We've hit a record here for the month for May - two posts in one week. It's part of my post-grad-school-empty-the-fridge master plan. Plus, it's a holiday weekend, so it's an even better reason to work on this type of thing. Before I get to the review of today's product, I do have a public service announcement: I'm going to eventually stop posting these updates to Facebook and do one of two things: rely on people becoming "subscribers", or followers, via the link to the right of this post (see the box that says "Subscribe to gulp!", or the "Become a follower" link) or I'm going to try to make a dedicated Facebook page. I'm trying to separate a few things on the 'net, so, yeah. Therefore, do your pal a favor and go ahead and become a legit subscriber or follower. If I eventually do the dedicated Facebook page, and I know you're a reader, I'll send you the dedicated link in a direct message. I'd prefer the first option I think though.
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| Sorghum |
Some organic stuff - New Grist Sorghum Beer
Today we have another beer that's been mocking me from my fridge since around February. I've been very skeptical in trying this beer because of the ingredients: sorghum and rice extract. First of all, I have absolutely no idea what sorghum is. Thank goodness for the internet! According to grains.org, "Grain sorghum is the third most important cereal crop grown in the United States and the fifth most important cereal crop grown in the world. The United States is the world's largest producer of grain sorghum followed by India and Nigeria. It is a leading cereal grain produced in Africa and is an important food source in India. Leading exporters are the United States, Australia and Argentina." (http://www.grains.org/sorghum). See, and you thought school was the only place where you could increase your knowledge!
Unfortunately, I couldn't find much else out about the other ingredients used in the beer. The bottle is pretty vague, and the brewery website doesn't offer much either. I did, however, find an article from treehugger.com (hahaha, how ironic), that stated "the Lakefront Brewery along the Milwaukee River in Wisconsin, they not only offer organic beer but it’s also the first beer brewed without malted barley or any gluten-containing products to be authorized by the U.S. Government. Each batch is tested for gluten prior to fermentation, before being bottled and shipped. And, Lakefront was the first American brewery to produce a certified organic beer under its own label. The brewery began with only sixty barrels of production and sold them exclusively to taverns within "rolling" distance of their Milwaukee headquarters. Now, the beer is available for distribution in six packs of 12-ounce bottles." (http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/08/new_grist_organ_1.php). Pretty cool, right?
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| Lakefront Brewery |
More about the brewery - Lakefront Brewery, Inc.
Lakefront Brewery is located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, about 12 minutes northeast of Miller Park, home of the Milwaukee Brewers (which, by the way, we should all be fans of, considering...). The brewery was founded in 1987 by a couple bro's named Russ and Jim Klisch. What I like about their story is that they started brewing beer after reading a "how to brew beer" book. Moral of that story: keep at it home brewers! Anyway, following the book reading, Russ ended up building his own bottling machine in 1990 to handle the brewery's expanding popularity; and by 1998, 10 years after having sales of 72 barrels, the beer bro's were shipping 3000 barrels. 10 years after that, in 2008, after a move to their current location, they were
shipping 11,000 barrels a year! How about that!
This whole organic thing - doing thing's outside of the box - is nothing new for Lakefront, because in 1992, they were the first brewery since the prohibition era to bottle a fruit beer! Lakefront Cherry Beer. In 1996, they were the first certified organic beer makers in the United States. Then, in 2006, they somehow convinced the government to change their policy on the definition of beer (at the time, beer had to be 25% malted barley). The reason for this was because the bro's wanted to create a gluten-free beer (which is the beer that will be reviewed today). Lastly, in 2007, the Wisconsin Department of Tourism announced the brewery as the first in the state and the first business in Milwaukee to receive the Travel Green Wisconsin award; which of course has to do with business related impacts to the environment. Not too bad for a beer company.
The Beer
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| Look at the carbonation! |
The reaction on Beer Advocate over this beer is very random. It's been given an average C- grade, but the written reviews express a generally positive, or at least curiously positive, view. I think it's just so unique of a beer that most people are at least glad to try it, but aren't comfortable with giving it a very high grade. I mean, when was the last time you had an organic sorghum beer? Exactly.
Upon pour, the head fizzled pretty quickly, and the carbonation unleashed like I had just poured a glass of champagne, which was very unexpected. There is also a very, very slight fruity aroma; emphasis on very, very slight. The colors are remnant of American lagers, but the flavor is an anomaly. I haven't had many ciders in my day, but I've tasted enough to say that this is almost trying to be like a cider. It's light and very crisp, and if it had stronger fruity flavor, I'd probably mistake it for a cider. The further down the glass I get though, I'm catching a few sour notes and a bit more fruitiness, and the crispness is still strong. Oh, by the way, it's 5.75% ABV.
Overall I suppose it's not bad, but to me it's not really a beer per-say. I'd classify this as a wanna-be champagne lager, which is probably a made up term. Perhaps I should trademark that? If you see it in the store, and you want to try something a tad different, I'd say give it a shot. But, if you're looking for a "beer-beer", walk the other way and grab a Dogfish product, ha.
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