Beer in Review: Church Street Scottish Redux

It is never my intention to deliberately criticize beers and breweries without reason. I don't pretend to be a beer expert (there's a reason I named this blog "Pourly Reviewed"), but I call it as I see it. But I'm also not going to dismiss a beer or brewery out-of-hand after one bad beer--there are so many factors that are unintentional or out of a brewer's control that such quick judgment is unfair. Indeed, I've heard much more experienced beer drinkers/reviewers than I say they will give a beer 4 or 5 tries before rendering a truly final verdict on a beer.

All of this leads to Church Street Brewing Company's Tale of the Shony Scottish Ale, a beer I reviewed yesterday, only to be unfortunately plagued by a bad bottle. Out of respect to the brewery and what little audience I have, I felt it was important to retry this beer as quickly as possible to give it a fair shot a redemption--while I and others unfortunately do it, no brewery should be solely judged on one bottle of beer.

I'm starting to talk in circles, so let us revisit this Scottish Ale.

I am happy to say that today's bottle is FAR better than yesterday's, and I expect it is much more in line with Church Street's goal. The beer pours a nice, hazy brown color, and caramel dominates both the aroma and the initial flavors, along with a good bit of roasty malt. Further on, a good amount of sweetness of dark fruit and toffee and maybe a hint of cola, as well. The finish is quite dry, and leaves a little dark fruity aftertaste that dissipates quickly.

All in all, EVERY facet of this beer--aroma, beginning, middle, end of tasting, aftertaste--fared FAR BETTER with today's bottle than yesterday. I am glad to have a better representation of this Scottish Ale.

Beers in Review: Three at random

I didn't have much of an intro for today's post, but that was before Squarespace (my web and blogging platform) deleted the first two beers from my in-progress post. I wrote the first two earlier tonight, and when I came back to write the 3rd, poof! I had already deleted my notes, so the Oasis and the RJ Rockers are both from memory. Please bare with me.

Leading off is the Pale Ale from Oasis Brewing Company. This Pale Ale pours a nearly crystal-clear gold color, and does a great job of malt/hop balance. The first half of the beer is quite malty and has some fruity notes, as well. This leads into a nice, citrus hop profile in the 2nd half of the beer. There is no bitterness from the hops whatsoever. Just citrusy goodness. This Pale Ale was a bit surprising in make-up and brings unique qualities to the style.

Next is the flagship beer from RJ Rockers Brewing Company that is well-made for South Carolina summers. Their Son of a Peach wheat ale pours exactly as advertised: peachy-orange and hazy. Similarly, the flavors overall are on point, with sweet, fruity notes leading the way throughout the sip. The sweet peach note is mild but prominent--they do a nice job of having the fruit notes present without overpowering the beer, as can be common in fruit beers. Additional notes include a hint of graininess as well as something a bit bitter or funky at the very end, though it's not really off-putting.

Finally, Tale of the Shony Scottish Ale from Church Street Brewing Company. I'm sorry to say that this beer was...problematic. It poured a pretty brown color with some red hues, but this beer, or at least this bottle, has issues. I'm typically not one to pull a ton of aroma, but in lifting the glass up to my nose, I got a ton of artificial butter to butterscotch notes, which suggests this beer is overrun by diacetyl. Now, diacetyl is a by-product of standard fermentation practices, and the buttery note can be considered an acceptable part of certain beer styles. But it should not overwhelm the beer, and I'm fairly certain that in this style, it should be minimal/non-existent. For example, Church Street themselves say the beer should have "notes of sweet caramel and mellow roast", and based on the style, I might also expect some other sweet food notes and a hint of alcohol/booziness. Unfortunately, except for a mild cola note, this beer is overrun by the buttery note and a pretty nasty aftertaste. I have a couple more bottles of this beer, as well as a couple of their Hefeweizen (though, none cold), and I hope they are better drinking experiences than this bottle was.

Beers in Review: Doing one live

I have just one last saved up from the weekend to write about, but since I want to give you all your money's worth, I'll add one live tasting to wrap up the post. The things I do for you people.

From the weekend, Magic Hat Brewing Company has released their summer seasonal, Stealing Time. A wheat ale with ginger, I'm glad to say the balance of the ginger is one of several positive characteristics of this beer. As expected for a summer, it has a light gold color and a pretty light body. Overall, I found the ale to be quite tasty. It was pretty sweet, but also contained some grainy notes. The ginger flavor and bite was noticeable but not overpowering, as is so easy to do. The result was a nice balance between the less intense wheat ale characteristics and the ginger notes. A really nice execution and a tasty beer.

For the live tasting, and staying in a summery mood, I have the Hauch von Himmel Hefeweizen from from Church Street Brewing Company in Illinois. I considered doing this for tomorrow's video review, but I didn't want to have to deal with saying/butchering "Hauch von Himmel" a lot, so this live tasting works out better. The hefe pours a pretty gold-to-ripe-peach color, and is pretty hazy. Upon taking a sip, the first impressions are of fruit, but it's not super-sweet, like it could be with such flavors. There is also an interesting sour note, almost pushing into a sour ale, but not quite. There is some very mild clove and other spices, and maybe just a hint of graininess. All of this is going on as it stays in my mouth, but I find it all resolves into a tart white wine note at the very end. There is a whole lot going on with this beer, and I'm glad I have a couple more to enjoy as the weather warms up.