Interesting Beer Info Archives - Page 12 of 14 - Craft Beer Blog from The Beer of the Month Club

Which Mad Beer to Run in Our Next Special Offer…

May 7, 2014 by Kris Calef

Mad Beer is a collaborative beer brand from Chef Jakob Mielcke and brewer Mikkel Borg Bjergso with the intent of creating a family of craft beers brewed specifically to be enjoyed with food.

Last Friday, we sat down and tried four from the line with the intent of picking a winner to include in our next Rare Beer Club™ special offer. We cracked open a bottle of Salt, Bitter, Umami and Sod, secretly hoping the Umami would be the clear winner as conceptually, it’s a pretty cool beer.

At the end of the day, they’re all pretty damn cool really, but we found Salt to be the most interesting of the lot. Its namesake is pretty prominent up front, but the beer takes you on a rollercoaster of flavors and moves into a more earthy, funky, and slightly sour middle pretty quickly. You get some stone fruit notes and nice bretty accents and a pronounced mineral characteristic throughout, the brett and the Ume plums flavors working very nicely together. The boys at Mad Beer suggest serving it with oysters, but feel it would compliment just about any kind of seafood nicely.

We’ll be offering it to members of The Rare Beer Club™ later this month in extremely limited quantities.

Prost!
Kris

TGIF: Deschutes & Goose Island – Class of ’88 Belgian Style Ale

May 2, 2014 by Brett Olson

Ahh, yes, Friday is here again. Time for our weekly celebration – today’s guest of honor is a beer co-developed by Deschutes and Goose Island: Class of ’88 Belgian Style Ale. Both breweries were founded in 1988, hence this celebratory collaboration.

This is a Belgian strong golden ale, but with the twist of having been brewed with Michigan Riesling and Oregon Pinot Noir juice and aged in former muscat wine barrels.

So does the grape/wine influence work? Well, it depends on who you talk to. Some of us liked this brew more than others. It’s quite malty and sweet, although it’s got enough alcohol (10.9%) and tart wine-like acidity to cut through it. In fact, the acidity hits pretty aggressively right at the front of the mouth – a characteristic some of us liked and some of us didn’t. But, in any case, the malt profile is satisfyingly robust, and it’s got that unmistakable Belgian yeast character. Fruity esters are abundant and fun, offering some touches of apricot, apple, and citrus, and there’s a nice, softly floral flourish here too.

All in all, it was a nice way to finish the week.
Cheers!
Brett

TGIF: Shmaltz Brewing Co. – Funky Jewbelation (2014)

April 4, 2014 by Brett Olson

So today we cracked open the 2014 version of Shmaltz’s Funky Jewbelation, a blend of 7 different He’Brew beers aged in both bourbon (35%) and rye whiskey barrels (65%).

Let’s just start by saying upfront that this dark brown brew is not shy. Whiskey notes are obvious (particularly rye, to our palates) and there are real prominent sour black cherry and prune notes that offer their acidity in balance to a moderate sweetness that leans towards brown sugar. At 9.4%, there’s a bit of alcohol that comes through too – aided by the whiskey barrel influence. As with most sours, we prefered this beer closer to cellar temp than fridge temp.

Spicy, oaky, fruity, boozy, and whiskey-y, this one’s pretty tasty folks. And complex. And a little weird, in a good way. But it’s not for everyone, as one or two of the less experienced tasters in the office didn’t much care for the sourness. Oh well, they’ll learn to like it in time… in the meantime, it just means more for the rest of us.

L’Chaim Sucka!
Brett

Goats, Spring, and Bock Beer

March 20, 2014 by Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club

Today is special my friends. One of significance, with deep historical roots, and one that will bring some sense of relief to many I’m sure. Today is National Bock Day, and it also happens to be the 1st day of spring. Bocks come in many different styles and variations, but they were typically brewed to welcome in the spring season and bid adieu to winter.

