September « 2009 « Brews and Blues

11Sep/092

Bell’s Oktoberfest

I have bee to Gail's Hops and Grapes twice in the last week to pick up several sixers of seasonal samplers. Fall seasonals, especially Oktoberfests, are some of my favorite beers. As you may be able to tell from my writings here, I love the malty beers. The girls at Gail's have been really clamoring over the Bell's offering this year. They say it's their most popular seasonal at the moment, so of course I had to give it a try. I am a fan of Bell's Brewery's products, and it's really hard to go wrong with one of their beers.

This Oktoberfest poured with a nice golden-orange color that isn't as deep as some I have experienced in the past. The thick head also looked appealing and it held on for the duration of this drink. The body of this drink is rather rich, and I would classify it as medium to slightly higher than medium with a beautiful caramel flavor with hints of toasted notes floating around. It has an excellent mouth feel and it isn't too crisp. From the website:

A coppery amber lager that showcases a full-bodied, malty flavor that is balanced by a refreshing bitterness derived from fine noble hops...

Oh well... the body level and character of a beer to a homebrewer is significantly different that to most beer drinkers. Let's just say that this beer does have a nice body overall. This style of beer is not known for any particular presence of hop character, so I'm not even really interested in discussing the hop value. These beers are defined by their maltiness.

It's good stuff... I'm just not ready to put it at the very top of my Oktoberfest favorites list yet. I have three more on hand to sample and I might pick up a few more during the season as well...

Filed under: Beer Reviews, Marzen, Oktoberfest, Seasonal 2 Comments

9Sep/090

Duck-Rabbit Milk Stout

I picked up another sample to try from The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery on my last trip to the World Market. The Milk Stout is one I have been interested in trying, so I tossed it in with a mixed sixer and brought it home...

For those of you who may not know this already, the name Milk Stout does not indicate that this beer has milk in it. In fact, I really wonder why a brewery would use this name. I can only assume that they are marketing to people who do know what it means... Milk in beer would be just... umm... nasty. The Milk in the name of this beer indicates that it contains lactose as a sweetener. Lactose is one of the primary sugars found in milk, which is where this name comes from. Lactose is not a fermentable sugar, so when it's added to beer, it doesn't create additional alcohol. It creates additional sweetness, body, and mouth feel when drinking it.

That being said, Duck-Rabbit's Milk Stout is just that. It's a stout that has the normal flavor of roasted malts but it also displays an additional sweetness that isn't as common in the stouts. That makes it rather unique. I'm personally not a fan of this beer. It's drinkable and I can't really say anything bad about it. The flavor is good, unique, and worthwhile in general. I guess my attitude about a stout makes me want a more hard-edged roast flavor with the bitterness that accompanies that. Maybe I'm a little more lenient when they call the beer a Porter :)

Filed under: Beer Reviews, Brewpubs, Events, Milk / Sweet Stout No Comments

7Sep/092

The Olde Hickory Brewery

I ran across this video on YouTube this afternoon and just wanted to share it with those of you who might have missed it... This is a nice behind-the-scenes look at the brewery with Steven Lyerly...

Filed under: Brewpubs 2 Comments

6Sep/090

Homebrew – Two Fingers Amber Ale

I know I just posted a home brew yesterday, but yesterday's post was actually the second all-grain beer I have made. This one is the first. As you can see from the photo, this beer exhibits the same chill haze as yesterday's beer. Cloudiness aside, this beer is fantastic. It poured with a very rich amber hue and a thick head of foam that maintained for the duration of the drink. This beer is definitely a malt monster. The hops are present, but the malts here definitely come into play at a much higher level. This beer has an estimated 32 IBU and an alcohol content of 6.5%, but with the heavier body (finished at 1.020 FG) the hop presence falls slightly into the background as the malt sweetness stays in the forefront. The hop factor in this home brew comes in the form of an after taste and in the initial aroma of the beer. This five gallon batch has a combined bill of 2 ounces of hops, Cascade on the bittering and flavor side and Williamette on the aroma. It takes a lot of hops to punch their way through a 14-pound malt bill though...

