Beer Reviews

FAILED PAIRING

Published by Josh on February 21, 2008 in Beer Reviews and Pairing Beer with Food. 0 Comments

In my defense, this was a rushed job. I was making a curry dish, but I didn’t have a cool beer to match it with. I hit Whole Foods on my way home from work to find something. I was thinking IPA, as it would hold up well to all of the spices. I also wanted something that I hadn’t had before, I was feeling adventurous. A quick scan of the selection returned a new offering from Lagunitas… the second part of their Frank Zappa series no less! I’m in.

Now, here’s where the cats over at Lagunitas are at least partly to blame for this mishap. You see, they don’t really tell you what style these beers are. They get you all hot and bothered with some cool photograph of the man, the legend, himself… and there you are forking over your $4 for a bomber of it. Not even thinking about whether or not it’s the style you happened to be in the mood for on this particular evening. It’s anyone’s guess what sort of beer is in there, unless you’ve done your homework online. I had not.

That brings us to this attempt at pairing my Curry Channa & Potato with a malty beverage.

Given that the first Frank Zappa beer from these guys, titled Kill Ugly Radio, was an IPA (double?), I guess I just assumed that this one would be as well. I mean, pretty much anything that Lagunitas puts out is going to be on the hoppy side. Even that kick ass Cappuccino Stout that I reviewed here had way more hop flavor than any stout I’ve ever had.

Well, they decided to change things up with this one. I would call Lumpy Gravy a strong brown ale. It’s roasty, and nutty, very heavy on the malts. 7.2% heavy. There’s no shortage of bittering hops, but almost none of the aroma or flavor varieties. And that’s fine, it was a solid brown ale. Assuming that you were in the market for one. Tonight, I was not.

The recipe is one that was passed down to me by a previous co-worker. She is one of the nicest people that I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. She is from Trinidad, and this was a dish that she had eaten most of her life. She is a vegetarian, so naturally we discussed what each other ate on a regular basis. One morning she peeked her head in my office and informed me that she had brought lunch for me. I was both excited and scared. I love trying new food, but I typically like to do it in the comfort of a restaurant where I’m free to say that it sucks. That day I discovered a dish that I’m confident I will eat for the rest of my life too.

Curry Channa & Potato

  • 1 lb of chickpeas (aka channa or garbanzo beans)
  • 4 medium fingerling potatoes
  • 1 large yellow onion
  • 4 to 6 cloves of garlic, depending on how you roll.
  • 2 heaping tablespoons of curry spice mix
  • 2 1/2 cups of water or vegetable stock

The spice mix is where it gets tricky. After gushing about how much I loved the lunch, the next thing I knew I had a huge ziplock bag full of the spice mixture. Shipped from relatives still in Trinidad, mind you. So I really don’t know the exact recipe for this stuff. I’m guessing it’s a mix of coriander, cumin, turmeric, nutmeg… perhaps some cayenne and a pinch of cinnamon? It had a few whole bay leaves in it too. I need to get this figured out because tonight’s dinner was the end of the precious blend that I had left.

The broccoli was done in a pan, with a little butter, garlic, roasted red pepper and lemon at the end of cooking. Even though the beer wasn’t what I was going for with this dish, it still worked. It’s a damn fine brew, and I salute Lagunitas for honoring Mr Zappa with this mysterious series. Even if Frank was a proponent of sobriety. It’s true, look it up! How anyone could write a song warning it’s listeners not to “eat the yellow snow” without having a head full of acid is beyond me. But it’s one of the most fascinating facts that I’ve learned in recent years. When asked about his assumed drug use, Frank once said “I’m an absolutely sober person. I don’t consume alcohol. I don’t smoke weed. But I drink gallons of coffee.” Dude was a freak… in a really, really good way.

GRANDE, NON FAT, NO WHIP STOUT, PLEASE.

Published by Josh on December 30, 2007 in Beer Reviews. 1 Comment

Coffee and beer. Two of my favorite beverages. Combine them, and I’m in heaven. That’s exactly what those west coast hipsters over at Lagunitas did with their Cappuccino Stout.

