As I enter my third year of brewing (I started January 2010) and as I am finally starting all grain brewing I feel like its time to up my game. This series of “How’d You Brew That?” is all about just that. Upping my game, fine tuning my brewing methods, making new recipes, cloning classic beers, and trying to explain how I am brewing to make myself a better home brewer. The first beer? The Pepperrell Porter.

The Idea: I like to take a somewhat historical approach to my beers and try to tie in historical themes, if not traditional ingredients, into my beers (I’m a historian by day). This one is more on a traditional theme. I grew up in St. John’s, Newfoundland, and right near my house was an military base called Fort Pepperrell. It was set up by the Americans in WWII, back before Newfoundland joined confederation, as a first line of defence against Germany. Had the German’s won the Battle of Britain, Newfoundland would have been the first line of defence from a North American invasion.  To try to make a beer named after this American base in the middle of a then British colony I wanted to take a British style porter and smack it around with some more American influences on the hop bill and yeast.

The Recipe Design: This recipe started as a Founders Porter Clone that I started to shift around. It’s an amazing beer and the standard bearer for American-style Porters for me, so I didn’t want to deviate too much – just enough to make it my own. I altered the malt to the very English Maris Otter and adding some Biscuit Malt because I really like the biscuity character it gives beers, especially darker ones.

The Recipe:

8 lbs Maris Otter
1 lbs Munich Malt
1 lbs Chocolate Malt
1 lbs Carafoam
1 lbs Biscuit Malt
8 oz Crystal Malt (120L)
4 oz Black Patent Malt

Malts

0.75 oz Nugget (13.2 AA) @ 60 min
0.75 Willamette (4.0 AA) @ 20 min
0.75 Challenger (6.7 AA) @ 20 min
0.25 Challenger @ Flame Out
0.25 Willamette @ Flame Out

1 Package of Wyeast Northwest Ale Yeast

Specifications: The estimated original gravity should be 1.066. It should be near 40 IBU and ferment up to around 6%. Beer Smith tells me I’m a little high for the style (“robust porter”) on the color, but that’s fine with me.

Beer Smith 2′s estimations

The Brew: I’m using a pretty simple infusion mash method in a nice big mash pot. Here is how it went down last Saturday (January 12, 2012).

11:10, Set 15l of water in mash pot on burner (just an electric stove element). I waited for it to reach 168F (strike temp) with the expectation that I would drop to 156F for the 60 minute mash.

Keeping an eye on the strike water temperature.

12:00, Water is finally at 168F. Mash-in (slowly dump all the grain) at 168F. The temperature dropped to 156F, which is about where I wanted it to be for the mash.

Mashing-In

So much pretty grain.

While the mash was happening I set two sparge water pots (3.5l in a soup pot and 13l in an old brew pot) on high to heat to my sparge water to 168F.

Lots of pots!

12:40, Just checking in. The mash temperature was holding at 156F.

1:00, Time for the first batch sparge! Up until this point everything is has been pretty simple: add grain to water at a specific temperature and wait. Now I need to pull the wort off the grain and to do that I need to vorlauf. Basically, before I pour the wort into the boil kettle I need the grain bed to settle in the mash pot. To do this I pour the cloudy first runnings into a measuring cup and add them back to the kettle until the wort is clear.

Vorlauf!

Now the rest just goes into the boil kettle.

Making a bit of a mess…

Now that the grain bed in the mash pot is dry and settled, I can add my first batch sparge water.

Grain Bed, the best kind of bed

The method I’m using has two stages. One 3.5l (at 170F) addition of water where I stir up the grain bed once the water is added to break any clumps of grain or patches of stuck wort. After letting that rest of 10 minutes I vorlauf again and pour those runnings in the boil kettle. Then I hit it with the 13l of water (at 168) without disturbing the grain bed and let that rest for another 10 minutes. Once that is done I vorlauf one last time and add the last of that wort into the boil kettle.

Spent Grain

1:40, Second batch sparge complete. Collected approximately 26l in boil kettle and put in on heat to boil. In retrospect I should have gathered a little more wort here!

Boil Kettle “full” of Wort, could have got another inch in there for sure!

I keep a thermometer in my boil kettle just to let me know how close to the boil I am incase of any scary boil overs. It’s happened in the past!

