Posts Tagged ‘short’s brewing company’

Thursday Night Belgian Theme

Friday, February 10th, 2012
stillwater artisanal ales cellar door

Stillwater Cellar Door

I recently brewed my first Belgian styled beer. Powered by that fact, I decided to tell the guys that the Thursday night get together would be fueled by Belgian beers. They all obliged. Unfortunately the evening got off to a late start and ended early; the long week took its toll on me. I was tired. We only made it through three beers (in the order we reviewed):

All three beers were good. Both Captain Fantasy and Cellar Door were first timers for the group as a whole. Both were easy to drink, dry, and effervescent. Captain Fantasy didn’t seem to pull it together 100% while Cellar Door had a bit more sweetness than I expected. I like a very dry, phenolic, and peppery Saison. Captain Fantasy was a bit more fruity with the green grape (almost similar to a white wine flavor in the middle) and pear highlighting the beer. Cellar Door was a bit more straight forward: phenols, pepper, and dry with only the sweetness pulling it down.

Red Poppy was the finisher: tart, vinegar, oak, and cherries give complexity to this beer. I have had it before and, if it wasn’t the for the price, I would have it much more often. Rich and Chuck took pours of this beer like it was coming out of a gallon jug. Alas, I was only afforded the last ounce, if I was lucky. Yeah, dregs for me. Enjoy!

Useless Fact: The honeybee kill more people each year world-wide than poisonous snakes.

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Short’s Brewing Company Autumn Ale (365 Day 321)

Tuesday, October 18th, 2011

Short's Autumn Ale

Another autumn has dawned on the Midwest, bringing along with it the glutton of autumn beers. I thought it was the perfect time to try another fresh bottle of Autumn Ale by Short’s Brewing Company.

I originally had it earlier this year. Since Autumn Ale is brewed in the fall, I wondered how fresh a January bottle would be. Being that Autumn Ale is a slightly above average beer in my opinion, it wasn’t something that I was going out of my way for but a situation presented itself, so why not.

Hops are nice in the beer: floral hops dominate citrus hops. These come through in the aroma, especially early. Mid beer I couldn’t find them anywhere. Autumn Ale had transitioned to a malt forward beer: very sweet. The taste originally had the malts but those seemed to go south along with the aroma.

Another year and the same result. I feel I rated this beer fairly earlier this year. I would have it again but, as I stated, I not going to go out of my way for it. Enjoy!

Aroma: 7 (25%), Taste: 8 (25%), Look: 8 (15%), Drinkability: 7 (35%), Overall: 7.4

Useless Fact: By raising your legs slowly and laying on your back, you cannot sink into quicksand.

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Short’s Brewing Company Bloody Beer (365 Day 306)

Monday, October 3rd, 2011

Short's Bloody Beer

American craft beer is artisan. Some breweries even have that in their name. More and more beers are pushing the envelope of style and blurring the confines within. Short’s Brewing Company doesn’t have it in the name but, for as long as I can remember, they have been putting out some wacky beer flavors. Style unknown is their destination that they frequently seem to shoot for, hitting the bulls eye on regularity.

Bloody Beer is another one of the artisan beers from Short’s. When I first noticed the beer and label, I didn’t know what to expect. Is it a Halloween gimmick beer? Is it a beer with cherry juice or similar added? Reading the label leads to more: “…fermented with roma tomatoes and spiced with tellicherry peppercorns, celery seed, fresh horseradish and dill.” Bloody Mary went through my head. After tasting the beer, I would have to say it is pretty damn close. I split the twelve ounce bottle with Rich and would have to say six ounces was more than enough. I would have it every so often in small quantities. Enjoy!

Useless Fact: In 1221, Genghis Khan killed 1,748,000 people at Nishapur in one hour.

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Short’s Plum Rye Bock (365 Day 59)

Saturday, January 29th, 2011

Short's Plum Rye Bock

Short’s Brewing Company has become a bit of an American craft beer novelty for me. I haven’t really been on board for all of their innovations but some really intrigue me as the combinations are quite off the beaten path. Key Lime Pie happens to be one of the strangest combinations I have tasted but, contrary to what I expected, it was pretty solid.