I was at The Whip In a few weeks ago getting stocked up on Doppelbocks for January’s edition of The Session, and saw what appeared to be a very interesting new brew from Lagunitas. My instincts were spot on. Also on the heels of my own recent coffee beer brewing experiment, a coffee porter, I was feeling it.

Pours the color of motor oil, with a creamy tan head. The aroma is exactly what you’d expect. Roasted malts and espresso, all day long. The taste is the same, with a couple more layers. There are nice chocolate notes behind the bitterness of coffee, and layers of citrus and floral hops behind that. I’m sure it took every bit of restraint for these hopheads to keep the IBU’s lower than most of their brews, but it’s still there in a very balanced fashion.

In the mouth this beer has a creaminess that you’d expect from a cappuccino and light carbonation. I’m barely aware of the 8% at all. I could kill an entire afternoon sipping this on the patio.

The crowds over at Beer Advocate weren’t quite as supportive of this one as I am, giving it a solid B. I would give it an A- for sure. I love the balance of rich, roasted coffee, toasted malts and West Coast hops. There’s a nice smokiness that really brings the essence of coffee and beer together as one.

As an interesting sidenote, the beer porn above was taken on my back patio on one of these lovely 72 degree December afternoons we’ve had in Austin. On Christmas eve, we noticed a new resident on our patio, I call him Chuck the Christmas Owl.

APPLES TO APPLES

Published by Josh on December 27, 2007 in Beer Reviews and Pairing Beer with Food. 0 Comments

Well, I thought I better pull myself out of the holiday stupor and update the blog. I started a new tradition this year which was a Christmas breakfast consisting of crepes and latkes. I’ve always really liked eating crepes, but hadn’t tried making them before. It has also come to light in recent years that I might be about 25 percent Jewish, so I thought I’d embrace that heritage in a culinary fashion. I think we’ve got the start to a nice tradition. I made two fillings for the crepes, caramelized apples and a strawberry cream. The latkes were your basic shredded potatoes and onions, seasoned with salt, pepper and slivers of chives.

The following day at work, I wasn’t feeling much like working. I needed to figure out how to use the rest of the caramelized apples, and then it came to me. I had a bottle of Unibroue’s Ephemere that a guest brought to our last dinner party. I’d been saving it for a special occasion. What better occasion than having a bowl of apples sautéed in butter with cinnamon and brown sugar?

And just like that, we had one kick ass dessert. Caramelized apple crostinis next to Unibroue’s wit beer brewed with apple must. I topped the crostinis with a modest schmear of Monte Enebro cheese, followed by the apples.

The beer was a very nice change to the dark wintery brews I’ve been consuming. Not that I don’t like them, but it’s always nice to change things up. This beer is a Belgian style white ale, brewed with an apple must. As soon as you pop the cork, it’s like you got a smack upside the head from Granny Smith. The apple aroma is incredible and is enough to make your mouth water in anticipation. It pours a pale straw color, with a pure white head that dissipates quickly, leaving a thin ring around the top of the glass.

The first sip starts out with the taste of sweet, freshly pressed apple juice and finishes with the pleasant zing of spices. It’s very dry, and the carbonation level is way above average, not unlike champagne. The balance of fruit and spice is nearly perfect. Just enough sweet to balance out the tartness and to set the stage for the tickle of pie spices. The taste of green apple coats the tongue and seems to linger forever. I also pick up the flavor of yeast in a way that only a Belgian style beer could showcase. I say Belgian “style” because Unibroue actually comes from Canada, but their hearts are definitely closer to Brussels.

This is certainly a beer that I would consider above average. I’m not sure it would make a great session beer though, even with it’s moderate 5.5% abv. However, paired with some creamy white cheese and a fruity desert, I’m quite confident you’ll have dreams of sugar plums dancing in your head.

WWJD?

Published by Josh on December 20, 2007 in Beer Reviews. 0 Comments

When he wasn’t busy turning water into wine, I like to think Jesus would have been a beer drinker. Hell, with that long hair and Birkenstocks, I’m willing to bet he enjoyed the occasional bong rip too.

At about the same time that barley was first being used to make beer, and grapes to make wine, it has been discovered that some heady dudes in Northern China were making some righteous nectar of their own. This discovery led Molecular Archeologist Dr. Patrick McGovern of the University of PA and the boys over at Dogfish Head to team up and try to recreate this curious beverage. That’s right, he’s a Molecular Archeologist.

