Posts Tagged ‘Maibock’

Des Moines’s Newest Brewery

Saturday, August 18th, 2012

Anchoring the end of Walnut, where it meets 16th Street and Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, sits the Fitch soap company building. Like many structures around the western gateway, this building dates to the roaring twenties when industrial Des Moines was booming, but has sat empty for many decades. That is, until R.J. Tursi decided it was the perfect location to open his Exile Brewing Company.

Exile is cut from a slightly different cloth than Court Avenue or Raccoon River, Exile’s older siblings. While those well-established eateries have more of the traditional brewpub look, Exile meshes in modern design elements, though all three occupy rehabbed space. For more details as well as pictures of the dining areas, check out the coverage in the Reggie.

On the brewery side everything seems scaled to grow. A new four vessel 30 barrel Specific Mechanical brewhouse gives Exile the ability to brew multiple batches. Assuming they can get the staff and make the sales, they will be able to produce beer essentially continuously.Exile Brewhouse One bottleneck will be the cellar, as Exile currently has only three fermentation tanks, though at a 60 barrel capacity each they’re certainly nothing to sneeze at.

They also have six lager tanks in the massive cooler, as well as a brite tank. Another bottleneck will be serving. Since Exile has no dedicated serving tanks, every drop will be kegged. Much of it will be sold off-premise at bars and restaurants around town, in a similar strategy as CABCo has been adopting recently. However Exile has a much larger capacity, and plenty of room to grow.

Exile CellarAt the time of my visit they did not yet have their own beer available, with one exception: they had a Maibock which was contract brewed at the Gordon Biersch facility in Kansas City. However, they have been madly brewing the past week and a half, and they should have a few locally-produced beers available soon. Among those will be a Munich gold lager, a honey lager and a hefeweissen.

The head brewer is John Woodford, a recent Iowa State grad. Though he has a degree from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, he has no professional brewing experience, so he seems like a strange choice for head of a new brewery. But the proof is in the pudding, so I’ll have to wait to judge until they have beer on offer that was brewed under his supervision.

The Maibock is a pale coppery amber with an opalescent haze. There is a bit of off-white head, but not much. The nose is malty and sweet, with notes of biscuits, toast and nuts. I’d like there to be more pronounced hop character, as that is one of the defining characteristics of a maibock.

The flavor is likewise sweet and bready. A bit of noble hops come out early but quickly fade. The sweetness is cloying, lingering far too long. If the hops were more assertive, that might not be as much of an issue. As it stands it’s tasty, but it’s hard to drink more than one.

+/-Exile Maibock

3.2 (3-7-7-2-14)

Sprecher Tasting Notes!

Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

Astute readers may remember that I said I had lost the notes I took on the Sprecher Brewery tour. Well guess what? Cleaning out my disc golf bag I found them! That’s certainly a strange place to put them, but that’s where both of my “lost” pages were squirreled away.

First up, the Mai Bock. This blonde beer has a slight amber tint. There is barely any haze below some creamy white head. The aroma is bright with malty caramel and bready notes. The taste is dry and the body thin, so immediately this seems almost flavorless. Upon inspection you may note the hint of a dirty, earthy hop flavor that reminds me somewhat of the hops in PBR.

Next I tried the IPA², their double India pale ale. This one is a pale caramel amber color and is almost clear. The head is creamy and off white. There is a slightly sweet, delicate floral hop nose that comes through as lilacs and roses. The flavor is rich with earthy hops. On the sides of the tongue a somewhat one-dimensional bitterness disappears quickly, leaving a lingering malty sweetness.

I went on to have the Abbey Triple. This golden yellow beer has some turbidity and some white head. The aroma is exactly that of one of Elvis’s favorite sandwiches, peanut butter and banana. I would hardly believe it transcribing these notes now if I hadn’t written, “No foolin. An Elvis sandwich. Weird.” The flavor is strongly of bananas with a bit of clean malt and clove character coming through. This one has a lot of unfermented sugars remaining giving it an over the top sweetness that turns cloying. I’m not really sure why all these breweries think that you make a Belgian-style tripel with hefeweizen yeast, but this is yet another one. (Brewers: go with Wyeast 1762 or White Labs 500, please!)

