Beer 323: Kane Brewing Company Malus

In honor of the imminent arrival of Hurricane Sandy, I'm reviewing a beer that is handcrafted in Ocean, New Jersey. Kane Brewing Company's Malus is an ale brewed with local apple cider and spices. It's also a limited release.

It smells awesome...like spiced cider and a sour ale. It falls in the Belgian strong dark ale category and has an ABV of 9.5%.


From the bottle: inspired by a traditional Belgian style but redefined by locally sourced ingredients. Belgian candi sugar was replaced by local apple cider that is reduced in the brewery's kettle over several days. It's their inaugural bottling.

From what I can tell they launched in the summer 2011. If they keep making brews like this one, they'll be around for awhile.

The Malus poured a hazy, warm brown color with a tan head. The first sip is quite good. I will warn you that the higher ABV is very present. The flavor has a lot going on. It starts off sour apple. Then there's leather and spice. Then overripe fruit and bread. It finishes with just a little bit of bitterness. It also leaves a tartness at the back of my tongue. Not really dry but tangy.

It's very bubbly and champagne-like in its carbonation. This is a decidedly unusual beer, but I rate it great. Cheers!

Beer 304: Evolution Menagerie #7

Mr. Blog Named Brew inquired as to what I was going to write about tonight and I thought, I'm kind of beat...it may just be a beer review. But no, it's your lucky night. I'm going to tell you how I'm being menaced by a cardboard man.

Mr. Pain in the Ass, I mean Blog Named Brew, snagged a "Stand Up Joe" a couple of weeks ago. It sat in the basement, folded up and relatively harmless. Sunday night cardboard Joe struck the first time.

Lurking in the corner of our home office, six feet of cardboard scared the crap out of me as I walked in to toss something in the trash. I muffled a scream and resisted the urge to attack. Fast-forward to 48 hours later and that goddamn cardboard jerk sneaks up on me again. This time it was Mr. Blog Named Brew who nearly got it. I'm now terrified that he's going to move Joe to somewhere better in the house -- a place that I'll pass by and not nearly have a heart attack when I think a stranger is in my house.

I may never leave the living room again.

Perhaps Stand Up Joe needs a Menagerie #7 from Evolution Craft Brewing Company to make himself a bit less creepy. Evolution is brewed in Salisbury, Maryland. Interesting note about Salisbury...I applied to go to college there. Not at the brewery...but at Salisbury University. It's basically the beach. Their mascot is a seagull. I imagine things would have turned out a lot differently had I gone there. Like beach bum college dropout differently...



But I digress. Menagerie #7 is a Belgian strong dark ale with an ABV of 9%. It poured a hazy chestnut color with a thin light tan head. It smelled strongly of Belgian candi sugar and grapes. Yes, light aromas of grapes. It drank with an almost lactic creaminess. It had a strong malt profile with hints of biscuits. There was some mild spiciness to it...maybe cloves and peppers. I also noticed a faint concord grape flavor.

This is a great beer. Cheers!

Beer 292: Spring House Brewing

While you're reading this, me and Mr. Blog Named Brew are rocking out at the David Byrne/St. Vincent show at the Tower Theater.  You all need to check out their new album -- it is AWESOME! Quirky, full of horns and just plain fun to listen to...

And what better beer to go with fun, quirky music than a big fruity quad.  At 10.8% ABV, the Cosmic Monster from Spring House Brewing Company is not for the faint of heart. From Spring House's website, it is a rustic belgian style strong ale that is balanced with a generous addition of fresh fruit. 

Interesting...back to back fruit beers for Marci.  Where did the hops go?!?!  

The Cosmic Monster is fermented with real pureed blackberries and then aged over fresh raspberries. It poured a deep mahogany color and had lots of berries in the nose.  You can definitely smell the blackberries more so than the raspberries.  The booze was not appratent and I imagine that you could get in a lot of trouble drinking this quad.  The flavor was lots of fruit, malt and hops. Very well balanced and easy to drink.  The mix of strong malts and fruit flavors also make it quite refreshing.  Sort of the opposite reaction that quads usually have with me.