This past winter was pretty brutal to many due to some extreme weather sweeping across most of the nation. There were even some uncommon appearances of the season in some of the southern states. Remember all those people in Atlanta caught off guard by the winter storm and forced to succumb to its fury, abandoning their cars on the freeway just to get back home? Well it’s time to put that all behind us now and welcome in this magical time of year. Flowers bloom, picnics are be planned, the birds start to sing again, bears awake from their hibernation, and Bocks are in their prime.

Bock, what a funny word. But it’s more than just a funny sounding noun, it actually has some meaning. To be exact, it’s German for “Billy Goat”. Thank goodness that has nothing to do with the listed ingredients, but more to do with old world influence. During medieval times, old German monasteries would brew a strong bock as a source of nutrition during their Lenten fasts. Others believe it was made with more of a pagan connotation, only being brewed during the sign of the Capricorn goat, hence the name “Bock”.

So whatever your cause, there’s surely a reason to be found to enjoy a nice Bock this spring. What’s yours?

Cheers!
Shelton

TGIF: Stochasticity Project – Grapefruit Slam IPA

March 7, 2014 by Brett Olson

Stochasticity Project (try saying that 3 times fast – or even just once) is a new side project/brand of Stone Brewing apparently devoted to experimental beers, and Grapefruit Slam IPA is their first release.

Basically, it’s a double IPA brewed with fresh grapefruit peel. It’s a simple concept, but effective. What’s fun here is trying to discern where the citric hops end and the actual grapefruit flavor begins – you really can’t, which makes this one of the more unique fruit-influenced beers we’ve tasted. Instead of the fruit standing apart like a forced additive, which happens so often, the grapefruit here just amplifies and merges with the big citrus flavors already there from the massive dose of hops (Centennial plays a big role). It’s vividly fruity, very fresh, and super tasty.

After popping this baby open this afternoon, Grapefruit Slam proved really popular here at our office tasting. We’re looking forward to seeing what other brews come rolling out of the Stochasticity Project.

Cheers,
Brett

TGIF: Mother Earth Brew Co. – Sin Tax Imperial Stout

February 28, 2014 by Brett Olson

On this rainy, stormy day in southern California, what better beer to enjoy than an imperial stout? Our choice for this afternoon is Sin Tax from Mother Earth Brew Co. in Vista., and this unique beer delivers the goods.

Its description as an “Imperial Peanut Butter Stout” caught our eye, and compelled us to try it out. Turns out that there are, indeed, distinct peanut butter overtones here that are super unique and enjoyable. But the peanut butter doesn’t over-power the beer – it’s just one component. There’s a well-developed roast character here as well, reminiscent of bitter chocolate, and it melds well with the prominent hop-driven bitterness that keeps this beer quite dry for the style, at least until a bit more sweetness comes through with warmth. The peanut butter notes and the smooth body make for a wonderfully creamy impression.

At “only” 8.1% ABV, it’s not the biggest, baddest imperial stout out there, but that’s not what it’s going for. Instead, it’s a unique and quite drinkable brew – and it was a real crowd pleaser. Everyone in the office enjoyed it. If you can find a bottle of it, try it out!

(Mother Earth’s website states there are no peanut allergens.)

Cheers,
Brett

Super Bowl Foods & Craft Beer

January 30, 2014 by Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club

When preparing for Super Bowl Sunday, it’s important to make sure you don’t forget the craft beer! If your house is anything like most of ours, there’s going to be plenty of food around – so what craft beers make the best pairings?

When choosing a craft beer to accompany a certain dish, it’s often best to aim for a complementary flavor, but a contrasting one can work too. For instance, hot & spicy foods usually go great with IPAs, whose big, spicy hops match the heat and intensity of the food. But, a sweeter, maltier craft beer like a bock can help tame the heat while refreshing the palate.

Just like with food and wine pairings, you want to make sure you don’t have one member of your pairing dominating the other, so try to match the intensity levels of the craft beer and the food. For example, a barleywine will stomp all over a celery stick, and a bowl of 5 alarm chili will kick the butt of a pale lager – so keep the character of each of the components in mind.

Here’s a little guide we made with some of our suggestions for popular game day foods: