beer

Jumping Cow Amber Ale

Jumping Cow Amber Ale, Steinhaus Brewing Co

Jumping Cow Amber Ale, Steinhaus Brewing Co

Beer four from Trader Joe’s comes to us in the form of Jumping Cow Amber Ale from Steinhaus Brewing Co. which is again a front for the actual brewery Firestone Walker Brewing of Paso Robles, CA.

The labels description for this ale is boring, stating simply that the ale is

Brewed from the finest malted barley, hops, yeast and water.

If only the description was as exciting as the label.

The ale pours nice and clear with a dark reddish hue and a thick creamy tan head. This beer has some carbonation and the head sticks around long after pouring.

The aromas are hard to gather, especially since the wife finds the need to make toast moments after the bottle top was removed. It may not sound as good as it smells, but it has the aroma of a musty barley. It is a faint sweetish smell that seems to disappear soon after initial contact with the nasal cavity.

The first few sips are hard to describe. The ale is smooth and not much kick given the dark color and good carbonation. It takes several draws from the glass to finally decide that this brew has three distinct stages when you drink it. Upon meeting the taste buds, the beer has a full flavor that can be describe as a lightly roasted barley. Then as you swallow, the beer seems creamy and sweetens. Finally you are left with a slight tingle from the hops with just a hint of bitterness that only seems to last a moment or two.

Overall the beer has a lot of positive features and a unique flavor. You couple that with the great head that sticks to the glass and you might be tempted to lick the head off the inside of the glass.

rating onrating onrating onrating halfrating off I give this brew a 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Wanting to trying some different beers, I thought reviewing beer would be a great experience to share with friends and family. I scoured the internet for some "best practice" for reviewing a beer and even looked at some reviews of beers I have tried in the past. In time, I learned two important facts about beer review. 1: Most beer reviews have the same 4-5 categories: Appearance, Smell, Taste, Feel/Texture, and Overall experience. 2: There are a lot of haughty beer reviewers online. All reviews are genuine and every effort is made to have a cool beer, a clean glass and cleansed palate.

Stockyard Oatmeal Stout

glass of Stockyard Oatmeal Stout

glass of Stockyard Oatmeal Stout

Another JosephsBrau Brewing Company A.K.A. Gordon Biersch Brewery, San Diego, CA brew.

The stout is described on the label as

A deliciously creamy stout in the Irish tradition- with its rich, tan head intact, this deep and dark-colored beer has the aroma and flavors of chocolate, roasted oats and coffee- allderived from the specialty malts used in the brewing process

The stout pours coffee black with slight carbonation and scanty a tan head. The brew has a weak aroma, but what little scent that comes through is good. It is a light fragrance of dark roast with quasi chocolate and coffee tones. This beer has far less scent then what it visually looks like it should possess.

Upon drawing a little from the glass, I tried swishing it through my mouth. It was delicious! The brew was heavy, sweet, carmel and foamy. After a few more draws, I found it went down smooth like a cream and left a part candied chocolate and dark roast coffee flavor that was sweet and bitter at the same time.

I enjoyed this beer, but was unable to taste the roasted oatmeal. It was a nice mix of creamy chocolate and dark roast.

rating onrating onrating onrating onrating off I give this brew a 4 out of 5 stars.
Wanting to trying some different beers, I thought reviewing beer would be a great experience to share with friends and family. I scoured the internet for some "best practice" for reviewing a beer and even looked at some reviews of beers I have tried in the past. In time, I learned two important facts about beer review. 1: Most beer reviews have the same 4-5 categories: Appearance, Smell, Taste, Feel/Texture, and Overall experience. 2: There are a lot of haughty beer reviewers online. All reviews are genuine and every effort is made to have a cool beer, a clean glass and cleansed palate.

Distinctive Dark Ale Black Toad

I picked up several different bottles of beer at Trader Joe’s the other day and decided to start my beer review with a dark ale. I reached into the fridge and grabbed the 12 ounce Distinctive Dark Ale Black Toad.

distinctive dark ale Black Toad

bottle of dark ale Black Toad beer

A little research found that the brewer labeled on the bottle (Josephs Brau Brewing Company) is a bit of a misnomer. The beer is actually brewed under contract for Trader Joes by Gordon Biersch Brewery in San Diego, CA.

