Skanky malt sourness, dismal hop bottom, and steely metallic tinge ruin slightly salted fizzy frontage and vague corn nuance of trashy macrobrew.
All posts by John Fortunato
B.B. BURGERBRAU LAGER
Heady ‘original’ Budweiser brewed in Czech Republic since 1795 brought to America in ’05, two years after the arrival of more consistent, less malt-y regional rival Budvar (a.k.a. Czechvar). Dry-hopped musk-scented honey roasted lager retains creamed corn assertion, toasted grain austerity, and malt liquor pungency. Informal Scotch piquancy, dank white bread staleness, and alfalfa-grass-horsehide trace whisked away by third sip. Canned version seems more astringently alcoholic and lemony bitterer.
B.B. BURGERBRAU BUDWEIS BOHEMIA DARK LAGER
Tame garnet-amber Czech lager lacks firm body, plying ashen chocolate-caramel malting to dry fig-date placidity and blanched hazelnut-chestnut reminder. Tepid sweet tea midst depletes tannic red grape and port wine acridity.
(B.B. BURGERBRAU) BUD SUPER STRONG
Pungent sour malt odor wafts from top of dry-bodied 16% alcohol fortified lager, saturating raunchy maize flow and musty phenol astringency.
BURGERBRAU WOLNZACHER WIES ‘N’ MARZEN FESTBIER
Despite thick sinewy yeast resin, spice-hopped wheat brew (a.k.a. Burgerbrau Oktoberfest Bier) remains mellow, gaining sweet malt warmth for lingered apple-banana tartness. But tepid lightness expels grain plunge.
BURGERBRAU WOLNZACHER ROGGENBIER
Pour slowly heavily carbonated penny-coppered medium-bodied German or risk overly foamy head. Thick grain foundation punctuated by peripheral rye restraint, floral clove jab, lemony hop tang, and chewy butterscotch finish. Sourdough yeast clumps cluster firmly entrenched earthen bottom.
BURGERBRAU WOLNZACHER HELL
Dreary rust-hued Bavarian suffers from blandness. White grape aroma and chaffed wheat earthiness evaporate in a sea of bittersweet mediocrity before barren floral yeast finish gets anemic. Serve to softhearted novices as fizzy alternative to predictable pilsners.
BURGERBRAU ALTFRANKISCHES DUNKEL
Interesting dunkel weiss devoid of expectant wheat prominence borders on mild barleywine after chewy chocolate malt creaminess settles down. Hints of raisin and cocoa re-enforce strong alcohol thickness.
BUFFALO BILL’S PUMPKIN ALE (INITIAL VERSION)
Preeminent in its stylistic nobility (until macrobrewed by contract brewery ’round 2011), smoked salami-scented hop-fueled ale settles into delectable pumpkin pie permanence after cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice gleefully dance on malt-lacquered tongue. Ashy tobacco leaf and burnt wood chips linger in distance of perfect Halloween aperitif.
BUFFALO BILL’S ORANGE BLOSSOM CREAM ALE
Illuminating honeyed orange-lemon essence and sweet vanilla malting give tangy light-bodied thirst quencher an effervescent Orange Crush soda, sherbet, or creamsickle appeal. Seltzer fizz hides faint peach-grapefruit-ginger tones. A better ‘malternative.’
BUFFALO BILL’S BLUEBERRY OATMEAL STOUT
Eccentrically compelling black-bodied tan-headed fruited stout holds up well as ripe blueberry sweetness contrasts charred hop roast to strong black coffee finish. Blueberry muffin, pie, and jam illusions sometimes play second fiddle to blackened tar, nicotine, and cinder bittering that gums up expansive black chocolate-y coffee thickness, but rich dessert beer should be tried by all hearty beer lovers. Another similarly harsh-fruited California dark ale is Mendocino Imperial Stout.
(BUFFALO BILL’S) BILLY BOCK ALE
Elegant sweet wine effervescence sidles surging caramel-malted prune-fig creaminess typical of most bocks (since they are heavier and more compressed than basic ‘ales’). Fresh-pressed cherry tang, mild grape dryness, and spicy nutmeg pinch inform judiciously hopped alcohol burn, precluding accessibility to junk beer drinkers but curing all pains.