[BW] Beer Blog

Brewery: Deschutes
Style: Amber Ale
BeerAdvocate.com Rating: A-
RateBeer.com Rating: 3.35 (74th percentile)
Serving: 22oz Bottle

To say I’m excited about this beer is a huge understatement. Deschutes is one of my absolute favorite breweries and they’re finally giving organic brewing a shot. This brew’s press statement alone has impressed me so much, in fact, that I’m going to share the majority of it with you right now:

“Green Lakes is a classic amber ale,” says brewer Paul Arney. “We used caramel and Munich malts for a nice color and six different varieties of hops.” The reddish colored brew has a nicely balanced taste with a distinctive but restrained hop profile that includes Salmon-Safe certified Sterling hops.

After working with Oregon Tilth for nearly six months, Deschutes Brewery received organic certification for its 50 barrel brew house and can now brew tasty organic ales for year-round enjoyment.

Let’s see what this organic and salmon safe brew tastes like!

Appearance - Rich, translucent amber color with minimal carbonation. A thick, beige head slowly dissipates to a thin lace about 1/3 of the way through a pint.

Smell - Hoppy enough to let you know they’re there, but not overwhelming at all. Also a slight hue of maltiness that piggybacks after the hops.

Taste - Amber ale perfection. A medium amount of hops (slightly less than Mirror Pond for comparison) greet the palate followed by subtle tastes of caramel and malt. A flowery hop taste rounds out each sip as the last of it dissipates off of the palate. The mouthfeel is incredibly smooth and the brew itself is both highly refreshing and drinkable.

I know I haven’t really said much, but Green Lakes is the epitome of what an amber ale should taste like. The fact that this brew is both certified organic by Oregon tilth and salmon safe just brings home that yes, brewers can brew amazing, world-class craft brews while being environmentally responsible. I’m going to go on record and say to this date that this is my absolute favorite amber ale.

And as a special note to Eric; I’ve got one of these waiting for you as well. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

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Brewery: Shmaltz Brewing Company (He’Brew)
Style: Imperial Amber Ale / Fruit Beer
BeerAdvocate.com Rating: 84
RateBeer.com Rating: 2.98 (42nd percentile)
Serving: 22oz Bottle

Pomegranate Ale? To be totally honest I originally went to my local beer store to buy some cream ale, but this one caught my girlfriend’s eye. This is my first foray into He’Brew beers and I couldn’t ignore the fact that this beer’s label has it listed as “The Chosen Beer.” Well I have chosen to drink it, so let’s find out what this beer is all about.

Appearance - Medium amber in color with a small, white head. Fairly rigorous carbonation noticeable throughout the duration of my pint.

Smell - Surprisingly I don’t smell any pomegranates. Smell is consistent with most amber ales, although I smell the alcohol already.

Taste - Tastes like a pretty standard amber ale, except when you sip it, the remaining beer coating your tongue dissipates and leaves the slight taste of pomegranates. Also noticeable is the alcohol, but so much to where it interferes when drinking a pint. The 8% ABV may catch some people off guard if they are not used to drinking beers with higher alcohol contents. Hops also jump at your taste buds, but not in an overwhelming way at all.

Also noteworthy is although this is a fruit beer, it is by no means fruity. If you have ever had Pyramid’s Apricot Ale, think of this as the opposite in terms of fruity. Apricot Ale bombards your taste buds with candy-like Apricot flavoring the entire journey from the smell to your belly. This Pomegranate Ale is different in that it relies more on brewing a delicious beer first and letting the pomegranate compliment it.

Overall this is a very unique and delicious beer. Pick some up if you can, however BeerAdvocate has it listed as brewed only once. Organic brewing has seemed to taken off like wildfire, but who knows? Maybe this brew could lead a new trend in Kosher brewing.

The beer itself aside, Shmaltz.com is quite possibly the best brewery website I have seen. There’s tons of documentation, it’s entertaining, and the downloads section is hilarious. My favorite is a downloadable poster saying “‘Christ, that’s good beer’ -God.” There’s even an unpaid college internship you can apply for. I just wasted a good hour looking around, so you should do the same.

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