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BEER EDITOR FOR THE FLAGPOLE
WILLIAM ORTEN
Your Tasters A* work
Another gaggle of geese-masquerading-
as-new-beers has honked its way into our
presence. We of The Yeasty Boys™ have
plodded through all the mass of leftover
feathers and droppings to bring you the few
golden eggs that shone through.
1) Franziskaner Dunkel Hefe-
Weissbier (Gebr. Spaten-Brau; Munich,
Germany.). “This is true to style. It’s sup- j
posed to be foamy like this,” John jostles. ;
We all nod. Very well-done; recommended, j
2) Stiegl Columbus Pils
(Stieglbrewery; Salzburg, Austria.). “De- I
cent but pedestrian," ©rt. oozes. Everyone j
else agreed. Surely Ludwig Wittgenstein j
did not drink this regularly; he would have
thought nothing of it. Certainly this was
not Gustav Mahler’s favorite beer; it would
not have composed him. Nor could Walter
Gropius have loved it; he would have in
stead run a tavern called Das Bau Haus.
Had it been Franz Werfel’a brew-of-choice,
he would never have been able to sing of
Bernadette as he did. And most positively
of all, should Alma Mahler Gropius Werfel
(she will be the subject ol a column soon)
have enjoyed it greatly, she would never
have become so beautiful and brilliant; nor
wowed, wooed and wed the noble minds
that she did; nor written her autobiogra
phy “And The Bridge Is Love," which 1
have been frantically searching for since j
1967. But I digress phenomenally.
3) Devil Mountain Railroad Gold Ale
(Devil Mountain ((Hudepohl-
Schoenling)); Cincinnati, OH. 45230.) i
“This is exceilei. ! " Suzanne sighs, not tak-
ing you down to her place near the river 1
(sorry, couldn’t resist!). “®©h, that’s
g*«»d,” ®rt. ©sties three-e-ically. “What 1
taste in there is Toasted Malt; some people
call it Victory Malt,” John joins.
“There’s a toasty taste,” Rick relishes.
“Without a preponder
ance of hops," John
jumps in. “1 could
drink this beer all
night. These people
really know their
malts.” “This beer
could never be bad,"
Heather hums. “1 can’t
hurry through this,"
0rt. finishes slowly.
That’s a ni-i-ice
smell," Julie purrs.
“It’s a wonderfully
estery smell, but the
taste is kind of astrin
gent,” she adds later.
“This is on par with
Blind Man American
Pale Ale: extraordi
nary," Sandy muses-
ir.-absentia. Excellent; subtle; worth
looking for. Highly recommended.
4) Devil Mountain Five Malt Ale.
“Smells like a Bock or a Doppelbock,” Paul
pleats. “This has the best malty nose of any
American beer I’ve ever smelled.” “This
beer’s wonderfully complex,” Rob rustles.
“Something you could wrap your tonsils
around,” Rick chops. "This is an Ameri
can Red Ale," John jigs. “I still note an
astringency,” Julie jogs. “But it is nice and
malty.” “Still good, but 1 prefer the Rail
road Gold to this,” Sandy muses-in-abzen-
tia. We first tasted this before it was sold
in Georgia. Also highly recommended.
5) Devil Mountain Black Honey Ale.
“It doesn’t have a lot of honey in it,” John
jabs. “It doesn’t overwhelm. That’s just
beautiful.” “Vermy smoooth," Heather tar
ries, curling up in her cnair like a kittycat
reluctant to leave. “1 think this is the best
of the batch; certainly the least astringent,’
Julie juggles. “It’s not too sweet for a honey
beer,” Scott snuggles. “This isn’t my favor
ite,” Sandy dissents-in-absentia. This is
closer to a (Robust) Porter than it is to
anything else. One of the best things we ve
ever had — in a group
setting or singly. Our
highest recommenda
tion.
6) McMullen’s
Anniversary Porter
(McMullen & Sons
Ltd.; Hentord, En
gland.) “Quite toasty
and tasty, but bereft
of hops,” ©rt. oozes
hoplessly. “It has an
interesting flavor
there,” Rick rumbles.
“Yes, it does,”
Suzanne sighs. “My
first impression is
that it’s sort of thin
for a Porter,” John
jestures. “There’s
long-chain alcohol
evident. Of course, nobody really knows
what a Porter really is, so every brewer
can sort of make it up as they go.”
“There’s not the bite that 1 expected,"
Ort. options. “But ! can taste the wood
in it." McMullen’s apparently is a long-
es.tabiished firm known for making Real
Ales, ro the stuff’s probably great on
draught. Ours was good but not great.
7) McMullen’s A K Original Bitter.
“Remember that an English Bitter can be
sort of like what we consider as a Pale Ale,"
"Something
you could
wrap your
tonsils
around..."
John jostles. “There’s a raspiness here,”
Ort. wheezes. Again, nothing terrific, but
worth trying once if only for knowledge of
the style. Does not travel nor translate well
from there to here.
8) McMullen’s Oatmeai Ale. “It tastes
good, but there doesn’t seem to be any
. oatmeal in it,” €>n. opines. “At least it’s
clean.” Same situation as above: it won’t
waste your time to try it once.
9) Bert Grant’s Amber Ale \ /akima
Brewing & Malting Co., Yakima, WA.).
“This just smells so nice,” Heather huffs.
“But it’s like herbal tea — it smells better
than it tastes," Suzanne sighs. We all nod.
— Bert Grant retired and sold the com
pany he started in 1982 (it was America’s
first brewpub!). This is the first new prod
uct rolled out by the new owners; and,
frankly, I’m disappointed. I expected some
thing as... weil... quirky as the rest of the
portfolio. No quirks here, sorry. In fact,
there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of any
thing.
10) Blue Moon Harvest p umpkin
(Blue Moon ((Hudepohl-Schoenling; Cin
cinnati, OH. 45250.)) ). “Tastes like wa
tery pumpkin pie,” ©rt. mutters. “Not bold
enough, especially compared to Pumpkin
Ale from Buffalo Bill’s (Dubuque) that we
had last week,” John jaunts. Decent and
original.
11) Pumpkin Ale (Buffalo Bill’s
j ((Dubuque)); Dubuque, 1A. 52001.). “I
; smell hops in there. 1 think that’s nice ’’
j Heather homages. We reviewed this beer
in the Oct. 16 edition in detail, but repre
sent it here because we retried it with three
new people present and in conjunction
with the beer above it. More decern and
more original. Also more intense.
The Brew-52’s (homebrewer and beer
enthusiast group) meets Sunday, Nov. 10, .it
7:30 p.m. a* The Athens Brewing Co. at 312
E. Washington St. Be 21, bring your
homebrews, your local micros and your selt.
Prosit! (30.)
©1996 William ©rten Carlton
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