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| MidwestMicroBrews' Midwest Beer Reviews! |
bloggers -- Jason Thalman from The Greatest Beer Of All Time -- give us his impression of one of my favorite Michigan IPAs, Huma Lupa Licious from Short's Brewing Company. - Michael Bergman Huma Lupa Licious Short's Brewing Company - Bellaire, Michigan
opportunity to guest review on MidwestMicroBrews. We are a relatively new website in the Craft Beer review website/blog world. We started this website because we are rather tired of the over analytical approach to Craft Beer and wanted to become a destination for those people who have always been curious about trying Craft Beer but have been intimidated by some of the elitism that exists. That being said, we also want to be informative and appeal to the hard core Craft Beer fan as well but with our own brand of writing and humor. Our rating system is simple and is based on the recommendation of buying a Keg, Case, Twelve Pack, Six Pack, Bum One From A Friend & Skip It. We wanted to keep it simple and easy to understand. We hope you enjoy the review and hope you’ll visit us at www.thegreatestbeerofalltime.com. Short’s Brewing Company- Huma Lupa Licious: No Shortcomings For This IPA A while back I headed to downtown Chicago for some poker and Craft Beer festivities at Wes’ place. That evening I got to meet Wes’ brother and a variety of their friends from northern Michigan. During one of our many conversations regarding Craft Beer, one of Wes’ brother’s friends started telling me about this brewery that (in his opinion) makes some of the best brew he had ever had. He was saying that they were relatively new and only really known by those that reside in Michigan. He promised that on their next voyage to the Chicagoland area they would be more than happy to bring down a variety of Short’s brews and that they should be back sometime late summer. Upon hearing this I was both excited and a little disappointed that my wait would be in excess of 3 or 4 months. Until last week on my trip to the beverage depot I found out that Short’s made a onetime shipment to the Chicagoland market in honor of the Craft Brewers Conference. Lucky me was able to get my hands on some Short’s Brewing Company’s Huma Lupa Licious IPA and I am excited to see what this Michigan brewery has to offer this lover of IPAs. Shorts Brewing Company classifies this beer as an IPA and their website describes Huma Lupa Licious as, “Named after the hop flower Humulus Lupulus, this best selling India pale ale style beer has enormous amounts of hops which really seems like a punch in the face. Hop flowers from the numerous strains used in this recipe render a delicious bitter taste and enticing citrus aroma. Flavors from a hearty malt bill meld with the hops to balance this ale and provide a ridiculous urge to sample more.” Huma Lupa Licious pours a hazy golden orange color with a ¼” off white head that quickly disappears and smells of hop, grapefruit, faint malt sweetness and a slight orange zest scent that seems to have a sweat orange slice candy hint to it. This brew is 7% ABV. Michigan must have the magic touch when it comes to Craft Beer. Michigan breweries continue to impress and amaze me with quality and innovation in the originality and flavor of each of the brews I have had from this great state. The list is endless and one brewery that should be firmly placed towards the top is Short’s Brewing Co. Huma Lupa Licious is a true original that is unlike any previous IPA that I have tried. Aside from the trance inducing aroma the flavor is just short of intoxicating. It starts with a brief malty sweetness that is caramel in character which transitions to a bitter grapefruit/hop bite that finishes smooth and leaves your mouth & taste buds wanting more. The label does not lie, as stated “A complex malt and hop theme park in your mouth.” If the flavor of this IPA was a theme park then I’d have to say that it would rival Cedar Point Amusement Park. It’s one of those Craft Beers that is not only worth the trip to consume but worth taking a week off work and hitting the Short’s Brewing Co and touring the rest of Michigan’s Craft Brew scene. http://www.thegreatestbeerofalltime.com/tgboat/2010/4/20/shorts-brewing-company-huma- lupa-licious-no-shortcomings-for.html About The Author: My name is Jason Thalman and I am the founder/contributor of www.thegreatestbeerofalltime.com. I am currently working as a marketing/advertising consultant and reside in the beautiful community of Oswego, IL which is about 45 miles west and south of Chicago. I discovered the world of Craft Beer upon my trip to Fort Collins, CO back in 2002 and have been hooked ever since. This great industry and the innovation and dedication to the craft are a microcosm of the pioneering spirit that made this country great and is Americana at its finest. I raise my glass to all those hard working dedicated Americans who are ever expanding the Craft Beer industry and making America an example of craftsmanship at its finest!