Let me just say that I was very much in love with Dogfish Head before I had the pleasure of purchasing their Chateau Jiahu. Now that I’ve had the honor, as my wife would say when she sees the likes of Denzel Washington or Johnny Depp, I wish I could have ten thousand of their babies.

I mean, look at the label on this fucker…

Tell me that ain’t the sexiest beer label you ever did see. Labels aside, this is one complex and fascinating brew. To quote the horse’s mouth, Sam and the gang over at DFH have this to say about the concoction:

In keeping with historic evidence, Dogfish brewers used pre-gelatinized rice flakes, Wildflower honey, Muscat grapes, barley malt, hawthorn fruit, and Chrysanthemum flowers. The rice and barley malt were added together to make the mash for starch conversion and degredation. The resulting sweet wort was then run into the kettle. The honey, grapes, Hawthorn fruit, and Chrysanthemum flowers were then added. The entire mixture was boiled for 45 minutes, then cooled. The resulting sweet liquid was pitched with a fresh culture of Sake yeast and allowed to ferment a month before the transfer into a chilled secondary tank.

Come on, how cool is that?!

I’m always a little skeptical of “beers” like this. I always fear that they’re going to try to be too far out there and have no real substance. That was not the case here. This thing has a whole lot going on palate-wise. From the 750 ml bottle to the wine glass, this brew looks like and smells of honey. It’s a hazy yellow with orange hues and a modest white head. It smells of fruit, flowers, honey and a touch of spice.

In the mouth, it’s almost like a wine, perhaps a riesling? Fruity flavors of apricot, melon and grapes. It also oozes honey. Despite the lack of hops, there is a slight bitterness to balance out the sweet. It is my opinion that they used the Chrysanthemum flowers for bittering in place of the hops. I wouldn’t know for sure as I’ve never actually tasted Chrysanthemum flowers by themselves, it’s just a hunch.

To say I was impressed with this beverage would be an understatement. I’m impressed on many levels. It’s very pleasant to drink, but it’s also incredibly cool that the brewery put so much research into creating something that nobody has for thousands of years. I hate to be that guy that buys a bottle for it’s label, but I can’t hide my attraction to this label that Tara McPherson designed for them. She also designed the label for their Fort brew, which I just managed to score three bottles of as well! Yay me!

So, fellow beer lovers, as we prepare to celebrate the birth of lil’ baby Jesus, I ask you to ponder this question. What would Jesus drink? I’m willing to bet he’d dig on some Chateau Jiahu. I’m betting you will too. If you can find it, I encourage you to run out now and round up as many as you can. They won’t be around long. If you’re lucky enough to grab some, round up a couple of your closest friends to enjoy it with. This is a very special brew.

FROM THE CELLAR: FULLER’S VINTAGE ALE 2007

Published by Josh on December 12, 2007 in Beer Reviews and From the Cellar. 3 Comments

Welcome to the first installment of the new series, From the Cellar, where I talk about a very special bottle that I’ve got stashed away in a dark closet, otherwise known as my cellar. As much as I wish I did, I don’t have a real cellar. I live in Texas. I could build one yes, but I prefer my lightproof cardboard box with dividers, in the innermost closet of our house. It’s not ideal, but it does the trick.

If you’ve never heard of cellaring beer, you’re not alone. When most people think of a cellar, they immediately think of wine. Cellaring beer is starting to become more common though. Vertical tastings, where one tastes several versions of a specific beer, from different consecutive years are starting to pop up at some bottle shops and on the blogs of other beer geeks. Here in Austin, one of my favorite local shops The Whip In has a beer cellar with some real treats from years gone by, stashed away awaiting their triumphant return. Their list is much more impressive than mine, but I’m working hard to assemble an equally extensive museum de beer.

Right now, I’ve got four bottles each of about five different beers that should do pretty well with some aging. Three of those five are from my favorite brewery of all time, Dogfish Head. They seem to brew quite a few beers that benefit from a few years in a cool, dark environment.

I was recently on the hunt for a new one to add to the collection. My wife was on her way to Spec’s for some wine and I asked her to pick up a few bottles of the Fuller’s Vintage that had just been released. I figured they would know exactly what she was looking for, and that they would have it. They didn’t.