After letting the beer settle for a while on the table I popped the cap off and the retrieved a frosty glass from the freezer. The beer may have been a little bit to old as I could not detect much aroma from the bottle. I poured the beer into the frosty mug and noticed right away it had a deep roasted color with very little head.

I let the beer settle for a bit longer and tried to get a sense of the colors and of what aroma’s it had. The ale is described on the label as having a deep chestnut color and nutty flavor.

The ale was indeed had a deep roasted color with little carbonation.

distinctive dark ale Black Toad

glass of distinctive dark ale Black Toad beer

After trying to get a sense of the aroma several times, I decided to go with a description of sweet. Being such a dark brew with a description of “deep” I expected some strong aroma, but was presented with a faint sweet smell similar to a light maple syrup.

The taste of the beer was pleasant. The ale had sweet flavors of roasted nuts and no lingering after taste. The beer was smooth and slightly flat with a very good mild taste.

Overall I enjoyed the beer. Being it was a dark ale, I expected some very bold aroma and flavors to go with the bold color, but in the end the brew was sweet and mild.

rating onrating onrating onrating halfrating off I give this brew a 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Wanting to trying some different beers, I thought reviewing beer would be a great experience to share with friends and family. I scoured the internet for some "best practice" for reviewing a beer and even looked at some reviews of beers I have tried in the past. In time, I learned two important facts about beer review. 1: Most beer reviews have the same 4-5 categories: Appearance, Smell, Taste, Feel/Texture, and Overall experience. 2: There are a lot of haughty beer reviewers online. All reviews are genuine and every effort is made to have a cool beer, a clean glass and cleansed palate.

Home Brew

I ordered a Mr. Beer home brew package the other day off of Woot.com because it was inexpensive and I was looking to take a try at making my own beer.

I know a few people that have been brewing beer and although the serious beer brewers scoff at the Mr. Beer package, they all agreed for the price it was a good “starter kit”.

It has been sitting in my kitchen now for a few weeks and because of the nice three day weekend, I have decided to start the brew in hopes that I can maybe have some nice ale before Saint Patrick’s day 2012. I just started the process and right now I have the utensils and brew container sanitizing.

It is a nice peaceful day, sitting here at the dining room table watching the snow fall gently from the sky. It reminds me of how beautiful Minnesota is year round. I find myself reminiscing of all the beautiful colors of the four seasons. Fall in this area is by far the most memorable with its deep browns, reds, oranges and yellows. Winter can get old, but the site of fresh powdery snow hanging over trees and drifts across the yard are beautiful before the dirt and traffic get to them. Spring brings the growth of orchids, daisy’s, grass and dandelions. And summer is green and red with long days that end with the portrait ready sunsets almost every night.

As I sit and write this of course a large hawk or eagle swooped by the patio door into the back yard. I wasn’t sure what it was as I was looking at the screen and only caught the blur of white and brown. I went to look and after about ten seconds I found the visitor at the edge of the now bare woods. I grabbed my flip and tried to sneak back for some good footage of our feathered foreigner, but he left at first sight of me in the window (see video below).

Back to my brew! With everything sanitized I continue with my brew. I added some filtered water to the brew container and then started on the “Booster” concoction. Starting with four cups of filtered water, I slowly mixed in the “Booster” until it was almost completely dissolved. I then turned up the heat and waited for the concoction to boil.

Once the “Booster” came to a boil, I added the Hopped Malt Extracts [HMEs] to create my wort. This was very easy as the HME I was using came in a nice can from Mr. Beer (using the West Coast Pale Ale). Once the wort was created, I transferred it into the brewing container and then added more filtered water to fill the brewing container to the desired level.

Once the remaining water was added, I stirred the brew vigorously to mix the wort and filtered water. Once it was completed, we added the brewing yeast provided. After waiting a little over five minutes for the yeast to dissolve on its own, I finished “pitching” the yeast by vigorously mixing the brew once again. After pitching the yeast the cover was attached and I placed it into an insulated cooler to keep it at the desired temperature and out of the dark for the next two weeks.

The video on the page is a short highlight of the process. I hope to continue the documentation of this first brew in a few weeks (about January 26th) as long as everything goes well.

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