Past Newsletters
Vol. 2 No. 12
| Brewery | Beers Featured |
| Bad Frog Brewing Company | Bad Frog Beer |
| Frankenmuth Brewing Company | Frankenmuth Pilsener |
| Frankenmuth Brewing Company | Frankenmuth Dark |
| Frankenmuth Brewing Company | Frankenmuth Amber Ale |
Bad Frog Brewing Company
You’ve read about him. You’ve seen him in the press. You’ve felt the hype. Now taste the beer. He’s mean, green and obscene. He’s an amphibian with an attitude and he’s in your box this month dying to get out! This month, Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club has the distinct pleasure of bringing you the notorious Bad Frog Beer. The Bad Frog Brewing Co. is the brainchild of owner Jim Wauldron, a former graphic design and advertising business owner. The herpetological horror resulted from a campaign for the Walt Disney Co. which required Wauldron to come up with a number of different sketches of various animals for theme park t-shirts. No one in the office liked Wauldron’s cuddly frog rendering, citing him (the frog, not Jim!) as wimpy and too damn cute among other things. Jim took his Disney-Woos-Frog and gave him an attitude adjustment resulting in the birth of Bad Frog Beer.
The beer itself has received tremendous publicity, most of which came as a result of the beer being banned in Ohio. Buried in the fine print of the Ohio administrative code is "Rule 44" which specifically states: "No nakedness. No obscenity. And, Nothing sensual." They really know how to have fun in the ole Bible Belt. Mari-jean Siehl, deputy director in the Ohio Liquor Control Department, said the ruling was no close call, stating "clearly, a frog with his middle finger up is unacceptable." One might argue the fact that with only four digits, the frog couldn’t possibly be flipping us off with his middle (word middle in italics and bold) finger. Other states have jumped on the frog-control bandwagon and have ultimately forced the brewery to remove the slogan stating, "He’s mean, green and obscene." Consequently, the beer is being bought up from collectors around the country as the brewery has been allowed to use up it’s existing inventory of the original labels. So keep your bottles, they may be worth absolutely nothing someday. The Bad Frog Brewing Co. has actually filed for patent to the "flipping of the bird" and hopes that someday walking into a bar and flipping off the bartender will be synonymous with ordering a Bad Frog Beer. Wauldron has already come out with a complementary malt liquor and has plans to introduce two more specialty beers this year.
For more information about the brewery and scheduled tours, call (517) 685-2990 or check out their web site at http://www.badfrog.com.
Serving Temperature: 40-45° F
Original Gravity: 11.0° Plato
Final Gravity: N/A
Int'l Bittering Units: 17.0
Alcohol by Volume: 4.3%
The Frog is an Golden Amber Lager brewed with a combination of two-row pale, Munich, Dextrin and Carastan malts. Bad Frog is "hopped" primarily with cluster hops at the beginning of the 90 min. boil to give it a slight bitterness and with later with Perle hops which are added primarily for their aromatic contribution.
Notes From the Panel:
Immediately note a nice subtle mix of hops and slight malt aroma in this beer’s nose. Look for good head retention in this clear, deep golden, medium-bodied beer. We found a predominately pale malt flavor with some crystal malt character evident in this nicely balanced beer. Look for a bitter finish. Overall, a very clean, well balanced and refreshing summer beer
Frankenmuth Brewing Company
Frankenmuth, MI, which is known as "Michigan’s Little Bavaria", is located on the Cass River in a wide expanse of fertile rolling farmland called the Saginaw Valley and was founded in 1845 by German immigrants from the Bavarian region of Franconia. The Brewery itself was rebuilt in 1988 after a devastating fire and has been operated by the Heine family since 1991. Frankenmuth uses a 115 barrel gas fired copper kettle which allows for fire brewing their award-winning beers. Their product line has received 20 varied accolades in the last five years alone and our panel considers the brewery to be one of the country’s best lagering breweries which is why we’re featuring the majority of their beers this month.
Brewmaster, Fred Scheer, has worked in the brewing industry for 23 years in German, Dutch, and American breweries, has a master’s degree in Brewing and Malting Science, and is a current active professional American Homebrewing Association judge acting on the Great American Beer Festival’s evaluation panel. The brewery employees 14 full-time employees and offers hourly tours 7 days a week.
For more information about the brewery and scheduled tours, call (517) 652-6183 or check out their web site at www.frankenmuthbrewery.com.