I went a day or two later to confirm, and to talk to Steven, the beer dude that’s always there, about getting it for me. I was pretty surprised when he didn’t even know what I was talking about. He called his distributor though and found out that they would be getting some in. Now I have four of those sturdy mahogany boxes in my closet waiting to see what a few years of maturity might do for them.

I couldn’t resist trying one though, so I got an extra. I want to have a point of reference for where each beer began to compare it to over the years. This post will serve as that reference. It will also be fairly short and sweet compared to other beer reviews as this isn’t really when this beer is meant to be consumed and it would be unfair to judge it right now.

Bottle #119614- Pours a deep copper color, with orange hues. The head is tan and creamy. Reeks of malts. The aroma also reminds me of freshly tilled earth, from the yeast left in the bottle. This malt bomb is thick and oily, bitter and boozy and will most likely be delicious in a couple of years. Right now though, it’s just too much. I can’t wait to try this one again over the coming years. I expect it to mellow out quite a bit and to give those sweet malts their spot at center stage. The British hops should be much more subdued and the alcohol a little more hidden. See you next year ‘07 Fullers!

So, the next time you’re out shopping for some new brews to try, consider getting something that you can age. If you have a beer lover in your life, this would make a great gift. Get a few bottles of something special and they can think of you each year they open the cellar to check in on it.

The criteria for a good candidate for aging are fairly simple. Not all beers will benefit from years in the cellar though. Barleywines, Imperial Stouts, Old Ales, Belgian strong ales, these would do well. IPA’s, not so much, as their hop flavor will start to diminish almost immediately and could be gone in as little as a year. One exception to that theory that I have in my cellar is Dogfish Head’s 120 Minute IPA. At 20% abv this beer is begging to be sent to time-out. Also, with the amount of hops they used in brewing and dry hopping, it’s unlikely that it will ever be unnoticeable.

Any beer that says it’s “bottle conditioned” would probably be a good candidate for cellaring too. This means that they’ve left yeast in the bottle which will continue to change the profile of the beer for many years to come.

The only hard part about cellaring is the patience. Knowing that you’ve got these special brews patiently waiting for you to bring them out can be a real test of your will. The rewards should be worthwhile though. Just think of it like that old friend from college that you only talk to once or twice a year, but when you do it’s like the world stands still for the two of you to get caught up on each other’s lives. It will be so much more enjoyable if you delay that gratification, and let that beer rest. It will thank you for it.

NAUGHTY OR NICE?

Published by Josh on December 7, 2007 in Beer Reviews and The Session. 4 Comments

My first Beer Blogging Friday. I just started this blog a few weeks ago, but when I learned about The Session last week I knew I had to do it. What a cool concept, and what an opportunity to throw myself out there in the mix. Thanks to fellow Texan beer blogger Ted Duchesne of Barley Vine for hosting it this month.

Enough with the niceties.

The theme, Winter seasonals. While I don’t really care for Winter, I do like seasonals. I can do this. But, what will I write about? Just get some beers and figure it out later. Another pleasant shopping experience at Spec’s later, I came home with Santa’s Private Reserve from Rogue and Lump of Coal from Ridgeway Brewing in the UK.

With the introductions out of the way, let’s check the list and see who was naughty, and who was nice…

First up, Santa’s Private Reserve. According to Rogue’s website:

“Rogue’s annual holiday offering, Santa’s Private Reserve, is a variation of the classic Saint Rogue Red, but with double the hops–including Chinook, and Centennial, and a mystery hop called Rudolph by head brewer John “more hops” Maier!”

Apparently, it also uses John’s proprietary top-fermenting Pacman yeast which was all the rage a year ago in the homebrewing community when they finally released it to the masses. I don’t know what all they did to this thing, but I loved it.

Pours a deep rust colored red, and forms a nice thick off white head. Smells sweet, like butterscotch candy and caramel. I also pick up on the floral hop aroma first, followed by the piney type… like a Christmas tree.

This beer tastes almost exactly like it smells. First sweet, I get brown sugar. Then some dried fruit, raisins and such. Then come the hops. Nice citrus and melon tastes from the hops up front, then the fresh pine needles on the finish. Upon further inspection, I think I taste some cinnamon in the background.

