Märican Biere Bought and Drunk...

'Course, I'm not terribly wild about:

But I'll take your word on it at this point.

 

Lao Wang falls into the grouping of "I'd rather have a great experimental lager than a bad German clone." It really is good, and you'll never have anything else like it.

On a related note, apparently Bill Eye left Prost Brewing as of today and nobody knows how or why. I'm going to see if I can find out more. There are several new breweries with big footprints. I wonder if he's been hired away or if something else went down.

 

Whoa. Where did you read/hear about Bill Eye leaving? That's shocking.

 

Todd mentioned it in the BA Mountain forum. Nobody seems to know anything. My guess is that he either had a falling out with the partners or he got a job with one of the big guys...but that's just a wild guess.

 

Dang it. Was going to go back there. I hope the beers are in good hands, and the replacement brewer knows how to make lagers.

 

Couldn't agree more. Their Union Jack is my favorite IPA. That being said, this isn't why I'm posting.

I noticed mjtierney's post and I actually live in the area so I've had quite a few beers from Jack's Abby and was fortunate enough to sample their new German Pilsner along with three Firestone beers I've never sampled.

Unfortunately my post won't be as detailed as his due to this being a retrospective post. Wish I had done this last night.

First up was Jack's Abby's new German pilsner, Sunny Ridge. This one actually uses German malts unlike their IPLs, so that's a good sign. This was a crisp, fairly easy drinker, but there was something not quite there with the malt. The beer didn't come together as well as its authentic German counterparts. That being said, I found it better than their other stab at a normal pilsner, Pro-Am, their Czech Pilsner. This one came in at 5.1%, was not a hop-focused beer, and was drinkable enough. This was only one beer and I still have one, as I don't like judging a beer from "just one."

Second was the famous "Pivo Pils." I only grabbed one of these due to the "hoppy" name and the abv. I feared it would be something akin to Prima Pils, which is a fine beer but not an authentic German pils. Authentic is more appealing to my palate. I wanted to love this beer, I really did, but I only liked it. It was far too bitter, not hoppy, but bitter. Maybe it was the hops they used during dry hopping that don't agree with me. It wasn't like Prima, in that I feel the hops get in the way of the malt character, it was simply a bit too bitter. However, this brew was inviting enough that I will grab another single or two and break this beer down some more. This beer could have been a tad sweeter in my opinion, but the malt character was better than Sunny Ridge. Still something was a bit off in this department as well. All in all though, both of these beers went down quickly and were good enough.

Third was Firestone's DBA. This was an excellent English Pale Ale. Hops gave it that earthy quality I love in English beers, making the beer softer and quaffable. Perfect amounts of caramel again adding to the "drainability" of this English drink. I'm a session freak, so I'd prefer it to be less than 5% abv, but this is by no means a requirement, and 5% is the ceiling for my preference in English Pale Ales. I did find the beer to become a bit heavy as it went on, which would be my one knock on the beer. Couldn't put my finger on it, but something about the beer made it a bit more filling than I'd expect from a low abv British ale. My favorite of the night until....

Fourth was Firestone's Pale 31. This beer had escaped my grasp the last time it came around Boston, so I tossed one in my mix-a-six. I should have grabbed a case. This is what I want from my pale ales. Fruity American hops pop right away but quickly followed by sweetness. It was balanced. Why can't more pale ales be like this? There was a stark contrast between this and Union Jack, and I love that. It wasn't some 6%+ hop monster that's an IPA masquerading as a pale ale. This one may have pushed aside Victory Headwaters as my favorite American Pale Ale (all apologies to Liberty Ale and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, also fine offerings).

 

I recently bought a six-pack of Leinenkugel's GABF Gold-Medal winning Koelsch, Canoe Paddler.

Not a Koelsch.

I seriously have no idea what the judges were tasting here.

 

For those of you interested in Jack's Abby. This is a picture of their first German Pils, Sunny Ridge, that I spoke about in my post above. Has a slight haze to it which I found interesting. Not quite crystal clear like the Pivo Pils was.

 

So sorry about that, but there are some great places within walking distance- no need to spend that much time at a place like that. Next time post on the Mid-Atlantic board ahead of time and we will steer you right.

 

Can someone tell me why Ayinger Celebrator is so hyped in the US?? It is the only doppelbock aviable?? Its not bad by any means, but so many small breweries make so much better ones in my opinion.....

 

It's probably because many of the Doppelbocks from the small breweries don't make it here or aren't widely available. Ayinger is pretty widely available. It's also available in 4 packs, while many others are only in .5 liter bottles.

Andechs has started importing to the US, but it hasn't made it to St. Louis yet. I did talk to a distributor about getting it here. Weltenburger is available here as is Weihenstephan. I found Faust up in Chicago. I don't think much else is available here besides the Doppelbocks from the big boys.

 

As beer drinkers I think we shouldn't let perfection, either the idea of it or the search for it be the enemy of good beer, and in the case of Celebrator I think it's a seriously good beer.

 

Sorry, I have to laugh at this... I'm flying back to Texas for a couple of weeks to visit family (and drink lots of local, Austin beer...), and though I never thought I would say it, I honestly can't wait for the fake, happy/helpful customer service. It make be fake, but I somehow prefer that to the occasional open hostility like I got today at the grocery store check-out.

Enjoy the east coast!

 

Which direction did the hostility come from? Behind (shopping cart rammed into the Achilles by an impatient old lady) or in front (disdainful cashier lecturing you about correct change/bagging faster/simply being a customer in his/her store)?

 

I accidentally handed the nice cashier a Pfand receipt from a different REWE (grocery store) location. She apparently took this quite personally and proceeded to inform me in no uncertain terms that this was completely unacceptable behavior. Moments like this always make me wish I had never actually learned German, then I would never really know how disgusted she was with me...

 

I actually really liked Rayon Vert. Will be interested to hear your opinion.