Speaking of Beer

Today’s show is a Beer As Folk interview with Zak Davis from the Shmaltz Brewing Company. If that name has you scratching your head, you might recognize their flagship beer, He’Brew Genesis Ale. Even if you haven’t tried it, you’d no doubt recognize that cool Hebrew-inspired font on their labels. In any case, Zak and I chatted at a local Whole Foods prior to a tasting, and I found out there’s a lot more to Shmaltz than wildly imaginative beers combined with hilarious and unappologetic Semitism. For instance, they have surprising ties to sideshow freaks. Oh, and zombies, too.

 

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Next up is a Beer As Folk show in which we find out all about the Shmaltz Brewing Company, most familiar as the crafters of the He’Brew line of beers. They brew tons of great beers and any one of them would accompany the show in tremendous fashion. However, in honor of the coming autumn season, as well as for reasons that will be apparent upon hearing the interview, I’m going to recommend you try and scare up (so to speak) Freaktoberfest, from the Coney Island Lager line of Schmaltz beers.

L’Chaim!

Prebeer Preamble: To quote Samwise Gamgee: “Well, I’m back.” Specifically, I’m ba-ha-ha-hack back in black, because on the show today I address the musical question: What happens when you put a bunch of party-goers into a studio, ply them liberally with very very strong black beer, and continually pester them to choose which one they like best? I don’t know what you’d call it, but I call it a Smackdown!

Round 1: East Coast vs. West Coast. We start with a couple of brews from either side of the Mississippi: Old Viscosity from California’s Port Brewing Company and Storm King Imperial Stout from Pennsylvania’s Victory Brewing Company. In a blind tasting, the crowd sips and talks and chews it over. Ultimately, only one can rule. Which one will it be?

Interbeer Interlude: Beer As Folk.Tomme Arthur, brewmaster for the Port Brewing and Lost Abbey beers, gave me a few minutes during a recent beer dinner at my local Whole Foods to talk about his beers and the joy of having a job that “doesn’t suck.” That’s “doesn’t suck” in the same sense as “screwing a porn star doesn’t suck.”

Round 2: Stout vs. Porter. Next I trot out two huge brews for the amusement of all. Titans The Abyss (from Oregon’s Deschutes Brewing Co.) and Decadence Anniversary Ale Imperial Porter (from San Diego’s AleSmith Brewing Co.) duke it out, and leave the crowd humbled and in the throes of massive indecision when it comes to choosing a favorite. But in the end, only one legend can prevail.

Sudsy Song Segment: Possible Oscar “All Out of Beer“. The taps have run dry and the crowd is restless. The party host serenades them to the tune of…well..let’s just say ’70’s AM radio sure had some catchy tunes…

Final Round: Now everyone’s liberally lubricated, let’s do some math! Each taster rated each beer, and the scores are tallied to determine the Best in Show. Who’s the king of this pitch-black hill? Tune in and find out!

[HUGE shout-outs to tasters Doug Kress, Thomas a.k.a geistbear, Emily and Enormous from Australia, Tim Ademec, C.A. Sizemore, Michael R. Mennenga, Kris Mayo, Brian Brown, and Brewing Compadre Shawn]

 

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Helloooo…Is this thing on? Just how do you work one of these “post” gizmos again? Yeah, sorry, things have gone a little fallow around here lately. I am, however, still recording and have lots of good sudsy content in the “tap line” (am I pushing this too far?). It’s just (sadly and by necessity) paced a little more on the “glacial” side. SoB’s still alive, promise. To prove my point, go out–I challenge you–and scrape together the following four beers:

AleSmith’s Decadence Anniversary Imperial Porter [alternative: Flying Dog's Gonzo Imperial Porter]
Deschutes’ The Abyss [completely viable and more realistic alternative: Deschutes' Black Butte XX]
Port’s Old Viscosity [alternative: Oskar Blues' Ten Fidy]

and

Victory Brewing Company’s Storm King Imperial Stout [alternative: Stone Imperial Russian Stout]

Show 52 will be big, black, and bloated (I’ll pass on making a joke…), just like they were in the good ol’ days.