In the mouth, it’s crisp, but also a little thick and chewy. Carbonation was perfect. This beer is like no other Red I’ve ever had. Highly recommended, especially to the hopheads who might want to try something new this season. I think I’ll pick up a few more of these to fight off this frigid Texas winter.

That brings us to the other part of review, the Lump of Coal. Let me just say I’d be super pissed if I got this in my stocking.

It seemed gimmicky on the shelf, but I wanted something that I figured nobody else would be reviewing. I’m betting I found it. From the description on the bottle.

“Looking forward to a depressing holiday? Here is liquid consolation. This 8% bittersweet chocolate stout is the best you could hope for in these dark times. Actually, come to think of it, considering how bad you’ve been, this little coal-black gem is more than you deserve for Christmas this year.”

You better make a damn good beer if you’re gonna talk to me that way! While this wasn’t a bad beer, nothing about it, other than the higher than average ABV, said Winter seasonal to me. In fact, it was a rather average stout, in my opinion.

Dark as coal with a “blink and it’s gone” head, this one looked rather blah from the get-go. Don’t get too close when you take a whiff. You might burn your nose hairs with the boozy aroma. I smell some yeast and chocolaty malts too.

Sweet, roasted malts appear first in the taste. Then I get a traces of vanilla, molasses and toffee. It’s hard to get beyond the astringent bite of alcohol though. It’s almost like they were just trying to get this thing to 8% with no regard for how it would affect the taste. Very unbalanced in the mouth. This beer also suffers from a lack of carbonation and feels very watery going down. No need to check my list twice, this one is only getting some of itself this holiday season.

This was a fun assignment. In total, I brought five winter seasonals home to try. I wanted to see what would inspire me to write something. Now that I’ve been through it, I think I’ve developed a new appreciation for this style. Done right, they really do make you want to curl up by the fire to read a good book or reflect on the year’s events.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to grab that other bottle of Santa’s Reserve and dream of a white Christmas in Austin. Hey, a guy can dream can’t he?

Samuel Adams Hallertau Imperial Pilsner Review

Published by Josh on November 27, 2007 in Beer Reviews. 2 Comments

 

Since when can a wimpy little pilsner don the Imperial title? After Jim Koch goes to Germany and returns with enough Hallertau hops to make 10 barrels of beer, but decides to just make one, I guess. It says it right there on the bottle “An intense hop experience.” It’s not like they didn’t warn you.

I’d been eyeing this four pack in the cooler of my local beer slinger for a couple of weeks, and the curiosity was killing me. I always make it a point to try any new offering that comes from the fine folks at Sam Adams. Sometimes it’s a hit, as was the case with their Honey Porter, and other times it’s a flop… Cherry Wheat anyone? But they’re always exciting to try. Something just didn’t seem right to me about this one. Don’t get me wrong, I like Imperial Anything, so that wasn’t the part of the name that bothered me. Anytime a brewer decides they’re going to double the alcohol and/or hop volume, I’ll take two please.

It was the second half of the name, that pesky pilsner, that just didn’t sit well with me. How could such a drab style with it’s bottom fermenting yeast and it’s crisp, clean finish, try to call itself Imperial? If you’re going to call yourself an Imperial, you better jump out of that bottle and bitch slap me into a hoppy booze induced stupor.  It also helps to start out with a bold style to hide all of that fury from your unsuspecting audience until the very last second, and then WHAM!

Like Britney Spears exiting Paris Hilton’s Mercedes, everything is right out in the open for all to see when it comes to pilsners. There’s no sweet, malty backbone to use as a disguise because that bottom feedin’ yeast done ate it all up. There are no floral notes because noble hops don’t smell like flowers, damn it. It is what it is, and it ain’t Imperial y’all. </end Britney Spears impersonation>

In the glass, the Impy pilsner is the color of hay at dusk. Gold, with orange and red highlights. The head is full and strong, imperial, if you will.

The aroma is over-the-top hops. Most of the hop aroma is of the grassy variety, followed by fresh pine needles. If you really hunker down and get a good whiff, you’ll pick up spices too, followed by more hops. Huff it once more and you’ll get very subtle biscuit notes, like that of a graham cracker. There are many layers to this scent. It leads me to believe the same will be true of it’s flavor.