Serving Temperature: 40-45° F
Original Gravity: 11.3° Plato
Final Gravity: N/A
Int'l Bittering Units: 20.0
Alcohol by Volume: 5.2%
Frankenmuth’s Pilsener is a classic German Pilsener style beer brewed with all 6-row pale malts. Both Cluster and Perle hops are used up front for their bittering contributions and Perle hops are added again near the end of the boil as well to give the beer its hop aromatic characteristics. A German lager yeast strain developed in Munich is used in this filtered, light golden, medium-bodied beer.
Notes From the Panel:
Note a nice hop spicy nose (smells German) with some malt character present. Look for good head retention in this pale, clear, medium-to-light-bodied beer. We found this Pilsener to have a pale malty flavor with a dry hop finish. Overall, clean, well-balanced, German style Pilsener.
Serving Temperature: 40-45° F
Original Gravity: 12.5° Plato
Final Gravity: N/A
Int'l Bittering Units: 24.0
Alcohol by Volume: 4.9%
Frankenmuth Dark is a traditional Dark German Lager and is brewed with a combination of 6-row pale, Munich, Cara-60, and Black patent malts. Both Cluster and Perle hops are used up front for their bittering contributions and Perle hops are added again near the end of the boil as well to give the beer its hop aromatic characteristics. Another German lager yeast strain is used in this full-bodied, Munich style dark lager. Frankenmuth’s Dark is lagered for over a month to produce a smooth, clean beer.
Notes From the Panel:
Immediately note a malty and slightly roasted nose. Look for excellent head retention in this dark brown, clear, medium-to-full-bodied beer. We found this German Dark Lager to have a complex malt profile with some chocolate malt taste evident and a pleasant roasted malt finish. Overall, a very flavorful, well balanced and slightly robust dark lager.
Serving Temperature: 40-45° F
Original Gravity: 13.2° Plato
Final Gravity: N/A
Int'l Bittering Units: 23.0
Alcohol by Volume: 5.0%
Frankenmuth’s Amber Ale is brewed with a combination of 6-row pale malts, Munich, Cara-60, and Cara-Pils malts. Again, a combination of Cluster and Perle hops are used to give this beer its hoppy flavor and fruity characteristics. A German Lager yeast strain is used giving the beer its estery characteristics.
Notes From the Panel:
Look for a mild caramel malt aroma and a mild floral hop nose up front. Note good head retention in this copper, clear, medium-bodied beer. Frankenmuth’s Amber has a caramel malt flavor up front and a bitter hop finish. Overall, another excellent, very well-balanced, clean beer from Frankenmuth.
True Brew Facts
KLOS RADIO - Certain remote Malaysian villages wash their infants in beer to discourage against disease. So Body on Tap wasn’t such a new concept after all.
AMERICAN BREWER - Reuters reports that the Australian sex industry is cleaning up its act and seeks a ban on the export of bulls’ penises to Asia, where they are prized as an aphrodisiac. One Australian meat company alone, Tenor PTA, has flown 8,000 frozen bull pee pees to China. Typically, the penises are boiled for soup or ground into a fine penis erectus powder. So now you’re wondering, "just what the "H" "E" double hockey sticks all this has to do with beer. Well... to make full use of the Torro’s manlihood, the industry has been converting the scrotum sac into insulators for slipping over the base of cold beer cans. "We’ve dried about 1000 scrotums for beer cans," said Tenarra’s Fred MacDonald, "and they make great Christmas presents. They’re quite nice to touch." Do you suppose Fred knew the tape recorder was on when he said that?
Brew Lingo
Lautering - The process of separating the spent grains from the sweet wort with a straining apparatus. From the German lauter meaning clarifying.
Prohibition era - Thirteen years, ten months and eighteen days of pure hell.
Resin scum - The brownish substance found on the froth of beer during primary fermentation.
Zymology - The science or study of fermentation. Syn: zymurgy.
Commander McBrew Battles the Moroccan Guides From Hell
It is rare to have an indifferent opinion of Morocco after spending more than a week there. Of all those whom I've met that have been there, the vast majority hold fortified polar opinions. No one simply thought that it was, "okay". If you were one of the people that sashayed into Tangier from Spain for a day or two of Moroccan culture, the chances are good that you would use words such as "detested", "loathed", "vermin" and "hostile" when narrating the slide show for your friends back home.
