Kelpie Ale, by Williams Brothers Brewery, is a beast of an Ale, in name and flavor.  No, I'm not joking...as cute as "Kelpie" sounds and as wimpy as 4.4% ABV may seem, sometimes there's more than meets the eye.  The beer, based of historic Scottish ales that were brewed on the coast using malts that had been grown in fields fertilized with seaweed.  Williams Brothers Brewery add seaweed to the Kelpie recipe in the mash to simulate the historic ales. So how is this beer a beast? The term "kelpie" actually is derived from a mythological creature of Celtic folklore--a monster--said to haunt the rivers and locks of Scotland.  The mythological Kelpie was said to lure victims (it favored children) into the water where it would drown and then devour them.  Yikes!  At 4.4% ABV there's little chance that consuming a couple bottles of Kelpie Ale will be so cruel to you. So how does the beast reveal itself in the drinking experience? There are few beers that REALLY intrigue me prior to drinking.  No matter how crazy a name a brewery decides to name its pale ale, I usually cannot muster up any intrigue...I mean...it's a pale ale, hardly a white buffalo.  But ...

Many of my fellow writers have already posted that we should be expecting Brew Dog's Tactical Nuclear Penguin to hit shelves in the U.S. very soon.  Trust me, getting the beer this way is much cheaper.  The price of buying from overseas and the shipping to do so are pretty hefty.  But actually, I'm not writing about the arrival of the beer so much as I'm writing about something else. I was sent this video link by someone from Newsy with the note that I might benefit from covering the story.  Newsy covered the story of TNP hitting the shelves in the U.S. and thought about some of the stuff that was said in that video (of course, we've covered it a couple times from other angles).  That is the topic about which I wish to expand. Note the immediate shock (or is it incredulity?) in the voice of the Fox narrator when he says that the beer is 32% ABV.  He goes on to mention that it is 6 times stronger than "regular domestic brands"...already the first assumption has been unveiled.  Looks like we're going to see a craft beer measured against a presumed normalcy, which will be the big boys. ...

Even though they knew I was beating their strongest beers, Brew Dog still sent me the beer I ordered.  I just wanted to show you a pic of what I got in the mail today.

I suppose it is only human nature to want to outdo your neighbor, at least in a survival of the fittest mentality.  However, in this world capitalist economy we lose our way.  Case in point, within seconds of my father putting his mower away his next door neighbor hastily makes sure to remove his retired self from the lazy boy and mow his pristine yard.  Heaven forbid his yard not be the best trimmed in the neighborhood, if even for a moment.  I love visiting every summer just to observe this asinine behavior. Of course, a beer analogy ensues. In 2002 Samuel Adams wowed the world with it's release of a monster of a beer, Utopias, which boasted an ABV of 27%.  Go ahead and search around online for it.  A quick google search revealed a several year old bottle for $599.99.  Sam Adam's spends years making this beverage, aging it in used liquor barrels. Sam Adam's inadvertently started the big beer race, and it seems to have picked up speed in recent months.  First off, let me state that there is an overwhelming trend of bigger beers.  It seems the higher the ABV, the more interest a beer generates.  Remember The Bruery?  ...

It's rare that I jump into the fray on "hot news" where the blogosphere is concerned.  Put simply, everything that needs to be said has generally already been said on a given topic.  However, certain writing will occasionally raise my ire to such a degree that it simply merits a response.  So, I'll capitulate from being ensconced in my ivory tower by coming down and opening myself to critical comments by defending a craft brewer.  Who would of thought anyone would actually have to do that? As you have no doubt heard, BrewDog has now made the world's strongest beer at 32% ABV.  Of course, if naysayers would have it, it's not technically beer at all.  More on that in a moment.  My real problem is not with intelligent dialogue on the topic, it is with dismissive and percile logic used on posts like the one that has elicited my response. The amount of assumptions and lack of thorough intelligence is singularly lopsided as far as this gent is concerned.  Roger Protz is apparently the world's leading beer authority and a very intelligent fellow, but what he wrote will not do and is not enough to convince anybody who is not already of his disposition. ...

