Thursday, June 18, 2009

Burgers and Beer, Founders and Flat Earth

Last night I sampled my first beer with the intent of posting it to this website, Founders Centennial IPA. Founders is a micro out of Kalamazoo, MI that prides itself on being different from the average craft brewer. I suppose this could be true, though they make standard styles, they make them all with a little twist. They began independently with no brewing experience outside of the occasional homebrew and have no attachment to the brewing establishment. They're new to Minnesota and are really going to make a strong showing with the Surly crowd I think, and should really challenge companies like Schell and Summit. I say that because Founders walks the fine line between 'every day craft' of those two and the extreme craft of Surly, and might pull some of the regular Summit/Schells drinkers in that direction who were previously overpowered by Furious, Bender and the like. Here's the reveiw of Founders Centennial IPA, again copied from Beer Advocate for consistency.

Founders Centennial IPA - B / 3.75
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | drink: 3.5
rDev: -8.8%
Appearance: 3 1/2 finger, off white head with a creamy top and large bubbles underneath, no real active carbonation but a pretty good lacing. Unfortunately, this head didn't stick around very long. The beer itself is golden red consistently throughout the glass, and fairly transparent.

Smell: Piney, Piney Hops. It was like sticking a fresh cut christmas tree trunk up my nose, and it was a little too much, There was no malt going on anywhere and the smell was so bitter it almost stung the nose. I'm giving a four because I know that's what some people want, and they do make it strong.

Taste: The taste is still piney, but it does have a little malty sweetness at first. The Alcohol comes through as well though. There is some dry, grape-like flavors in the after taste.

Mouthfeel: Good medium body leave some bitter, cottony feeling though. Pretty smooth.

Drinkability: Pretty good, if you like piny hops. I don't, and I don't think most people do either.

Serving type: bottle


My other beer last night was a Flat Earth Cygnus X-1 English Porter from a 22 oz. bomber bottle. This is one of my favorite beers, I must say. It is incredibly sweet, like an imperial stout that used unroasted malts. It is black as molassas and flavorful. I reveiwed it a while ago, and I've posted that reveiw below. Flat Earth is a really small brewery in St. Paul that self distributes there limited but every shifting line up of beers. They also sell growlers on Thursdays and Tuesdays. One of my favorite things about Flat Earth is that they include the ingredients on every bottle of beer, including St. Paul Water.


Flat Earth Cygnus X-1 English Porter 6.5% ABV

A: Poured a pretty thin head, but I poured a little soft, so that may have been it. Looks like a very dark cola almost with some good active carbonation. Reddish when held up the the light. 22 oz Bottle is a picture of space, but what is most interesting in this information, printed on the side:

English Pale, Brown, Amber, Chocholate and Rye Malts; fuggle hops; Irish Ale Yeast and St. Paul Water.

O.G. - 1.065
SRM - 25
IBU - 35
Alc. by Vol. - 6.5%

S: A sweet malty roast filled the air when I popped it open, and upon closer inspection, I found some good burnt caramel smells that I liked.

T: Taste is very complex, probably from the 5 malts they use ranging from english pale to chocolate and rye. Some roasty flavor, but still pretty sweet. Very low bitterness. Sweetness increases as my tounge becomes used to the roasted flavor. Actually quite similar to a heavy cola.

M: Creamy and a good weight without being too thick and chewy. great smooth texture. Very enjoyable

D: Very easy, very smooth. A pretty standard ABV, so not really sessionable, but if you have the tolerance it won't fill you up.

Serving type: bottle

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