Slowly coming to a boil…

2:42, Added .75 oz Nugget Hops (pellet, 13.2 AA). Set timer for 40 min for additions of Crystal and Willamette (.75 oz each @ 20 min) and some Irish Moss (1 tsp) at this time. Irish Moss is said to improve clarity and pull out protein. I don’t know if it actually helps or not, but I have it so I’m going to keep using it for now!

Not the most rolling boil ever, but it’ll do.

3:22, Added the 20 minute hops and put the wort chiller into the boiling wort to sterilize.

3:42-ish, Wort Chilling! I just have a homemade wort chiller – the pretty common copper pipe one – to cool down the wort.

Just chill out!

Finally, once to wort was cool enough (22C) I racked it down to the carboy. It didn’t take that long and sure beats the old put-the-pot-in-a-sink-of-ice-water method.

Racking to the carboy

And then I pitched the yeast! I just used a regular smack-pack (no starter) which I had smacked the night before. I might move on to starters someday, but not for this one!

Inflated

Finally, done! I put the airlock on and settled it away in the back of our office. Overall, it’s a little lower in volume and original gravity than I expected. I was hoping for 1.066, I ended up with 1.058.

Ready to go!

As you can see, it’s a little less than filling my 5 gallon carboy. Usually I’m a little more full.

The lessons: I might batch sparge a few minutes longer next time to give it slightly longer to pull off those sugars. Also, I’ll also be less afraid of filling my boil pot up higher as now I know that at the level of rolling boil I reach boil overs are not a big worry. Finally, I think for my next batch I’ll try way fewer speciality grains (7 grain types? what was I thinking?!) so I can get a better sense of my efficiently, which right now seems to be around 64% total. I think I can get that to 72% (which is ok-ish) for my next batch.

Pint!

While I wish this was a picture of the final product, instead it’s a wonderful pint of Sawdust City’s “Skinny Dipping Stout” that I got at Grapefruit Moon after the brew. A well deserved pint!

Suggestions?: Any ideas on how I should improve my efficiently? Tips on making my setup better? Ideas on ways to tweak this recipe? Let me know! I’ll be updating the blog on how the beer develops, so keep in touch!

As I review so of my untapp’d check-in’s I see that I drank a lot of Amsterdam’s Boneshaker, Junction Craft Brewing’s Junction Conductor, and, as always, Quidi Vidi’s 1892. I had the chance to drink some really world class beers in the last year too, including Pliny the Elder, Westvleteren 12, Founders Breakfast Stout, Dogfishhead 120, Three Philosophers, Bell’s Two Hearted, Allagash Curieux, Lou Pepe Kriek (2007), Craftsman Brewing’s Angelino Weisse, and various Stone beers. To someone used to American craft brewing, this is a pretty tame hit list, but for a guy who spent most of his life in Newfoundland, it’s a whole new world. Oh, and I also got to try some amazing beers at Bellwoods, Bar Volo, Indie Ale House, Junction Conductor, Liberty Village Brewing and I survived my second Cask Days Experience (though almost didn’t survive my first IPA challenge experience)!

As big as 2012 was for my beer drinking, it was less exciting for my homebrewing. I only got three batches out. I had the very-in-need-of-work “Newfoundland Breakfast Stout,” the educational “C5″ (single hop, overhopped Cascade Pale Ale), and my tasty clone of Saison DuPont. I managed to put up a couple of collaborations, one with my friend Chad (a super hopped IPA) and one with my fried Colin (a fairly successful attempt at a Chocolate Clementine Stout). As homebrewing goes, however, this is nowhere near enough.

So, my New Year’s Resolution is, now that I’ve got Ontario under control, to be less vigilant about getting new beers and to up my homebrew game. I’m going all grain and – as for this blog – I’m also going to be trying to blog about my brewing and keep track of my brewing notes here as I tweak my recipes and techniques. My goal is to turn out a batch a month. This means to keep with my bottle limit (in a small apartment!) I need to drink more homebrew and less commercial beers. My hope is that this will make this blog more active, as I will try to make every beer that is not homebrew something that I can sit down and make some notes on.

That’s the hope anyway! Here is to more beer blogging and better beer brewing! Cheers.

By: Lakes Of Muskoka Cottage Brewery (Ontario, Canada).
Style: Imperial IPA (DIPA)

Bottle poured into a Bellwoods snifter. I bought the bottle two weeks ago at the Beer Store, before they hit the LCBO shelves.