Then, at the behest of the brewers, I tried Hop on Top, their new extra pale ale. They were soliciting comments, so presumably this was still in beta, and it showed. Brilliantly clear and the color of straw, this beer has only a hint of white head. The hop aroma is grassy, sharp, and green (the character of fresh, unkilned hops). The first thing I notice on the taste is that the body is pathetically thin and the beer entirely lacks malt flavor. There is a strong grassy hop taste, but this takes on the almost medicinal character of hop extract. Watery and thin, this beer is actually very unpleasant to drink.

To wash that taste out I had their Russian Imperial Stout. It is pitch black with a big pillow of tan head (that doesn’t quite last long enough). The nose is mild, earthy, and dry, with toast and a good amount of coffee. The roasty and robust flavor, strong with coffee (though not overpowering), is almost meaty. A light sweetness and plenty of carbonation activity keep this richly flavored beer from being oppressive. Sprightly, like Chris Farley.

+Sprecher Russian Imperial Stout

3.8 (4-7-8-4-15)

+Sprecher IPA²

3.3 (4-7-6-3-13)

+/-Sprecher Abbey Triple

2.8 (3-7-5-2-11)

+/-Sprecher Mai Bock

2.6 (3-7-4-2-10)

--Sprecher Hop on Top

1.5 (1-5-3-1-5)

New Milwaukee

Friday, June 26th, 2009

I just realized I forgot to post about my trip to Milwaukee two weeks ago. Too bad, because somehow (just as I did with the Rogue Ten Thousand Brew I got in Arizona) I lost the page of reviews I took at the Sprecher Brewery. Well, easy come, easy go. The brewery tour was good but the guide was a little misinformed. Maybe they’ll be kind enough to send me a case of beers and I’ll rerate them. I do have a bottle of the barleywine that I’m going to sit on for a little while.

Kyle directing beer flow.

Kyle directing beer flow.

I also visited the Silver Creek Brewpub in Cedarburg where my brewing school buddy Kyle works. They were doing an overnight brew of their Octoberfest. That was quite entertaining, if a little tiring after spending all day at the Locust Street Festival.

I’ve had a number of their beers (this time and before) but only remembered to write notes for one, the Imperial Maibock. I think I’ve made it clear that maibock is one of my favorite styles, plus you’ve gotta respect imperials, so I knew I was in for a treat.

Head brewer Steve checking the gravity.

Head brewer Steve checking the gravity.

This one pours a hazy golden amber color with some off-white head. The nose is delicate – toasty and dry with some hints of caramel. On the taste the spicy herbal hop character comes out, followed by some sweetness as caramel and toast. They’ve managed the great balance between the hops and malt that defines a maibock. It gives just a bit of a mouthcoating without being too cloying, the mark of a good imperial.

+Silver Creek Imperial Maibock

3.6 (3-6-8-4-15)

Capital Maibock

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009

Yes I’m a hophead, so the first time I was blown away by a malty beer it was an almost religious experience. That beer was a Capital Maibock several years ago. Let’s see what I think of it now…

Capital MaibockBrewed by the Capital Brewery in Madison, Wisconsin, a brewhouse well known for their highly acclaimed Blonde Doppelbock, the Maibock is traditionally the palest and hoppiest of the German bockbier pantheon. I meant to drink this a few days ago, when it was still May (or rather Mai). C’est la vie (or rather das ist Leben).

The Maibock is brilliantly clear with active carbonation. The color is a pale amber gold, bordering on straw. There is some near-white head, though it doesn’t last for long. The nose is relatively subtle, but preponderantly malty. Biscuits and light toast stand out, with a bit of fresh grains and hints of caramel. Through that I can detect just a bit of grassy hops.

The taste is immediately sweet but not unpleasantly so, a lingering malty sweetness. It is lively and refreshing, though I know it is over 6% alcohol. Reminds me of a sweet bread (challah?), but there is also the flavor of light caramel. Subtle. A delicate and pale beer such as this is quite a challenge to brew, so props to Capital. Leaves a complex lacing on the glass that I wouldn’t expect given the unimpressive initial head. All in all a solid, drinkable beer.

Now that spring is all but gone, it’s time to get tasting some summer beers.

+Capital Maibock

3.3 (3-6-7-4-13)