It has been emphasized to the point of redundancy on this site, that beer is more than just a beverage, a thirst quencher, or mood enhancer:  It is an experience.  At times, this experience invades every part of our lives.  We think about beer, we dream about beer, we brew beer.  Beer even makes my least favorite activity--shopping--enjoyable.  I could spend hours in the beer aisles reading every label.  I daresay the history on the back of beer labels in my beer store is more in depth and insightful than my sister's high school history book.  It was the label that drew me in for a purchase as I read the back of the Scottish beer, Fraoch Heather Ale.  From the website: Brewed in Scotland since 2000 B.C. heather ale is probably the oldest style of ale still produced in the world. From an ancient Gaelic recipe for "leann fraoich" (heather ale) it has been revived and reintroduced to the Scottish culture. Into the boiling bree of malted barley, sweet gale and flowering heather are added, then after cooling slightly the hot ale is poured into a vat of fresh heather flowers where it infuses for an hour before being fermented. A light ...

What's in a name?  I don't know if Shakespeare was right when he said, "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."  SkullSplitter would be a good smelling, tasting, and sipping beer.  But something inexplicable tells me that I wouldn't love it as much if the name were different.  Sometimes an appellation can be the perfecting touch on a beer (or numerous things for that matter).  Quick, what's a better name for a hamburger, Homer Simpson, or "roar" for a loud noise.  Having trouble?  I am!  It's not simply what the beer is but also what it will do that makes it's name great.  Don't drink all four in the pack in a short period of time.  Onward to the beer. The Pour: SkullSplitter is a brown beer with touches of red.  Wouldn't it be cool if it were blood color? There is a nice but not too long-lasting head, which is okay by me. The Nose: There was a juicy, slight melon quality that I could detect on the nose of the beer.  It had a nice vinous (wine-like) quality from the 8.5% ABV present.  Some coffee tones were also notable in the body.  I even caught a touch ...

It's been a while since the last style series post, but I am going to keep it up.  The last types of styles that I drew one were various English Ales and Pale/India Pale Ales, so I'm going to keep it close to area.  Scottish Ales are the next to be tackled. In some ways, Scottish Ales are sort of like English Mild Ales in that they lack hop bitterness, flavor, and aroma.  Yet they are often stronger than their English counter-parts, both in alcohol and malts.  You can often see Scottish Ales under the following designations: light, heavy, export and wee heavy.  These will also be seen as 60, 70, 80 and 90 shilling ales. Unlike America, many beer brewing nations pay the amount of tax on beer based on how much alcohol is in the beer (in the U.S. it is a flat rate per volume, per barrel).  This last fact goes on to explain why the nomenclature of 60, 70, 80 and 90 shillings factors into the price and strength of these beers, 60 being the weakest and 90 being very strong.  Extra tax means extra cost.  But what makes Scottish Ales stick out? In my observation, they are a lot like many ...

As I've mentioned before, hops were not always king when it came to bittering or flavoring a beer.  So, when the William's Brothers Brewing Company made their "Historic Ales" collection, it was not "historic" in the first-time sense of the word.  It was a blast from the past.  I had actually had all but this one of the five, so I was excited to try it.  Here follows an account of drinking this beer. A light golden and very active body was immediately evident when I poured the beer.  There was also a very stable head, which I'm sure was kept up by the very bubbly Ale.  Although it is a wheat Ale, and they describe it as being hazy, it was pretty clear at room temp (which is how I drink most beers).  Nose-wise, Grozet was malty and almost lagerish in its aroma, while having a slight metallic aroma (and taste).  The aroma of Gooseberries was present but not overpowering.  Spicy hops aromas were also present in the smell. Gooseberries were present in the taste of the beer, but once again, not overpowering.  There was a very slight alcohol quality that could be tasted along with a clovish hint provided by the fact ...

Well, lads and lassies, this was not a "normal" Scottish Ale.  I'm used to Scottish ales being more assertive and malty.  Generally, there is also a higher alcohol in a lot of beer that we get here in the U.S of A.  My main goal for a Scottish ale is for it to get me hiking up my kilt after two or three of 'em.  Okay! time to be serious. Although the beer is only 4% ABV, don't let that fool you.  It is far fuller than many a beer (especially of the commercial variety).  When I poured my beer into the glass, I noted its deep reddish-brown color.  It smacked of a lovely lassie's hair.  Gorgeous in the glass.  There was a light brown and creamy, long-lasting head on the brew.  It was fairly spritzy and active as I looked at it in the glass.  The aesthetics of the ale were very nice. When I sniffed this concoction, I noted a hoppy aroma.  It was flowery in its hoppy aspects.  The hops were not overpowering in that I also noted a dry malty and metallic odor in the beer.  Also noticeable in the beer was the yeast aroma and a hint of fruits (maybe cherries, which was touched upon in the ...