Märican Biere Bought and Drunk...

The Trader Joe's beers are an inexpensive trip down this road. At $5.99/6pk you really can't lose on the freshness and pretty darn solid work being done at GB.

 

Oh man, somehow forgot that GB does a bunch of the TJ's brews. Also nice that TJ's will let you break up six packs. Good call, @einhorn.

 

As Einhorn points out, TJ's has the G-B beers under their Josephsbrau label and they're a bargain at $6 a six-pack. The Hofbrau Bock (maybe called Heller Bock at TJ's now) is available year-round and pretty decent. The Winter Bock -- a Doppel, is damn good to-style. The newest seasonal Heller Bock is better than the year-round, IMO.

I've always been a fan of the Märzen, but it's closer to a Vienna than an Okto -- and they have a seasonal Okto that's good too. Again echoing Einhorn, the other labels are pretty good and well worth the try.

 

Worth mentioning that the Mission Street hefeweizen is also fantastic. It's being brewed at Firestone (still - says Paso Robles on the label) and from what I heard (I may be mistaken) will be brewed elsewhere soon. A great deal in the 22 oz format.

 

Yeah, IIRC, the Firestone contract, if not already up, will soon be completed. Don't know who will be doing the brewing going forward. Somehow I never managed to grab any of the Mission St stuff, in spite of being a huge Firestone fan and knowing they were the ones brewing it.

 

So... my favorite micro-brewery (yeah, I'm old school) has been Capital Brewing out of Middleton (Madison), WI for many years. They've been known for brewing terrific German-style beers for many years -- decades.

In the past few years there's been shake-ups with their long-time brewmaster leaving to start his own brewery, a second brewmaster taking the helm in the interim, and attempts at expanding their portfolio to attract the current beer geek (read: more stabs at IPAs), but their core brews have remained pretty steadfast -- up to, and including, a recent revival of their Dark Doppelbock that was pretty outstanding.

So... when I saw the current incarnation of their traditional spring seasonal, Maibock -- a long-time favorite, I was quick to snap up a six pack. Well, in an testament to the ups-and-downs that can infect the small brewing business, I can honestly say that something has gone terribly awry in Middleton. The latest incarnation looks the part; a deep, clear golden color with a thick white head -- but everything resembling a Maibock falls to the side after that. There's some light, spicy noble hop character in the nose with some bready maltiness, but then you notice an underlying off character that just isn't right -- hell, it's diacetyl. And the diacetyl carries over -- rather heavily and consistently -- throughout the flavor. The buttery flavor overpowers all but a little spiciness from hops. There's no good bready malt character in this beer as there once was -- and I'm horribly disappointed.

To the bright side, and as mentioned previously, Lakefront's Big Easy Maibock is a terrific take on the style this year, and I know where to find more!

 

I read that they care contracting out brewing of many of their beers these days. Could this be the issue?

 

I haven't heard that -- do you have a source? Hard to believe, since they have a decent facility. They often "contract" bottling, but they've been doing that for many years -- transferring their beer to tanker trucks and moving it to Stevens Point for bottling. They used to make that clear on the label, but it's not on the current bottle.

I'd heard they were going to add a new bottling line for themselves, maybe something isn't working out?

 

This is what I read recently; didn't notice that the date is from 2009...

http://www.madisonbeerreview.com/2009/02/contract-brewing-part-iii-capital.html

 

Holy Scheiß is that one long-winded article! But it looks like they're referring to the bottling situation I mentioned above and only speculating that brewing is going on. Hard to say, but even based on the "craft" beers I've had from Point (including a pretty good Maibock), I couldn't blame this current mis-step on the Point Brewery.

Also, last year someone mentioned to me that they were picking up diacetyl in a few of the Cap beers -- maybe even the Maibock, but I wasn't getting it then. Well, I'm tasting it now and it's not pleasant in a Maibock.

 

Not having tried either beer, maybe they are brewing with an ale yeast rather than a lager yeast and it's just not clean enough?

 

Well, they've been brewing this beer (and many other lagers) for many years and never used a top-fermenting yeast. Be a very big alteration in their recipe.