Barleypopmaker's Beer Blog. Here, Jason gives us his impression of one of the favorite beers here at the MidwestMicroBrews offices: Sprecher Brewing's Russian Imperial Stout. -Michael Bergman
Sprecher Brewing Company - Glendale, Wisconsin Thanks to MidwestMicroBrews for allowing me be a guest on their site. In my blog, I generally score beers as we do in homebrew competitions using the BJCP scoresheet and the 50 point system, that is what the point value at the end of each segment represents. Today I will be reviewing Sprecher Russian Imperial Stout. Sprecher is located in Glendale Wisconsin, just south of Milwaukee. From the name, it is obvious this is going to be a Russian Imperial Stout. In general, according to the BJCP guidelines we can expect the beer to be “An intensely flavored, big, dark ale. Roasty, fruity, and bittersweet, with a noticeable alcohol presence. Dark fruit flavors meld with roasty, burnt, or almost tar-like sensations. Like a black barleywine with every dimension of flavor coming into play.” So with that, let’s take a look at Sprecher’s version of this beer. Be aware that this beer also comes in a bourbon barrel aged version, this is not the barrel aged Imperial Stout. The aroma is quite rich and complex. What hits me first is the aroma of prunes and alcohol. Digging a bit deeper you get some rich toasted caramel and dark chocolate. Some coffee notes linger around in there as well, but are not as pronounced as chocolate. There is also a sweet character to the aroma of the beer, which lends to some impression of black licorice. As the beer warms the aromas smooth out and blend a bit as well . You can detect some hops in here as well, although they don’t take the center stage, this seems to be moderately hopped given the slew of other aromas in there. (9 points) The appearance is black as midnight and pours a thick dark tan head. The head lasts for quite a while, but not as long as one expects in other forms of stout. It was a very nice head while it lasted, but the high alcohol can lead to lower retention time, which is OK for this style. Even held up to the light this beer is opaque, but I see some muddy dark brown highlights around the edges. (3 points) The flavor of the beer is quite nice, but not spectacular. I was expecting a bit more diversity in the flavor given the aroma. Very dark chocolate dominates the flavor, with some background notes of sweet caramel. There is mild booze soaked raisin flavors, and a lot more alcohol comes through when you breath out. The strength of this beer is quite evident. You do not get much flavor from the hops, but the bitterness is well balanced for this style in my opinion. That licorice flavor comes through in the finish. In the end though, the beer does finish quite clean and does not leave a long lasting cloying roasty flavor that some bigger stouts can leave. That does make this beer fairly easy drinking given the ABV. (15 Points) The mouthfeel is full and quite chewy. I knew before I even took the first swallow, the beer even poured thick. There is some astringency derived from roasted grain, but is far from hash so is acceptable. (5 points) Overall, I think this is a very nice representation of the Russian Imperial Stout. What I like was the complexity and richness in the aroma. Off the pour this beer screamed at you that it was going to be huge, and it delivered. My only gripe is that the complexity in the aroma seemed to be a bit less in the flavor. However, it still ended up being a very tasty Imperial Stout. The alcohol, although evidently high, was not hot at all and contributed nicely to the overall experience. (7 points) At the end of every review I also assign it a score that many can relate to, which is the old A, B, C, D, and F scores. In the end, I scored this beer a 39. Which is a very respectable score and would translate to a solid B+ in my eyes. Generally, I give any beer that is 40-50 points an A, 30-39 points a B, 20-29 a C, and 10-19 a D, and anything undrinkable an F. However, the conversion from number score to letter grade is not set in stone for me. I do take liberties if I feel a beer maybe was not to style so I scored it low, but it was simply so delicious (or the other way around) that I may be a bit more lenient on the letter grade. About the author: I am Jason Johnson and I write for my blog Barleypopmaker’s Beer Blog. I currently live in Manitowoc, Wisconsin and beer is my passion. I love drinking beer, evaluating beer, talking beer, and brewing beer (not always in that order).The main purpose of my blog is to review beers in the BJCP style against the guidelines. I also do quite a bit on homebrewing as well as other aspects of beer culture I may feel like writing about. I hold a certified rank with the BJCP and have been homebrewing for a little over 7 years. ~I know you drank the beer, but did you experience it? |
MidwestMicroBrews, 118 S. Washington Street #402B, Green Bay, Wisconsin 54301 |
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Sprecher's Description Imperial Stout Facts Alcohol by Volume: 8.5% Degrees Plato (Initial Gravity): 20P Weeks Aged: 12 Bitterness Units: 32 IBU Year First Brewed: 1994 Serving Temperature: 55° Malts: 2-Row Pale, Caramel, Carapils, Chocolate, Munich, Roasted Hops: Cascade, Chinook, Mt. Hood, Tettnanger Sizes: 1/4 and 1/2 Barrels, 16oz Bottles Once brewed in Britain for the Russian Czars, this tremendously rich and thick ale uses a profusion of burnt and caramel malts. A massive mouthful of dark roasted malt and coffee flavors finishes with hints of chocolate, caramel & licorice. Randy's Notes: “We just raised the abv up 1.0% to meet int'l standards for contests. I had a very old 22oz. bottle at a friends last fall. He was moving and found this bottle in the fridge. It was unpasteurized and just delicious chocolate and stout flavors. It was 7years old. Just shows that cold (under 40deg F.), no light and still can allow rich products to age gracefully.” |
Read more MidwestMicroBrews Reviews... Arbor Brewing Company - Ann Arbor, Michigan Central Waters Brewing Company - Amherst, Wisconsin Copper Canyon Brewery - Southfield, Michigan Detroit Beer Company - Detroit, Michigan Goose Island Brewing Company - Chicago, Illinois Grumpy Troll Brewpub - Mount Horeb, Wisconsin Herkimer Pub & Brewery - Minneapolis, Minnesota Short's Brewing Company - Bellaire, Michigan Sprecher Brewing Company - Glendale, Wisconsin Stevens Point Brewery - Stevens Point, Wisconsin Stone Cellar Brewpub - Appleton, Wisconsin Titletown Brewing Company - Green Bay, Wisconsin |