Plum Rye Bock is another unique combination of choices in which to make a beer: lager, out of the orgdinary fruit in plum, and rye. Not your everyday, run of the mill beer.

Of course I was curious as to how this could be brought together and if it could be pulled off well. Plums, straight plums, is one of my least favorite fruits and I like fruit. The aroma and flavor is more full of tart cherries than plums along with some light spice. I did leave the beer for a while after consuming about half. It probably warmed up into the mid 60s, the cherries did turn to plums, and I could no longer stomach the beer. So make sure to consume this one at the advertised price unless you like plums. Enjoy!

Aroma: 8, Taste: 8, Look: 7, Drinkability: 7, Overall 7.5

Useless Fact: The reason firehouses have circular stairways is from the days when engines were pulled by horses. The horses were stabled on the ground floor and figured out how to walk up straight staircases.

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Short’s Brewing Autumn Ale (365 Day 51)

Friday, January 21st, 2011

Short's Autumn Ale

Beer number 51 comes from Short’s Brewing Company. Autumn Ale is an ESB that is released each fall. It was about an average beer with its most redeeming quality being the taste: the hops, floral mainly, come through quite nicely but don’t overwhelm or add much bitterness, just a nice shot of balance. I would have it again but would look for something else first.

Just a thought or two on Short’s: I have now had some 18 different flavors of their beer with my opinion, mostly, always the same: average and usually interesting, but not outstanding. Novelty is the best way I can describe Short’s. Yes, they have Bellaire Brown, a year round beer that is quite outstanding, but most of their beers are one offs, that have some very unique spin on a style or, more likely, don’t adhere to any style but try to create something completely anomalous.

I am not knocking them for their inventiveness, I applaud it, but those strange flavors, mouth feels, and aromas don’t always work for me. I still try them, I still seek them out, because I want to be part of each interesting permutation. After all, American craft beer is all about the artistic and stimulating creativity that a brewer can impart in his craft. Enjoy!

Aroma: 7, Taste: 8, Look: 8, Drinkability: 7, Overall: 7.4

Useless Fact: Stressed is Desserts spelled backwards.

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Review: The Magician Short’s Brewing

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

short's brewing company the magician

With all the great happenings surrounding the Chicago area with the Craft Brewers Conference, I have had a hard time keeping up on my duties of tasting and reviewing American craft beer. Based on my ineptness over the past week, I will try and make up for it this week with a vengeance. 😉

The Magician by Short’s Brewing Company was the only new beer tasted last night (Pliny the Elder was tasted again). The Magician is an American Amber Ale that instead of being some hop whore it is a nice complex malty expression of goodness.

The beer pours with a huge, half glass, reddish-orange foam that has great retention as it becomes frothy while leaving almost no trace of its existence. The aroma follows and impresses: fruity, almost sweet fruit, with malt as the backbone. Grainy, toffee, roasted, and even coffee/chocolate notes develop. The deep dark hue of the beer as well as the aroma gives off the sense that the beer will have a big taste and body, but that is misleading. The beer is almost thin but most most of the aroma comes through in the taste, just in smaller doses. Nicely complex beer with just a little too much unbalanced sweetness for me.

The look and aroma are the highlight of this beer. Unfortunately it isn’t carried through to the mouth to making it an easy drinking beer. Still really good, just not great. Enjoy!

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Short’s Brewing Special Beer Reimbursement

Friday, February 12th, 2010

I had three of these guys back about a month ago that were, unfortunately, just not up to what I have come to expect from the good beers of Short's

Sometimes you open a beer and expect so much from the liquid goodness of American craft beer, that we don’t even think about the chances of getting a bad bottle. Well it seems that people have been getting some bad bottles of Short’s Brewing Company, especially their special series beers. air max 90 femmes Short’s has recognized the problem and stepped up to the plate in a very big way as they are offering refunds. From their site:

So if you have any “weird” or “off” bottles please email cs [at] shortsbrewing [dot] com and include the following:

  • How many Bottles were affected and of what brands?
  • Name and Address
  • Preference of
    • $3.40 per bottle gift certificate to pub
    • $2.50 per bottle refund
    • An Exchange Certificate for another six pack which can only be done at the brewery.