Appearance: It’s a very clear orange-hued amber. Light off-white, broken head.

Smell: Earlier this year I was in Southern California for a week and while there I drank about two world class double IPAs a day, much to the protest of my liver. So the first thing this beer smells like to me is California. I digress. The first thing is a pineapple and tropical fruit mix (I always say mango) from the hops, but after that it’s really malt-driven with a light toffee sweetness. A little pinecone, like the normal Mad Tom, is there too.

Taste: Rich piny hops on the start, followed by some of those more fruity pineapple and mango west coast hops. I get that familiar honey sweetness with a little caramel in the very formidable malt body. The bitterness leaves a little light for me. I almost feel like the regular Mad Tom’s got a richer grapefruit bitterness. This bitterness is a little more smooth, with just a little hint of coppery-ness.

Mouthfeel: Fairly low carbonation with a very rich and thick body. There is very little heat on the beer too.

Overall: I really enjoy this beer. My only fault with it is that I would like a little more bitterness, because, as it stands, the regular Mad Tom seems a little more aggressive in that department. Aside from that minor quibble, this beer is outstanding. It’s got that great hop-forward aroma with a strong, thick, malt-driven body. As far as DIPAs go, this is right on the money. A beer Ontario can point to without saying that “it’s really good… for Ontario.” It’s just really very good.

—

Afterthought: In the “Smell” section I mentioned a DIPA binge in Southern California in February, 2012. After I came home from that I did sit down with a Mad Tom (just off the plane) and wrote a review of it while still in IPA shock (click here for the review). Overall I said “Maybe if there was a double Mad Tom (Crazy Tom? Committed Tom?) where the tastes could be ramped up beyond what might be expected in Ontario this might help bump this “good” beer into the “exceptional” category.” Now I’m drinking this beer, which I think is exceptional, so I’d like to thank Muskoka Brewery for making my little wish come true (though certainly not because of me!).

This summer has been really exciting for new beers in Toronto. As much as I love one-offs and hard-to-find cask offerings, I really, really like being able to tell people I like a beer without having to say that they have to drive for two hours to pick it up or that they’ll have to wait until next year and hope to hit a bar that’s lucky enough to get distribution. As much fun as bar hopping for limited releases is, it’s nice to tell people that the beer you are drinking isn’t some rarity they’ve never heard of (yah I’m drinking this new beer, yah, you’ve probably never heard of it) and that it’s at most local LCBOs. So this summer, for me, has been filled with great beers that I can finally take home.

It’s no secret I’ve been drinking the Augusta Ale quite a bit. The cans are great looking and it’s reasonably priced. So, let me try to break down why I’ve been drinking so much of it.

Appearance: It’s a little dark for a pale ale, almost a light amber. It’s clear, with a thin pale head.

Aroma: Some citrusy, crisp hops (think lemon) and then a fair amount of malt sweetness, a little caramel and some toasted grain.

Taste: Off the front I’m getting some of those aroma hops providing a refreshing, light citrus. Following that it hits me with a maltiness that I really like, a little light caramel sweetness and some bready notes. Being a bit critical I might say I’m getting a little sugary note in the malt taste that reminds me a bit of homebrew – very good homebrew – but homebrew none the less. The bitterness at the end, however, is very, very carefully balanced. It’s a little earthy and a little coppery without betraying the early lightness and malt sweetness.

Mouthfeel: Medium carbonation with a medium body. A tiny bit of alcohol burn, which is pleasant with the balanced hoppy bite.

Overall: This is a really refreshing and well balanced beer. For me, someone who usually drinks the biggest, meanest IPA he can easily find (Mad Tom and Boneshaker in the GTA), this is the kind of beer that I’d easily throw into the rotation as a lighter alternative. That being said, because it’s an exercise in balance between aroma, bitterness, and maltiness, it’d be both a great food beer (perhaps with a burger or smoked meat sandwich, but wherever could you get those near Kensington Market?) and a great beer for easing people into craft beer.

If I were to have any criticism, I might debate the American Pale Ale categorization. With the maltiness and balanced hops I’d be happier calling it an American Amber Ale (Augusta American Amber Ale – Quadruple A? It’s better than AA or Tipple A!), but that’s a silly minor qualm and, since the can doesn’t really say the style, I can’t really even hold that over them (though most rating websites list it as an APA).

