The Brew Basement

Here’s my latest round of six-month tastings! It’s amazing what seems to happen on these vintage tastings - there’s always a mixed bag of success and failures.
Jolly Pumpkin La Roja - Big disappointment here. Diminished sweetness has left this brew wildly unbalanced and extremely sour.
Victory Weissbier - Just forget it - drink this fresh only. […]

Thanks for tuning in to the second part of this series. If you haven’t yet, be sure to check out the first part, Smoke’s Preservative Effect on Aging Beer.
There’s a whole host of phenolic compounds present in beer, but three are much more common the others. Phenol itself, the most basic of phenolic compounds, gives […]

I would guess it’s no great surprise to anyone when they find out that smoked beers tend to age well. Most of us have been exposed to all sorts of preserved smoked meats, seafoods, and other products for all our lives – why should smoked beers be any different? And indeed, the differences between smoked […]

Looking for a good smoked brew? They’re a bit of an elusive breed, to be honest. In your typical US beverage store you’ll find stacks and stacks of lagers, row after row of pale ales, but not very many smoke flavored beers. It’s a simple fact that if you find yourself in the mood for […]

Hello everyone! I’ll be diving into the world of smoked beers this week. I’ll be examining the science behind the preservation power of smoke, posting the results of a few tastings of some famous smokey brews, and doling out a few recommendations for purchasing some brews of your own.
I thought a nice way to kick […]

Hello everyone! How about that Siena beating up Vandy in the NCAA tourney last Friday!
Here’s my latest round of six-month tastings. Not a bad bunch of aged brews here, I must say. One disappointment, but the others are going strong!
Corsendonk Abbey Brown Ale - A nice enough little brew, but it seems like it’s not […]

Ethanol. It’s that wonderful little molecule that makes my wife loopy after too many strawberry daiquiris. It’s the compound that more and more of us are filling our cars up with here in America. It’s really the only thing most of us think of when we hear the word “alcohol”. I say most of us […]

One of the things that happens when you spend eight months writing on a blog is that your writing tends to get a little better. It really pains me sometimes when I read my earliest writings, and one of the worse offenders in my mind is the “What’s going on here…” page on the top […]

Be sure to check out the first part of this article which discussed the effects of low humidity on beer cellaring.
When I ended the first part of this article, I mentioned how running your beer cellar at 60% to 70% relative humidity is great for keeping the corks on your corked beers in prime shape. […]

Here’s the latest updates to my tasting notes. For this round, I’ve updated the notes on nine different cellared brews, encompassing a pretty wide range of styles. Here’s the links - starting with the first four that held up the best.
Unibroue 15th Anniversary Ale - Big fruity flavors showing no signs of slowing down, fantastic!
North […]