King Gambrinus: The Devil's Tipple
Project Hop / Brasserie du Bon Temps in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada 🇨🇦
Brewed at/by: Flashback Brewing Co.Traditional Beer - Adambier Regular
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Score
7.05
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A man of intimidating stature with the confidence of a God, Gambrinus happily accepted Lucifer's wager. How could a footrace with men be a challenge to someone like him? The Devil's in the details, as it were, and Gambrinus would have to contest the race while carrying a barrel of beer. Our hero quickly devised a solution to this ridiculous demand; he drank the barrel dry. The lighter load was no burden and he won the race handily.
Such stories make up the legend of Gambrinus, the mythical king of beer. As amalgam of historical persons combined with the bravado of late-night discussions in 16th Century taverns, he was a well-known folk legend until the late 19th Century. Half buried in the sands of time, we are paying homage to the King by ressurecting a strong ale popular in Germany 500 years ago. This Adambier is best as a dessert beer, with notes of dark fruit, chocolate, liquorice and mild smoke that would make Gambrinus proud. He may have first encountered the style while paying Satan a visit in hell (and discovering coal in the process).
Brasserie du Bon Temps recreates historical recipes to help you experience the story of beer from accidental discovery to the world's favourite tipple.
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Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
Poured from 473mL can. Very dark brown with small beige head. Leather and tobacco with feint peat, and an underlying tart sour note. Has a lot of potential, appreciate the attempt.
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7
473mL can, pours a deep dark brown with a small beige head. Aroma has plenty of smoked malt, leather, bready caramel, and a touch of tobacco. Flavour is quite malty, with plenty of smoky, peated malt, tobacco, leather, and bready caramel. Very malty, a bit sweeter than the classic HotD Adam that we all know and love. There’s also a touch of tartness that becomes more apparent with each sip and as it warms up. It's good, but that tartness I could do without.
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 8
Bottle pour at East Side Beer Fest. Pours deep chestnut. Smoky malts, gentle tobacco on the nose. Flavour has dry, woody smoke, toasted malt, tobacco, a bit leathery. Excellent.
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7
473 ml can. Pours a dark brown with short foamy head. Aromas of bready malts, bread yeast, slight smoke and a little vegetal fruit. Flavors follow same, with a little more smoke, a bit of licorice and a slight sourness. Pretty good, especially as an intent to recreate history.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7
Medium brown colour, not much head. Smells sort of gloppy, bubblegum, light smoke. On the palate, the same. The smoke is nice, but it is basically fighting against the somewhat sloppy execution of the base. It finishes a bit tart, too.
Now, I'll say this. Tartness in the finish and questionable execution is absolutely par for the course if you're being honest about historical representation. There would have been a tavern brewing adambier on every block in town, and lord knows they would have been variable.
BUT.
The first time I had Adambier from HotD, that was batch 8 in the mid-90s at Archer Ale House in Bellingham, one of the all-time great old money beer bars. It was afternoon and I was playing darts in the back. That was one of my peak, formative beer experiences. That's what this beer is up against.