Overall this is a distinct new ale in the Ontario scene. And, because it comes in a single can, I suspect it’s going to be another “beer tax” beer. Meaning that, like the Mad Tom can, I’ll likely pick one up every time I see one when I’m at the LCBO.

Bottle into my trusty tulip-type glass.

Appearance: A cloudy ruby-brown with a creamy, loose head.

Aroma: Toffee, molasses, and other malty sweet kinds of smells. Some yeastiness like the smell inside a bag of dark bread.

Taste: An assertive punch of toffee and somewhat dry grains. A little bitterness, but nothing too aggressive. It’s a little sweet, so I can see how riflemen might have upped their ration by adding molasses to their version of a growler and let it continue fermenting without it spoiling the taste of the beer.

Mouthfeel: It’s around medium body with very low carbonation. It feels like drinking a cask beer, which is good since that’s what they were aiming for!

Overall: When people think about historic beers (or when I do at least), I often think of Dogfishhead’s historic beer programme and beers that are big, exciting, and different (for better or for worse). This is not a really polarizing beer like those tend to be. It’s a very solid English Brown Ale, it would be great on cask. I’d say give it a try!

Style: Herbed / Spiced Beer (5.00% ABV)

Bomber bottle into a tulip.

Appearance: Light copper-orange with a creamy, thick white head.

Aroma: Pickled ginger (like the kind you get at most standard sushi places), a little bit of lemon citrus, and some sugary sweetness.

Taste: A big punch of ginger, similar to the really spicy, non-alcoholic Jamaican ginger beer that is available at most Canadian grocery stores (Lablaws, etc.), there is a pronounced, almost lemon zest, sweetness and then a really satisfying heat from the ginger. There is a little earthiness in here too to bring down these highly assertive flavours, plus a little sweetness, but overall the taste is profoundly and pungently of really hot, fresh ginger.

Mouthfeel: A light-medium carbonation and a light body. The linger ginger heat (it’s not alcohol heat) might be a little intense at first (as the rich bitterness of hops might be if you are unfamiliar with American IPAs) which makes it a little less then pleasant at first, but as I got into it the heat became refreshing. It’s perhaps an acquired feeling!

Overall: I’ve had three types of ginger beer that seem to keep popping up in the craft beer world. The first is a light gingery, “ginger ale” type beer that hits the ginger taste in the aroma but then progresses to a more standard ale taste. The second is a really pungent pickled ginger style ginger beer (I had this at a now closed Montreal Brewpub, Sargent Recruiter) which is, again, lacking that heat, and almost sickly after a while (a little clump of picked ginger is great, but eating the whole jar?). The third is this kind, the way that classic Jamaican-style ginger beer tastes. Big, punchy, a slight smell of pickled ginger but with the overwhelming heat and assertive acidic punch fresh ginger. At only 5% ABV this is a great beer that will help you beat the heat in the way only a good curry can. I could see this ginger heat growing on me as the weather heat continues to rise…

Every time a new Quidi Vidi seasonal comes out I get super excited. The new seasonal beer program, which for years only consisted of the Christmas release “Mummers Brew,” has really blossomed this year. First the excellent Quidi Vidi British IPA and now the new Continental Pilsener.

Ok, I’ll admit, I was super excited about the IPA. Being outside of Newfoundland’s craft beer culture for the last year and becoming embedded in its bigger brother’s scene on the mainland has really made me want a hoppy beer on the island. In Toronto, for example, there are five or more regular IPA offerings, with more being made as one-offs and seasonal offerings. There are events when super-hoppy West Coast IPAs are played off in a bracketed competition, crowning one king among 36 competitors. And that’s slow compared to the homeland of the hoppy beers, the United States.

Having that excitement over the British IPA, the only hoppy beer in Newfoundland for its short tenure, the thought of a Pilsner was a bit of a thud. The back wall of the NLC is filled with German and Czech Pilseners. Newfoundlanders love them, but putting another one in the mix seemed like an odd choice for me. Why not a popular North American craft style that isn’t represented here (Saison, Wheat, Belgian Pale Ale, Stout, Porter, West Coast IPA, East Coast IPA, or even a dark)? I had mixed emotions as I poured my first Continental Pilsner, I’ll admit.

That being said, I judge beers to their style not to my emotions about the need for hop-forward beers in Newfoundland!

