Tastes

Lots of quick tastes, including this year's Maibock survey:

• Alcatraz Rock Bock - Brownish copper. Quite malty styled bock. Mt Hood hops for balance. Dries out in the finish.
• Alcatraz Bighouse Red - Crisp and clean. Munich, chocolate, and roasted malts. Wilamette and Cascade hops.
• Alcatraz Weiss Guy Wheat - Bold copper color. Thickish. Plenty of wheat and plenty of bitterness combine to give a full mouth experience and a balanced finish.
• Broad Ripple Brewpub Maibock - Fairly dark. Great smoothness and balance. Same as last year. Right to BJCP style guidline.
• Oaken Barrel Munich Helles - Crystal clear gold. Quality thoughout with the drinkability of an American lager but makes BMC seem like artificially flavored pap. 5.2%. 27.9 IBU (what's up with the .9?)
• Oaken Barrel Uberweizen - As always uber cloudy. Bready clove nose. Wheat hits tongue first and stays predominant. Less banana and clove than last year. Heavier carbonation as well. Same great thick mouthfeel.
• Ram -Maibock - Nicely matured. Crisp-looking copper. Crisp in the mouth also. Balanced a bit to the sweet side. Full bodied but not creamy.
• Ram Wit - Golden and hazy. Spicey of stongly citric orange and clove. Stays in the middle of the tongue. Uses the famous Ram 777 yeast. A+
• Ram 90 Shilling Scottish. Nice bitter background. Smooth. Very swiggable at a nice 5.7%. A+
• Ram Dry Hopped IPA - Served from a firkin at their open house. Sarachi hops give plenty of IPA bitterness that comes in late.
• Rock Bottom, Downtown Indy Goat Toppler Maibock - Rich gold color. Good malt aroma. Pleasant sharpness leads to quite a bit of bitter that is joined by some spiciness at the end. Jerry has used a livin-on-the-edge amount of hops.
• RB Downtown Cezanne Saison - Golden color. Small mixed-fruit nose. White winey tartness hits hard and dries fast. Refreshing summer drink. Fermented for 31 days with two yeasts. 6.3%
• RB Downtown Naughty Pappy - This batch of the Naughty Scot 90 Shilling has been aged one full year in a Pappy Van Winkle barrel. Like the Naughty Woody the whiskey is the focal point. Aroma of fruity vanilla. Whiskey hits the tongue first. Finish is sweet.
• Rock Bottom, 86th St, Indy Maibock - Light golden color but at 7.1% it isn't light. Malt start, balanced finish just like it should be. Quite a kick. Robust.
• RB 86th St Naughty Scot on the handpull - Perfect. Smooth. Candy sweetness at start dries by the middle. Begs for a bigger glass.
• Upland Maibock - Darker copper. Pleasant malty aroma. Malt attack slowly translates to bitterness. Slight spice at end. All quite rounded and married. Available in bottles.
  
  This year's King of the Maibocks may very well belong to Upland, Ram, or Broad Ripple. They're all smooth, married, and quaffable. We'll have to set up a direct comparison tasting.

Dixie Brewing is sending 1,000 cases to Fargo, ND to fulfil mayor Dennis Walaker's promise to buy everyone a beer who helped with their recent flood. Dixie is still being brewed in Wisconsin due to Katrina.

AB/InBev is selling the last of their stake in Tsingtao to a Chinese investor. That should bring about $235M to toward paying off the AB purchase.