In my book that is huge. Hats off to Short’s for being big enough to man up to the problem and reiterating their pledge to top quality American carft beers while keeping their customers in mind. Enjoy!

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Vertical Of Six Short’s Brewing Beers

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009
The six Shorts Brewing Company beers that we reviewed.

The six Shorts Brewing Company beers that we reviewed.

Shorts Brewing Company is a favorite of mine and Rich and everywhere you turn we hear good things about their beer. On my recent trip to Grand Rapids, Michigan I scored six different flavors of their, tripling the amount that we had had to this point. With great pride I invited Rich over last night to taste and review.

Here is the lineup, in the order reviewed, and a few thoughts:

  • Good Humans – an American Brown Ale that was nicely dry hopped adding a pleasant layer of hop aroma. Very drinkable. 8/10
  • The Soft Parade – Fruit Beer that is full of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries is light, seemingly more suitable for the summer months. 7/10
  • Pandemonium Pale Ale – an American Pale Ale that is just a little bit better than average. Nothing really stands out which made me wonder if I might have had an old bottle. 6/10
  • The Liberator – an American Imperial IPA that is very drinkable. There is some hop bitterness to the finish but it isn’t over the top while the alcohol level (which I can only guess at) is well disguised. 8/10
  • Uncle Steve’s Irish Stout – an Irish Dry Stout is a spot on definition of the style. Although not my favorite style very easy drinking and light. 8/10
  • Mystery Stout – an American Imperial Stout that had to be contaminated in some way. Rich and I were looking up in books what the problem was. We enjoy Short’s beers so much, that we had a hard time believing what we were drinking. 2/10

The one gripe I have is the lack of information on Short’s website is void of any information about their beers outside of a little marketing blurb. At least three of the beers that we reviewed I couldn’t even find listed on their site. air jordan spizike I guess I would have to say all American micro-breweries that practice this lack of information bug me. Isn’t that part of the experience?

In Short’s defense, I did email them last night to let them know about my experience with their beers. They replied very quickly, apologizing, and trying to help with the diagnosis of why the beer might have been bad. That is some damn good customer service and why I can’t get enough of American craft beer. Enjoy!

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Mothership Wit Leads A Trio Of Beer Reviews

Saturday, November 28th, 2009

new belgium mothership wit

After only a couple of nights of tasting, testing, and beer reviewing, I feel like I am back in the beer review saddle again and the saddle feels good! 🙂

I have sat down for three new beers over the past few days:

  • Mothership Wit by New Belgium Brewing Compnay is a Witbeir that has the usual taste and aroma of the style but does it refreshingly well. Even though I enjoyed in the colder months, this beer could and should be imbibed during the warmer months. A great post-mowing the grass beer. 8/10
  • Yakima Twilight by Victory Brewing Company is an American Imperial IPA which has some dark fruit, beady malt backbone, and, of course, hops. I have to admit it wasn’t what I was expecting and the bready malt isn’t something I like in a big IPA. An average beer, at best, in my eyes that I might have again, especially since I have to finish of the sixer. 6/10
  • The Bellaire Brown by Short’s Brewing Company is an American Brown Ale that is true to style. It was an easy drinker that, as the brewery mentions, is a good gateway beer. This is also a drawback for me, since they make it for the masses, the aroma and flavor isn’t as big as it could be. Don’t get me wrong, free run 3.0 v5 femmes it is a good beer, but just a sliver away from being much better. 7/10

No matter how good these beer were or were not, having a chance to review beers is something that I missed. Enjoy!

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