As soon as it hits my lips I feel the resinous presence of Hallertau. It washes over my tongue and seems to fill every crack and crevice with it’s syrupy hop blast. Bitter, bitter, bitter. Where’s the malt??? I need some grain to balance out the bite of these hops. It’s almost suffocating. Remember all of those smells I mentioned? Yeah, they’re nowhere to be found in the taste. It’s an all-out hop attack that seems to have killed the pilsner on it’s way out of the bottle.

I have to say that I’m disappointed with this one. I really wanted to like it, but I had a feeling I wouldn’t. It’s just too one dimensional. If you’re going to go crazy with hops, which I encourage you to do, you’d better go crazy with the malt too. It also helps to use more than one hop variety, and let them mingle a bit. This was way too heavy on the Hallertau and horribly lacking in anything that resembles two row malts.

Sorry Jim, but it’s back to the drawing boards on this one. Next time, maybe try an Imperial Stout.. and for the love of god put some panties on! Nobody wants to see that!

Meantime IPA Review

Published by Josh on November 18, 2007 in Beer Reviews. 1 Comment

Meantime IPA

I love IPA’s. I’ll admit that I resisted these feelings for a while because it seemed like you couldn’t be a beer geek without first professing your love for all things hoppy. I don’t like to conform to what everyone else is doing, so I pretended for as long as I could. Truth is, there’s something to the craze, and who am I to deny myself the enjoyment?

IPA, or India Pale Ale, as a style has a very interesting history. Interesting because it’s a style that grew out of trying to find a solution to a very real problem. Back in the 18th century, after Britain had started to develop a strong naval presence, they quickly learned that the beer that they loved to drink could not hold up to long trips at sea. Particularly long trips to hot places, like India. Rather than throw their hands up and just drink other booze, they set out to brew a beer that could withstand such conditions. I like the way they think.

Before the days of refrigeration, the brewer only had two real lines of defense against the spoilage of their precious beers. Alcohol and hops. The alcohol creates an environment that is not conducive to the growth of microbes, and the hops inhibit the growth of Lactobacillus, which is responsible for nearly every beer you’ve ever had that tasted “sour”. The answer came to George Hodgson, brewer at Bow Brewery in East London, sometime in the 1790’s. He figured out that if he could create a beer that had lots of alcohol, and dry hop the hell out of it, the beer might actually be drinkable by the time it made it to Calcutta. Look at the big brain on George!

Why the history lesson you ask? I think it was necessary for a number of reasons. Most importantly because the IPA has come to be known as an American style. Yes, we have taken it to a whole new level with the advent of the double IPA and Imperial IPA, and we’ve explored every combination of hop varieties to create many unique variations of the style. But it’s important to be aware of where things started in my opinion.

So as I poured the Meantime IPA from it’s fancy champagne bottle, complete with cork and cage, I couldn’t help but wonder how this example from the dudes on the other side of the pond would hold up. Honestly, I’ve never had a British IPA that was really worth talking about at any great length. I was skeptical indeed, but the presentation sure didn’t hurt.

In the glass this beers looks more like a hefeweisen than an IPA. It’s cloudy golden color gives way to a strong white head that you could float a quarter on, and would last until the final drop. It’s bottle conditioned, so the cloudiness comes from yeast left in on purpose. Don’t be scared.

don't fear the yeast...

On the nose this beer blasts you with fruit. Citrus mostly, some pineapple and even some peach. Wonderful hop aroma. I’m intrigued.

The first sip makes it clear that this wasn’t the IPA that I was used to tasting from the Brits. First you feel the bitter bite of lots of hops. This bite is quickly erased by a pleasant malty backbone. It’s clear that they went out of their way to balance the insane amount of hops with ton of grain. It reminds me of a teeter totter, back and forth from bitter to sweet. Very nice ride. Along the way I pick up more citrus, some bread and the flavor of earth. Just when all of those flavors subside, I notice the taste of pine that seems to linger forever. It makes me want another sip. Good thing this stuff comes in a champagne bottle and I was ready for some time on the couch.