I racked the Chocolate Oatmeal Stout to a secondary fermenter today after one week in the primary fermenter. I took a gravity reading of 1.014. Since it started at 1.060, I'm hoping this beer finishes up at 1.014 and doesn't ferment down any further. I want this beer to have a medium body, and it already has pushed over the 6% mark on alcohol by volume. I was originally going to let this beer sit in primary for two weeks, but I decided to go ahead and move it. I will still let it condition in secondary for four weeks before bottling it.

Filed under: Beer Reviews, Home Brewing, Lessons in Homebrewing, Maibock / Helles No Comments

5Sep/090

Homebrew – ESYFB

Here's one of my recent home brewing projects for review. This beer is my "ESYFB" which is a simple blonde ale. ESYFB stands for "Extra Special Yellow Fizzy Beer". Yellow Fizzy Beer is terminology that a lot of homebrew and micro/craft beer drinkers like to use when discussing beers from the BudMillerCoors family of beers. I added the "Extra Special" to denote that this is a home brewed product. My objective with this beer was exactly what you might think. I was trying to replicate the light color and light body of the BudMillerCoors beers but produce a flavor and feel that makes it 'Extra Special' in nature. My main objectives for making a beer like this is just to see if I could pull it off and also to have some beer on hand for friends and family who aren't used to drinking heavier bodied and fuller flavored home brews. How did I do? Let's see...

This beer, as you can see from the photo, poured with a golden orange color with a thick head. My color objective wasn't exactly where I wanted it to be. I wanted this beer to be a lot lighter yellow color. The beer is also cloudy from a chill haze, which is a result of not being able to cool the beer quickly enough during the brewing process. The haze (cloudiness) doesn't have any affect on the flavor though. The color is darker than I expected because the mash tun I used (this was the first time I had used this equipment) produced an efficiency much higher than I expected, which also caused me to produce an alcohol level higher than I had originally planned for. This beer came out at 5.5% ABV instead of my target 4.25%. Problem? Not really :) This beer has the light body and crisp flavor that I was shooting for. I'm very happy with that aspect of it. It has a low hop presence of approximately 19 IBU which helps keep the malty sweetness of this beer dominant in its character. The hops I chose for this particular brew provide a citrus mouth presence with a very slight citrus aroma.

I plan to perfect this beer, because it's one that I want to keep on hand at all times, and I'll probably brew it more than once a year for that very reason. My next batch will have some adjustments made that will lower the alcohol content just a little and clean up the chill haze to make a very nice looking beer in the glass. I'll also hit the color

This beer was my second all-grain batch. I'm letting my first all-grain batch sit just a little longer before I put it on the reviewing block. I have been dipping into it and I'm waiting for it to age just a little more before I put it in the spotlight :)

Filed under: American Blonde Ale, Beer Reviews, Home Brewing No Comments

1Sep/090

Abita Amber

I have been so busy lately that I haven't had time to drink much beer, which is unfortunate. I did complete a brewing session on Sunday, and I'll be reviewing my two previous brews in the coming week or two. I'm trying to get back on a regular sampling schedule, so tonight I'm sampling the Amber from Abita Brewing Company in Abita Springs, Louisiana.

This beer poured with a nice rich copper / amber color and a nice thick head. The head retention was decent and the flavor of this beer is definitely on the malty side with a practically non-existent hop presence beyond the aroma. It's rated at 17 IBU which is just on the low side for this particular style, but the caramel flavor is definitely nice.

In the greater scheme of things, Abita's Amber isn't something that really stands above many of the rest in this class. It's a good beer and it's one that I would likely buy again at some point, but after tasting it and enjoying the entire glass, I can't really come up with any definitive aspects of this beer that put it on a higher level. It's good beer, and that's about it :)