Appearance: It’s a deep golden colour with a loose creamy white head. Lots of large bubbles with an amazingly perfect clarity.

Smell: I get the sweet grain that is present in a lot of Quidi Vidi beers with a very nice floral spiciness.

Taste: The first taste is the rich maltiness, it’s definitely got the complexity of an old world Pilsner rather than the more one-note typical North American lager or the much richer, but less subtle, malt of North American craft lagers. There is a strong spicy component (think white pepper) from what I suspect are Czech Saaz hops. The spiciness then rolls into a rich rewarding bitterness which perhaps lingers slightly too long, but for my tastes it’s perfect. A minor diacetyl note is present (think buttery), but it’s restrained, which is acceptable in this style of beer.

Mouthfeel: The diacetyl helps make the body feel heaver, but it’s still medium bodied with a lively medium carbonation.

Overall: A punchy, refreshing Bohemian pilsner. The spice and the complex malts make it a strong contender for pairing with food and the crisp, dry finish and assertive hop bitterness make it perfectly refreshing on its own. I questioned the notion of adding another Pilsner to the Newfoundland beer scene, but really, this is a hard beer to fault. The closest beer I can think of to matching this one is Pilsner Urquell (which is a classic in this particular style), but honestly, I’d prefer this one. This is an great craft Pilsner which remains true to its European roots while still being interesting and bringing Quidi Vidi’s local style into the overall flavour. With the kind of brewing chops exhibited in this beer, I’m excited to see what happens when Quidi Vidi start going outside their comfort zone and into some of the styles and heavy hop flavour that are all the rage on the other beer “Continent.”

I finally got my hands on a can of Ontario’s newest IPA, Hops and Robbers Extra Delicious IPA by Double Trouble brewing. From what I understand (and from reading their website) they are a young but ambitious contract brewery who have their eyes on cross-Canada distribution (perhaps with the brew being contracted in different breweries in different provinces). For now, and for the can I have in front of me, they are brewed out of the Wellington Brewery in Guelph. I’ve had this beer before on tap at Burger Bar, but I’m interested to see what the full production release tastes like.

The can I have tells me (in small dark letters on a dark background – can’t this be more legible?) that it’s best before November 2012. I’ve picked up a can as soon as I could to ensure freshness, but with the hype around this beer I had to go across town to an LCBO that had some in stock! Poured into my Quidi Vidi Brewing glass because they need some love too.

Appearance: It’s a light coppery colour, almost amber, with a nice light, white head. The head has stuck around for a while too and with lots of little bubbles rising up from the bottom of the glass. It’s a very inviting looking beer.

Aroma: They say it’s fruity with a hint of pineapple and maybe it’s the power of suggestion, but I’m definitely getting a pineapple note (have you ever had pineapple Crush? it’s giving me a pineapple Crush vibe). It’s got a very sweet malt hit with some strong grain smells (it almost has that brewery smell on mash day). Overall, the aroma is mildly hoppy, I can’t pick up any noticeable pine or resinous notes or any really big tropical fruit flavours either.

Taste: Ok, first off, they call this “Canada’s most sessionable IPA” so I’m not expecting to be hit over the head with lots of flavour. That being said, it does have that west coast hopping which is more than enough to count it as American for me. The opening is mildly hoppy, with some notes of pineapple and slight tropical fruit and, as it transitions into the middle of the taste, I get a little mango-type sweetness when the hops and the malt meet. The malt is quite sweet, almost, surprisingly, like a Quidi Vidi beer. The finish is richly bitter, not quite grapefruit or resinous, but still hinting at that tropical note.

Mouthfeel: It’s got a medium carbonation and fairly light weight, which is good for something you might want to drink a few cans of. It’s real merit here is the very dry finish which makes it something that you will want to drink a few can of and ideal for pairing with food.

Overall: This is a welcome beer to the Ontario craft scene (and the craft scene in Canada) because it is a very mild-IPA which can either serve as a session beer or a gateway to the craft world (and hops in general) to a wider audience. It’s not really stepping on the toes of other IPAs, which is a feat in a fairly IPA heavy Ontario market. The fruity pineapple, sweet malt, generous bitter, and strong dry finish are a great combination. Once distribution stabilizes and I can session this beer (without lugging them across town) I’m sure going to give it a try.