The mouthfeel was another pleasant surprise. When I popped the cork on this sucker it was quite anemic to say the least. I was expecting low carbonation, but that wasn’t the case at all. This stuff feels like champagne in your mouth. After the tickle of carbonation is gone, there’s a nice warming effect from the alcohol.

To summarize, I think this beer kicks ass. To quote my wife, “it wasn’t offensive”. That means she liked it. It’s much more subtle than many of the most prized American IPA’s. I think it would be a great gateway beer for someone you know who thinks they don’t like this style. It would also be great for a special occasion. Even at $10 a pop, I’ll be drinking more of these. One of the best IPA’s I’ve ever had.

Cheerio mates!

Would go well with: To steal a quote right from the bottle “Enjoy with hot foods and spicy friends, or vice versa”. I would suggest a table full of various Indian dishes and good friends. Some Medeski Martin & Wood, seems to fit too, preferably from their album Shackman.

Shiner Bohemian Black Lager Review

Published by Josh on November 15, 2007 in Beer Reviews. 8 Comments

Shiner Bohemian Black Lager

I really struggled with what beer I wanted to drink for my first review. I have a small cache of very intriguing beers saved, just waiting for me to tell their story. I wanted to start off with a bang.

Perhaps the idea of writing about some exotic brew that I’ve never had was too much for my first time. It could also be that I just needed to write something that really spoke from my heart to get the proverbial ball rolling.

Enter Shiner Brewing Co.

Like that beat up station wagon your folks taught you to drive in, or that shitty Yamaha guitar that you learned to play on back in high school… Shiner Bock saved me from an eternally boring life of drinking flavorless macroswill. It was my first taste of a “craft beer”, and although I don’t drink much of it these days, it will always hold a special place in my heart. If I’m feeling nostalgic, everyone might get a round of those shiny brown bottles with their understated yellow label. It takes me back.

So you can imagine the feeling I had when I saw the new release, in it’s curious all black packaging with silver typeface. That’s right, I was giddy. The Bohemian Black. Apparently it’s a re-release of the amazingly popular anniversary beer Shiner 97, but with a few tweaks. Word on the street is that it’s even being brought back as a new member of Shiner’s regular lineup. This was exciting stuff.

A traditional Schwarzbier, or “black beer” brewed true to style, the Boho in it’s sultry black attire was calling my name. While I don’t remember ever having the 97, I fell in love with New Belgium’s 1554 black ale a couple of years ago and have been wanting to explore the style a bit. Turns out they were very different beers for being so seemingly similar.

Poured from a bottle (thanks Lefty!) it was as dark as I’d hoped. There wasn’t much of a head, but what little there was had a nice toffee colored brown hue. It quickly disappeared to leave the ebony liquid to stand there all alone. Smell? Not much. I get smoky malts and a little bit of coffee, but that’s about it. Down the hatch.

It’s taste is slightly more complex than it’s aroma, but it still left me wanting more. The smokiness and coffee are more pronounced here. I pick up on the yeast too, a little bready. There’s also a hint of bitter dark chocolate. It wasn’t the magician that the 1554 is to me though. It was fairly straight forward… perhaps a little boring. Might I suggest a little more of those Saaz hops? I’m just sayin’.

Mouthfeel was underwhelming too. A big part of what I love about the 1554 is that creamy feel it has in your mouth. There was none of that with the newborn from Shiner. Lefty even asked if it seemed watery to me. It did.

That said, I enjoyed the hell out of this beer. I’m willing to admit that some of the reason for that may be the nostalgia and perhaps even a twist of sophisticated marketing. The style is meant to be a little “boring” though, so in that respect, the boys at the Spoetzl Brewery really knocked one out of the park with this one.

It was also unfair of me to go into this review ready to compare it to New Belgium’s black beer. Theirs is actually a black ale brewed with lager yeast “at relatively high temperatures”, so of course it’s going to have some funky shit goin’ on.

This would make a great session beer and I know that I’ll be drinking more of it. I’m also really glad to see Shiner branching out and trying to keep things new and exciting, even if they did strike out with their attempt at a Hefeweisen. Keep ‘em coming boys, I’m still here.

Would go well with: Some vegetable stew, a grilled cheese sammich and perhaps a little Pantera? Anything that’s dark and takes you back to your high school glory days.