Brews and Blues Beer and Smokin’ Blues

He’Brew Jewbelation Twelve

Brewery: Shmaltz Brewing Company
Where: Saratoga Springs, NY
Style: American Brown Ale
IBU: N/A
ABV: 12.0%

Here's a beer that I have been sitting on for quite a while.  Beers of this nature tend to be most excellent when aged for an extended time, so I have had this bottle tucked away on the shelf for 10 or 11 months now.  The American Brown Ale classificaiton given to this beer by beeradvocate.com might not be quite on the mark.  Packaged as a 12th Anniversary Ale, this beer is brewed with 12 malts and 12 hops, which is quite a recipe in my opinion.  As I poured it into the glass, my first impression was a stout or porter with the rich dark color and the chocolate-like creamy head that was produced.  The aroma has a characteristic roastiness to it as does the flavor.  At 12% alcohol, this is yet another beer that should be pulled from the fridge about 30 minutes before you are ready to drink. 

As for the aging I mentioned, I believe that process allows the malt complexity of a beer to really shine through, and it has done just that in this beer.  This is the exact kind of beer I like to sip through on a cold and windy day, which is what I'm planning to do with this one as it sits on the desk in front of me :)

I'm still unable to locate a bottle of the Coney Island Albino Python.  That is the only remaining beer I have to sample from the Coney Island line of craft brews from Shmaltz.  If any of my reader friends can locate a bottle of this for me, I'd be greatly in debt! 

Brooklyn Brown Ale

Brewery: Brooklyn Brewery
Where: Brooklyn, New York
Beer: Brooklyn Brown Ale
Style: American Brown Ale
IBU: N/A
ABV: 5.6%

Tonight's sampling is from The Brooklyn Brewery in Brooklyn, New York.  This is my first sampling from this brewery, and I decided to start with their Brooklyn Brown Ale.  This beer poured with the expected deep brownish bronze color and a nice foamy head.  This beer has a nice sweetness about it along with some interesting roasted flavors.  This taste comes from the British Two-row, Belgian aromatic, and American roasted malts that Brooklyn Brewery uses to make this brew.  The hop characteristcs are rather subdued as dictated by this style, but the combination of Willamette, Cascade, and American Fuggles that Brooklyn blends for this beer create a nice earthy flavor and aroma with some mild hints of the northwestern nose of cascade and willamette hops. 

As compared to others in the style, the Brooklyn Brown Ale doesn't really stand out of the crowd for me, but it is, none-the-less, a very good beer.  I recommend giving it a try!

Duck-Rabbit Brown Ale

Traditionally, I'm not a huge fan of brown ales, but this one is OK. The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery's Brown Ale is nice and smooth with a decent hop punch and a smooth malty flavor right behind it. 

From the website:

The Duck-Rabbit Brown Ale is an American brown ale brewed with loads of hops from start to finish (it’s hoppy and beautifully bitter). Amarillo hops in the boil provide a spicy citrusy bitterness. Saaz dry hops in the fermentor provide a refined flowery aroma. These hops are supported by a grain bill of seven varieties of malt. Oh yeah!

The 'loads of hops' don't really punch me so hard in this beer, but the hoppy aroma from the dry-hopping is definitely present. 

This is my last sampling from an assorted six-pack from the World Market.  I'm out of un-tried beers!  I'm gonna have to make a run back down there sometime soon or try to find some local sources for singles.  My only great local source for singles is rather expensive.  I think their singles start at $3.99 each and run up to about $12.00 or so depending on what you get.  Most of those singles are 16-24 ounces and there are some really great selections to choose from, but I can't let beer sampling break the bank...