What I’m really exited about with this beer (and with this company) is that they seem to want to push production into places which don’t have wider access to, or selection of, American IPAs or IPAs at all. In downtown Toronto when I can skip over to Volo for one-off IPAs from five or six breweries this might be a hard sell as anyones favourite IPA (though should easily make it into the fridge rotation of even IPA fanatics like myself), but in more isolated areas this might be a godsend. In particular, if this EVER came to Newfoundland (which has only had one IPA, Quidi Vidi’s British IPA, in the last fifty years – and that’s including imports – you just can’t get anything with hops there) I would be a happy man for my family and friends. I promise, I will remember the brewery that brings the first hoppy beer to Newfoundland and owe them for the rest of my life.

Ok, I’m bad at German style beers. Weiss, Dopplebocks, and even German lagers, are my weak spot. So I’m going to try this one out and see how it goes. It’s a learning experience!

Appearance: A hazy chocolate or iced-coffee brown with a light foamy, off-white head. Be sure to get all that tasty yeast into the glass! Nice bottle presentation too with the strong purple and gold label.

Smell: Banana and clove, some caramel and sweet almond (like a slight hit of almond extract). A little vanilla, like in a good bourbon.

Taste: Chocolate, banana and sweet caramel are the prominent flavours on the first sip. Those can be really heavy flavours, but the beer remains very clean (more like a wheat beer and less like something heavy like a stout that might share those flavours). There are lots of little notes of things (some rum butteriness? some bourbon vanilla?) which take some time to unravel and require several, several sips. It’s a very understated beer, but it’s got a lot to offer. It’s one of those beers that you could spend the whole time looking for different flavour combinations and have a good time doing it – but, it’s also the kind of beer that offers a great easy set of flavours to match with food or relaxation.

Mouthfeel: Crisp carbonation the second it hits your tongue, but after that it’s very smooth and creamy. The burn from the alcohol is a little out of balance, slightly too strong, but aside from that it’s great. As you drink the alcohol burn feels less out of balance.

Overall: A beer with a lot to offer. Its a classic for a reason. There is no reason not to try this beer if you can easily find it. It’s even something to look for if it’s not in your area. Very refreshing but also complex. Great, great, great.

Bog myrtle is one of those classic beer components use in gruit, an ancient mix of herbs and spices which was used to flavour beer before the preservative character of hops were discovered. (On that note, how to beers say that have no preservatives when hops were first introduced to beers AS a preservative?) The exact composition of gruit is unknown, but the bog myrtle component is pretty well documented. It tends to give beers a herbal note which I think of as somewhere between modern soda root beer and cola (Coke, not Pepsi).

Tonight, the Ebulrum Elderberry Black Ale! It’s brewed (using a recipe “taken from a 16th century record of domestic drinking in the Scottish Highlands”) with Welsh introduced Elderberries. It also has roasted oats and barley and, my favourite addition, bog myrtle.

By:  Williams Brothers Brewing Company, United Kingdom (Scotland)

Style: Scottish Gruit / Ancient Herbed Ale | 6.50% ABV

Bottle best before May 2013, poured into a tulip glass.

Appearance: It’s a black ale, but on the lighter side of black. It’s clear, so around the edges some ruby caramel colour (almost like a cola) can be detected. The head was quick to dissipate into a slight ring around the sides.

Smell: I’m getting some sweetness, a lot of dark fruit (more like the dark fruit notes from a wine), some vanilla and lots of roasted malt.

Taste: The sweetness comes first. Somewhat like brown sugar, roasted grains, and a little chocolate and coffee. After that there is a notable bog myrtle, herbal note, something almost like vanilla coke. The elderberry is a slight note somewhere in the middle. Almost like a dried cranberry taste which rounds out the body. The finish is slightly bitter, but the dry myrtle is more pungent than the hops, leaving a pleasant dry sensation.

Mouthfeel: Light carbonation and fairly light bodied. I get some of the softness from the oat component, but it’s a little underwhelming in this department. Very little in the way of alcohol burn for a 6.5% beer, the myrtle seems to hold over here too.

Overall: I’d take this beer over many standard dark/black craft ales any day, but it has some flaws. There is a lot going on the the flavour that I love (I’m a myrtle junkie), but the appearance and the mouthfeel are just underwhelming. I’d drink this everyday if it wasn’t something that was so hard to find. As hard-to-find beers go, however, unless you need a hit of myrtle or want to try something a little different, this might not hit the spot.