from grandmothers to kids.”

His new import, Brasserie Dupont’s spicy, yeasty Avril, is all of 3.5 percent alcohol. By comparison, the brewery’s more famous farmhouse ale, Saison Dupont, is 6.5 percent.

As Lew Bryson says, low alcohol does not have to mean low flavor!

Ambitious Brew Author on A-B/InBev

Maureen Ogle, author of Ambitious Brew, had an entertaining opinion piece recently in the Washington Post on the impending concluded A-B/InBev deal:

Isn't InBev simply emulating the American way? Brito and his troops are shining beacons of hope and light, in the form of hefty returns for stockholders. They're seeking profit in every purple mountain, fruited plain and amber wave of grain. Brito is precisely the kind of brawler who made America great. If Adolphus Busch, the German immigrant who transformed his father-in-law's no-account brewery into one of the world's largest, were still here, he'd offer the guy a job...

...the InBev bid for Anheuser-Busch is only the latest chapter in the ongoing tale of consolidation, mergers and globalization that is the American brewing industry. This time Anheuser-Busch is the target of an aggressor's hostile takeover bid, but usually, it plays the role of the bad guy.

In 2006, Anheuser-Busch snapped up the Rolling Rock brand brewed at Latrobe Brewing Company of Latrobe, Pa. A travesty, many declared. How dare that nasty corporate giant destroy a Latrobe tradition and move the brewing process to (ugh) Newark? The people of Latrobe (population 9,000; the brewery was a major employer) begged the company not to shut down its plant. The St. Louis brewing titan shrugged, and that was that. It's worth noting, however, that Anheuser-Busch purchased Latrobe from . . . InBev. As far as both parties were concerned, it was just another day on the battlefield.

Thanks to Ally for the news tip. Maureen Ogle's blog, which discusses the brewing industry and its history, can be found here. I had planned on posting this later today, but since the deal has been sealed there seems no reason to wait!

Small Brews Not Weak Beer

Small craft brewers are increasingly asserting their influece with distributors, a reflection of their growing importance in the beer marketplace, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Larry Bell yanked the beers made by his small Michigan brewery out of Chicago, where they enjoyed a loyal following, rather than see the rights to market them there sold to another distributor. He worried that his specialty beers would get lost among the distributor's mass-market brands...

The maneuver is perhaps the most audacious in a string of recent efforts by small-batch "craft" brewers in the U.S. to try to assert more control over how their beer is sold as they gain in popularity -- and clout. The craft brewers are using this new influence to stir up changes with beer distributors. Other brawls have erupted in New York and Texas.

As usual, government and regulation lie at the root of the problem:

Under laws that date to the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, beer generally must be sold through distributors. Producers like Bell's Brewery sell the brew to a distributor, which marks up the price and trucks it to a bar, restaurant or store, which then sells it to a consumer.

Good for Mr Bell and the other craft brewers struggling to expand their businesses while dealing with a dense thicket of regulation and distribution networks dominated by brewing giants. Thanks to Howard for the tip.

Review: Wild Hop Organic Amber Lager

Wild Hop Organic Amber Lager from Green Valley Brewing Company (Crooked Creek)
Rating: C+

My dad picked this up thinking he had something new and interesting on his hands - I felt bad telling him it was an AB product and that I'd heard it wasn't too good... Tricky tricky, the label even says Green Valley is based in California, not St. Louis. That said, I'm NOT an across the board BMC hater - if they brew something good, I will gladly buy it without worrying how it affects the "craft beer scene" - ultimately, people buying good beer is good for craft beer, no matter who makes it. Anyway...

Appearance: Golden honey color, two finger head, actually leaves some lacing. Not bad looking at all. A little on the light side for a Vienna lager perhaps?

Smell: Aroma is... almost totally absent. Very mild, what is there suggests sweetness. Definitely a lager yeast.

Taste: Nothing objectionable, but bland. Not enough flavor! Some toasted malt that's pleasant, mildly hopped, not wildly.

Mouthfeel: No complaints regarding carbonation or mouthfeel. Seem right for the style.

Drinkability: As my dad put it: "expensive football beer." It's not bad, and it goes down easy like you might want a beer to while you're watching football, but for the amount you're paying, buy something with flavor. Luckily, the juicy steak we ate with this had enough flavor to compensate!

Serving type: bottle

Reviewed on: 12-15-2006 01:25:17

Review: Old Speckled Hen

Old Speckled Hen from Greene King / Morland Brewery
Rating: B-

Pours a nice clear honey... Nice looking.

Doesn't smell very pleasant to be honest... difficult to place, but not particularly appetizing.

Taste is intriguing. Starts out creamy, then the hops come out, and there's a butter and caramel finish. One of the friends I was sampling this with said it reminded him of how he would imagine the "butterbeer" in Harry Potter.

Mouthfeel is creamy at first, but resolves to mild wateriness...

A decent brew, but not for drinking in large quantities.

Serving type: bottle

Reviewed on: 02-12-2006 05:49:06

Morland Old Speckled Hen

When Brewers Take on Vintners' Airs

An article in The Wall Street Journal (no link available) discussed the recent trend among craft brewers to adapt the techniques of vintners.

In the U.S., winey beers started popping up only a few years ago. Part of the motivation is novelty: In an increasingly crowded field, a distinctive beer can be a big marketing boost for a young brewery. (Most craft brewers remain too small to run campaigns in glossy magazines or buy television spots, so they rely on word of mouth to increase sales.) But selling fancy beer in single bottles is also good business. "Everybody along the [distribution] chain loves the margins on those big bottles," says Randy Mosher, a brewery consultant and instructor at the Siebel Institute of Technology and World Brewing Academy in Chicago.

While some brewers like Dogfish Head are either adding grapes directly or, like Port Brewing, aging their beer in brandy barrels, others are deliberately introducing yeasts which are considered contaminants in wine:

In 2000, [Russian River Brewing] went in a new direction, releasing Temptation Ale, a blonde beer aged in barrels that previously held Chardonnay and thus impart some of the wine flavor to the brew. Mr. Cilurzo, who grew up at a winery in Southern California, said his idea was to take some elements of lambic beers -- including brettanomyces, a wild yeast that adds an earthy flavor to the beer -- and combine them with wine flavors. (Vintners, by contast, go to great lengths to keep brettanomyces out of their wine.)

Today, Russian River has a handful of winey beers, including Supplication, a brown ale aged in Pinot Noir barrels with sour cherries, and Depuration, made with white wine grapes and two types of bacteria. After starting with 40 aging barrels, Russian River now has about 70, and is building a brewery that will have room for 400 (equal to about 9,600 750-milliliter bottles). "It's helped with our brand recognition, absolutely," he says.

I have tasted a few of these beers and have to admit that the results vary. Oak aging in bourbon barrels adds a nice touch of vanilla to a high gravity stout, but I've been less convinced by additions of grape juice, and "wild" yeast beers.

Thanks to Howard for the link.