This is a great beer.  Cheers! 

Photo #1 of Cosmic Monster

Photo #2. Better or worse?

Beer 113: Robinsons Old Tom or Things I Don’t Want to Do Today

Things I don’t necessarily want to do today:  drink beer.  Sorry, folks, it’s the truth.  Of course, this happens on a day where I have nothing in my reserve of beer reviews.  RATS!

So here I sit with a freshly poured Old Tom Ale.  It was named the world’s best ale by the World Beer Awards.  So I have that going for me…

It poured a clear deep shade of brown in my glass -- not much head.  The smell was dark fruit and malt. The taste is strong on anise with an underlying sweetness.  It finishes with very strong hops.  The taste also teases some root beer  flavor as well.  This is complex beer -- lots going on in the smell and taste.  Good stuff.

Cheers.

p.s.  Beer followed by sake and wine followed by more beer is a bad idea.  You can take my word on that.

Beer 53: Gouden Carolus Classic or I’m Too Hungry to Think

Lunch today was inhaled in front of my computer.  It consisted of leftover flatbread pizza, which was even better on day 2 but only equated to one normal slice of pizza and a small bowl of leftover broccoli/cauliflower soup.  Seven hours later, and those wiener dogs are starting to look mighty tasty!

***

Tonight we drink a Gouden Carolus Classic.  Another one that came on draught and lacks a photo.  I’ve realized I’m really bad at taking pictures of my draught beer.  Sorry.  But this photo sums up how I feel about dinner right now.

Nomz! Nomz!

I ordered this one because it was billed as unfiltered, tart and complex.  I love tart.  I love beer that makes me think.  Unfiltered is awesome.  I’ll give them accuracy points for two out of three of those descriptors.  It wasn’t tart at all or my taste buds are so screwed up by my love of sour ale, that tart doesn’t register anymore.  The scent and taste were very fluid in my mind.  Everything I smelled, I tasted and everything I tasted came through in the bouquet.  How would I describe it?  Licorice, caramel, Belgian beer sugars, molasses, brown sugar.  It drank with a wonderful heaviness -- viscous and creamy.  Overall I really enjoyed this one.

Beer #28: Guido Regenboog Ale

Tonight we dined at Sagami, a Japanese restaurant in Collingswood, New Jersey that has fantastic sushi.  If you are anywhere nearby, you should definitely make an effort to get there.  It's no Blue Fin because Blue Fin is the greatest sushi restaurant ever, but it holds its own.

BOB (for reference) had his introductory press conference today.  He seems ok, said all the right things and was generally all right.  Still merely reading quotes from PSU President Rod Erickson or Dave Joyner makes my blood boil but that overwhelming urge to smash things or cry is subsiding.  I'm going to have to give some serious reconsideration to attending the Blue White game this year.

***

Today's beer is Guido Regenboog Ale.  It is a Belgian Strong Dark ale that is brewed with honey and raisins.  It's a very slightly hazy mahogany color in my glass.  A good swirl releases an abundance of raisin scent.  I taste caramel and hops.  There's an aftertaste that is slightly honey and bitter - very different.  It makes me want vanilla ice cream and I don't even like vanilla ice cream.  Weird.

If the Internet is to be trusted, the brewery where Guido comes from - Smisje Brewery - is the smallest craft brewery in Belgium.  It began in 1995 and was originally called De Regenboog, which is Dutch for rainbow.  I was wondering what Regenboog ale meant and now I know.  The brewer is also a bee keeper and honey factors into a number of his beers.  Honey is a great addition to beer -- I need to look for more offerings from Smisje.  But the minuscule size of the brewery really makes me wonder how this beer managed to get all the way to the suburbs of Philadelphia.  It was like me and Guido were meant to meet!

Until tomorrow when Week 5 commences...cheers!