Tangiers is not only the first place most tourists go when visiting Morocco, but also the only place they ever go. It is sadly a gross misrepresentation of what the country has to offer. Warned of the notorious Moroccan "Guides" that meet the ferry after crossing the Straight of Gibraltar, I entered the city with Wortly, my faithful comrade in consumption and travel, with my guard up. We could not possibly have prepared for what assaulted us at the docks. A mass of conniving con-weasels instantaneously and simultaneously converged upon us. There were no marked escape routes, no consulates of comfort to duck into, just dozens of wiry, clever men assessing the arrival of fresh meat so that they might determine which would be the most profitable. They started by saying hello, first in English, and then after no response, in Spanish, French, German and Japanese. Most anyone would assume that saying hello in reply was harmless enough. Not so, my friend. Any acknowledgment whatsoever symbolized the impregnation of your group with an unrelenting, undesirable, and unmanageable "Moroccan Guide". Naive tourists on two week vacations in Spain attracted the preponderance of the welcome team, but we still managed to pick up one parasite.
He explained to us that he was not a guide, that he just wanted to show us a good hotel to stay at and nothing more. He did not want any money from us. It became more difficult to ignore him as we searched for a place to stay. It didn't seem wise to stay at any place that this pesky worm had steered us to. Kind of like tying the knot in the noose that will hang you. We found a hotel and bargained the price of a double room without the assistance of our unwanted appendage much to his displeasure. Part of the scam is to make themselves appear helpful, that their mere presence provided you with some kind of discount. The fact of the matter is that nothing could be farther from the truth. The presence of such a man often inflated the cost of anything purchased by twenty to thirty percent, an amount which was later kicked back to him for bringing you there in the first place. We knew this prior to docking and strongly impeded any attempts to intervene. Our man was beginning to weaken, or so we thought.
Wortly and I feigned fatigue and informed our guide that we were going to rest up for a few hours before exploring the city. Not missing a beat, he told us that he did not mind waiting for us and would be outside the front door when we were ready to go. Persistent little bastard. We told him not to wait, that we did not want an escort, and then left him to check into our room. Periodical subtle checks from our balcony proved our man to have endurance. After an hour confined to our room, we began to search the hallways for a back door. I found one so we locked up the room and snuck out into an alley. It led to a wall. No escape. We would have to shake this leech some other way.
Attempt number two: The restaurant shake. I don't know why we thought this might work after he sat outside our hotel for an hour and a half. The idea was to go into a restaurant, have a few beers and relax without our guide until he gave up and left. There were two significant flaws in our plan, the first being that the restaurant didn't serve beer and the second that our man had more time on his hands than we did. Up and to this point, I didn't think that to be possible. Again, unsuccessful, we continued into town as a threesome.
Several other guides approached us even though we were currently infested, though they were generally discouraged. Our guide, willing to demonstrate his value at any cost, stated, "You see, it is better to have one mosquito for it will help keep all of the others away." That statement pretty much summed up the whole guide experience for this Commander. I mean, any man that publicly and willfully uses an analogy that refers to himself as a disease transmitting, blood sucking nuisance is obviously a pure joy to be around.
Our barnacle buddy proved to be more than we could handle and we found ourselves sitting down to an early dinner just to get a break from him. We now knew that he would definitely be waiting for us after the meal. After all, he now had at least ten hours invested in Wortly and I. Thinking quickly, I decided to invite our guide in to join us. I had a 3 gallon camel-leather satchel of 6 month old Barley Wine that Wortly and I had brewed while trekking amongst the Berber tribes earlier in the year. It had attenuated out to just over 17% alcohol by volume and was the kinda hooch that rendered unconsciousness quickly if abused. And abuse it we did. At only ¾ of the way through the bag and several hours of toasting our newfound guide's health, he passed out cold sitting upright with his mouth wide open and a small trickle of saliva running down his chin. Not yet ready to leave the establishment, Wortly and I polished of the grog and took several gag photos of our guide placing various insects and small rodents in his mouth. And there you have it. The tale of how Wortly and I single-handedly out-masterminded the menacing Moroccan Guides of Tangier.
About the author: Commander McBrew has devoted his very existence to the exploration of foreign cultures and their malt beverages. He has traveled in over 109 countries, single-handedly saved himself and entire civilizations in at least 73 documented occurrences, and has consumed no less than 4,450 gallons of 2,156 different beers. He offers The Brew Harvest Review a dimension of worldliness through his varied and slightly exaggerated beers tales from abroad.
Survey Responses
Thanks so much to our customers that responded to our survey! We received close to a 30% response rate and are analyzing the data as you read this in effort to incorporate your feedback into ways that we can improve our service. Congratulations to Christine Bleyenburg of Riverside, CA who was chosen from the survey responders in our drawing for 3 free months of brew! Thanks again to all that participated. Enjoy your Bad Frog Do it Froggy Style Buttons, and always remember and never forget, to wear them with Pride!
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