Kukumerla

"Kukumerla is an odd name."  So say the brewers.  To say that it is an odd name is to simply note the obvious.  If one were to go beyond the obvious, there is much more to explore.  The word "Kukumerla" is inspired by a legend known as the "Days of the Blackbird" or the "dead of winter."

The legend unfolded during the coldest days of the year.  The air was so cold that sources that all of the denizens, including the birds, struggled to find heat.  Some of the birds were able to huddle on the top of chimneys of the local buildings.  Those birds basked in the heat which came from the fires tended by the townsfolk in their fireplaces.  However, as the birds warmed themsleves, the soot from the smoke turned their feathers black.  From that day foreward, the birds became black birds.

The legend comes from the city of Chieri, which is the home of Birrifico Grado Plato.  I first encountered Grado Plato at an Italian craft beer tasting.  The beer was the Strado San Felice.  The beer piqued my interest and I looked out for more of their offerings. That is how I found the Kukumerla.

The beer is Birrificio Grado Plato's take on an English barleywine. An English barleywine -- as opposed to an American barleywine -- is malt first, hops second.  (An American barleywine is the opposite). As such, both the aromas and the taste should feature elements of bread, biscuit, toast and caramel.  

The Kukumerla fits itself nicely within the style of an English barleywine.  The beer pours a reddish brown in color.  The brownish hues show through in the right light, allowing for a little redness along the edges.  The aroma is full of sweet raisins, caramel, toffee and Belgian candy.  There is no hint of any hops in the aromatic profile of this beer.  The hops are also absent from the taste.  The elements are malt driven, with ripe fruit such as raisins and plums, joined by caramel and a little molasses.  In the end, this beer is one of the sweetest examples of an English barleywine that I have tried.  The sweetness was a lot, but not too much, as it did not turn me off from the beer. 

The brewers suggest that the beer is best enjoyed with traditional Christmas cakes, dried fruits, nougat, Madernasse baked pears or stewed apples, sweetened with sugar.  The suggestions clearly play on the sweetness of the beer.

This beer is available at craft beer stores with a large international selection.  A bottle sells for about $17.99 to $19.99.

ENJOY!

A Freudian Slip

The year was 1901 and pen was put to paper.  The writer was recording and analyzing a substantial number of what seemed to be trivial, bizarre, or nonsensical errors and slips.  An intended word spoken.  A thought substituted with a completely different one.  The writer was puzzled by the origin of those mistakes and made it his goal to analyze how those errors occurred.  The result was Sigmund Freund's The Psychopathy of Everyday Life.  It is also the origin of what would be come known as "Freudian slips."

A "Freudian slip" is described as an error in speech, memory or conduct that occurs because of some unconscious, subdued wish, conflict, or train of thought guided by the super-ego and the rules of correct behavior.  More than a century later, it is also the description of a barleywine produced by Evil Twin Brewing.  And, the mind behind Evil Twin is Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø, who is the brother of Mikkel Borg Bergsø, the brewer of Mikkeller fame.

Like his brother, Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø is what is commonly referred to as a "gypsy brewer."  He does not have his own brick and mortar brewery.   Instead, he travels from brewery to brewery, utilizing their equipment to produce his beers. 

For the Freudian Slip, Bjergsø found himself at Westbrook Brewing, in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.  The Freudian Slip is a barleywine and, according to what I could find, it is often classified as an American barleywine.  The American style tends to place greater emphasis on hops in both the aroma and flavor of the beer.  By contrast, an English barleywine is much more malt-centric, relying upon bready or biscuity elements of different malts to enhance the aroma and flavor.

For me, the Freudian Slip seemed to swing back and forth between the English style than the American style.   Before I explain why, I should note that the Freudian Slip poured like both barleywines, a dark amber color with a nice, thick, off-white foam.  The aroma of the beer does suggest hops, which swings the pendulum toward the American style, but there is also a traditional, malty aroma as well, which swings back toward the English style.  A nice caramel, sugar aromatic element wraps both hop and malt aromas together.  As for the taste, this beer definitely has a boozy element front and center.  (After all, it has an ABV of 10.3%.)  There are also dark caramel and toffee elements in the flavor of the beer, which are joined by some dark fruits, like raisins or prunes.  As for hops and malts, the barleywine provides an even balance between the two in the taste of the beer.  With some sips, I could sense the hops used to produce the beer, while in other sips, the bready flavors of the malts shone through. 

I have tried many American and English barleywines, and, in my mind, this is one of a few that is able to bridge between the two styles.  It is available in large twenty-two ounce bottles.  It sells for about $14.99 a bottle.  

ENJOY!

Almond '22 Torbata

When one thinks of beer in Italy, the usual suspects are two ... Peroni and Moretti.  No one would usually associate Italy with the craft beer movement, but there is are quite a few craft brewers there and they produce some really unique beers.  A couple of years ago, Clare and I went to a beer tasting at the National Geographic Museum.  The beer tasting focused on Italian craft beers.  We were introduced to beers from breweries such as Birra Baladin and Birrificio del Ducato.  The one thing that tied all these beers together is the realization that the Italians will brew beer with almost anything.

After that beer tasting, I kept an eye out for any Italian craft that  beers I could find.  One such brewer is Birra Almond '22, a brewery in Abruzzo, Italy.  The brewery takes its name from the fact that it is housed in a building that was used to shell almonds back in the early twentieth century.

The beer is brewed in the style of an English barleywine as opposed to an American barleywine (yes, there are two styles of barleywines).  An English barleywine is a very strong beer, with a malty flavor that may also carry tones of caramel, coffee, molasses, etc.  This style also has a hoppy flavor, from the use of only English hops (such as East Kent Goldings or Fuggles).  English barleywines generally use less hops than American barleywines.

Almond '22 brews this beer with chestnut honey and orange zest.  The brewer uses barley malt, about 5% of which is peat smoked, as well as raw cane sugar that is fair trade, and East Kent Goldings hops.  The beer pours a dark brown, with a frothy carbonation.  The beer has a very smokey taste, one that is different from the flavors of other smoked ales, such as rauchbiers.  The smokey taste overwhelms everything else, like the hops, honey and orange peel.  It takes some getting use to and was good at first, but the beer became a little more difficult to drink after a while. 

Although definitely worth a try, I would suggest this beer to people who are very big fans of smoked ales.  This beer is fairly expensive, at about $20.00 per bottle.  It is also difficult to find.  I found a bottle at State Line Liquors in Elkton, Maryland.

ENJOY!