 

Surprised to find Urban Chestnut in a small, well-stocked retailer. Grabbed the Zwickel as my introduction.

@spartan1979 -- very happy to have finally tried this beer/brewery. Hefeweizen will be next, no doubt.

My first go at this local favorite of A-B's backyard. Heard terrific reviews, hope they stand up.

500 ML bottle that is supposed to have a bottled-on date on the neck, but I can't find one. $9.00 per 4-pack.

A -- Hazy light gold color with a dense white head.

S -- Bready, yeasty nose with light, spicy hops back. Mild DMS toward the end.

T -- Light breadiness up front with some spicy hops in the middle and a crackery, grainy finish with spicy hop bitterness lingering through the otherwise clean aftertaste.

M -- Mouthfeel is soft and smooth with a lightly crisp finish and a light to light-medium body.

O -- As the beer warms a little more I realize that it's really reminding me of Spaten Helles from years back and Munich trips. The breadiness is definitely a yeasty character more than a melanoidin breadiness, but a little of that comes through in the aftertaste. Overall, this beer is a very good rendition of a Bavarian lager and will stand up to the best. I hope to be enjoying more of this over the summer months to come!

 

When they first opened, they were serving the Zwickel in steinkrugs. Unfortunately, too many of them "disappeared" and they stopped the practice.

I was at UCBC last night to drop my entry off for NHC. They now have a Hallertauer Pils on tap:



My nose and palate are still seriously screwed up from having the flu last month so I'm not going to review the beer other than to say I think it tasted good.

 

I'm hoping we'll start to see some other labels available from UC.

 

Another good one from my new friends at Urban Chestnut.

A very nice Weizen. As I say in the review, the flavor is quite similar to Schneider, and at 4.8 it's going to be a great summer beer. Now if we can only see some more of their labels up this way.

 

I'm having a Ballast Point Fathom IPL, the first IPL that I've had so far (new to the monopoly this month, they certainly know their trends). Taste and smell is familiar for the most part, typical IPA. It's quite dry, more so than I would have expected, although it's been a while since I've had a regular IPA and the last few were Swedish made, those tend to be on the sweeter side. It's refreshing in its dryness coupled with the prominent bitterness and hop flavor, but I'd rather have a more moderate-abv pale ale delivering the same basic flavor profile: dry, bitter and American hops (tastewise this reminds me alot of Lagunitas New Dogtown pale ale, probably my favorite pale ale). Since my general impression of American craft ales is that they are clean I really don't see how the lager part makes this beer stand out in that respect.

 

“It's refreshing in its dryness coupled with the prominent bitterness and hop flavor,”

“Since my general impression of American craft ales is that they are clean I really don't see how the lager part makes this beer stand out in that respect.”

Patrik, there two aspects that of the lager yeast and the lagering process play out here (and supported by your comments above).

Lager yeasts are the most attenuating yeasts since they can fully process trisaccharides (e.g., maltotriose). The net result is a beer of lower final gravity which supports the aspect of a beer having a dry finish.

The lagering process encourages the precipitation of proteins and polyphenols (tannins) from the beer. A descriptor that is sometimes used to describe lagers is: crisp and clean.

I have only had a handful of IPLs (I have not had Ballast Point Fathom) and all of the IPLs that I have consumed have the aspects of being very dry with a clean/crisp quality. These are attributes that I perceive which I personally do not perceive in the IPAs that I have consumed (more so the crisp/clean quality and to a lesser degree the dryness).

Cheers!

 

The dryness does stand out in this beer in my opinion, especially considering the abv. But I will say that I find it to be as clean as any craft IPA/ale that I've had. When I think of yeast profiles I think British and Belgian ales and German wheat beers. When I think of clean beers I think of German lager beers and American craft ales (granted with 3000+ American breweries I will only have tried beers from a tiny sample of those, mostly the larger and established breweries).

 

I agree. Something like US-05 yeast (which a lot of people use) will scream through fermentation and clean up just as much as any lager yeast -- in a fraction of the time. Yes, it will leave behind more esters, but no yeasty bite/character.