Dark Beer Benefits

I've spent the month imbibing dark beer like religion as my beard grew. Now higher, generally speaking, in calories is the only draw back I can see in dark beers (but you'll survive longer!). As a matter of fact I just had 2 of them now I'm having a tripel to cleanse the palate;) Now oddly enough beer in general is good for you in moderation with pales and darks differing yet in categories. Silicon, which promotes bone strength is found higher in pale beers (hence my tripel). However, dark beers provide B vitamins like most styles, and higher levels of iron, due mainly to malt and hops used. I need not explain to anyone how important Fe & H2O are to mammals. In a study of canines with narrow arteries, only the dark beer group had less coagulation properties than the pale beer group with the same average arterial narrowing. For every 100mls of dark beer you're also getting 1gm of soluble fiber. We all need more sleep to push Mg+2 out of our neurons to allow for better memory lay down. Well dark beer has lactoflavin and nicotinic acid (beware this is a vasodilator hence BP drops resulting in tachycardia) that promotes sleep. If you're having 2 brews and you're butt naked in the tundra, pick a light lager, you'll be warmer longer before you loose your toes. Otherwise, Dark Beer is like E.T.,...Friend. (do your own youtube look up)

Brew Batch #69 The G-Man

Into the keg and SOME bottles. The color for this one is superb, I'll hold taste reservation until I grab some Friday. FG 1.004+ 0.000@ 63F to give 5.78%. The nose is good, but if I blow through this one I've promised myself to do it again with spices on the cold side of fermentation. The whole purpose of this beer was not only to keep the Christmas spice beer seasonal thing going but to come up with a solid sweet brown ale recipe that could be altered to suit future needs. Rules for engagement on the limited edition bottles are as follows. Only those partaking of a draft pint may have bottles. This allows me to have about 3 gallons on tap and still move inventory which allows for better tap rotation. Drink up, drink up, as fast as you can.

Our Tastes-- DB Schwartz Bier

I've hammered away at Reinke's inventories this month both kegged and bottles and as I bottled/kegged Gman, I had to sip something differently dark . Schwartz Bier by Devil's Backbone poured up a head and nose of attention getting roasted cereal. I'm pretty sure my mouth watered like some mad Labrador. The taste on this brew was complex and smooth, perhaps the smoothest schwartz I've had. The body was medium and dangerously quaffable, I put it right up there with Jack the Quaffer porter. I've noticed DB's malt bills tend to be a little more complex than other breweries, but then again their medal tally is as well. This one touts Carafa 2, Dark Munich, Melanoidin, Cara-Red and Pilsner malts, then hopped with Northern Brewer and Saaz. I'm not sure which malt lends the hint of sweetness, but it balances great with the Dark Munich and pilsner to give a fantastic slightly sugary roast. At 5.1% this is a great dark winter brew. Coincidentally, DB i snow available in NashVegas. Gotta find me a beer mule up there;)

Stout Month

Back in the day, I committed myself to a different brew in the month of October to push the palate. Redeeming this notion, I'll be having one stout a day for the month of "No Shave". Unless otherwise stated here, Earth may assume it's inventories of Reinke's (2005 ca. to 2014). However, Junk threw me some stout mouth bait not too long ago and today the beast is biting. From the Sooner Nation and a new brewery to me, I'm sipping Prairie Artisan Ales Limo Tint. Now a lot of good things came out of Oklahoma, and at first pour this opacity with it's pronounced nose of velvety cocoa nibs and slightly toasted malts seemed to be one of them. Then the head dissipated faster than a regular coca cola. Oh where, oh where had my little brown head gone. Carbonation was still there but in the same way it is for Miller High Life. The taste has all the right properties of a great milk stout aged over chocolate like the label says but the body is thin and the carbonation lends a touch of metal. Don't get me wrong the label was enough to get me through the pint, but I'd like to see Krebs Brewing put a little more grist and lactose in this one. Funny, Krebs is also a well known cycle that gives aerobes ATP. I guess I could live off of this, if say other milk stouts weren't available.