Clarkvv (16760) reviewed Munich Helles from Zero Gravity Craft Brewery 20 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Batch 1 Draught pint at the brewpub with Muzzlehatch on 11/5/05. Very proper appearance. Just the slightest hint of haze to a copper-gold with a dark brass tinge and a very high level of clarity. White head is small and moderately well retained, with light spotty lacing. Aroma pours forth warm baked brown bread, crusty and with a sour dough. Magnificently dry, sweaty, hay-like hoppiness and plenty of herbal influences (tarragon, sage, rosemary). Touches of honey drip from the bread as well. Flavor begins with a large, pervasive yeastiness that is authentic, lightly sour, very crisp and satisfying. I havent had a nice lager-yeast bite on the finsih like a lager should have, in a long time. More sourdough breadiness and drops of honey coat the palate, while the hops are done splendidly. Not too much bitterness, and the flavor, while fresh, hay-like and mildly herbal, does not detract from the malts and yeast. Texture shows a lively, fresh, drinkable helles, just such that it should be, with a soft breadiness and a very crisp yeast bite on end (as I already have said). Moderate, engaging carbonation, medium-full body for the style. Fantastically drinkable example. Taktik_MTL and VTHophead=CRAZY! ;)
Batch 2 Draught pint at the brewery on 3/11/06.
Eek, what happened here?? The nose is full of brass and copper, with way too much sour munich malt apparency. The flavor is just dishearteningly overyeasted, with not enough attenuation, or just too much residual yeast character. Sourish, grainy and metallic character builds up sluggishly on the palate. No glimpse of its former self. 6/4/5/2/11 Rating is an average of the two batches.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6
On draught at the brewpub, 4/16/05. Very light golden-pale yellow almost green tinged. Not a caramel malt driven IPA. Foamy white head has some retention and light lacing. Aroma is dry, lightly perfumy, some honey and spicy, floral hops. Flavor has more floral hops, a strong sense of bitterness, with just a plain pale malt and honey flavored backbone. Can’t deny it’s well-made, but this one didnt do anything for me. Medium body, too much dryness, odd fruit-atop-crusty bread flavor.
Clarkvv (16760) reviewed Extra Stout from Zero Gravity Craft Brewery 20 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
On draught at the brewpub, 4/16/05. Dark black with some cola-brown tinges on the edge. Greyish-brown head recedes to cover rather quickly. Aroma of lightly burnt malt, hints of tobacco and anise. Cola, coffee, chocolate are all present in good measure here, though the intensity of the aroma could be a bit stronger. They serve the beer very cold here. Flavor starts with soft vanilla beans mixed with milk chocolate covered raisins, very easygoing, pleasant roastiness, not overly drying or bitter. Finishes with a good deal of coffee flavor, ilghtly oily, but again not too bitter as to bore the drinker. Good malt body, which is medium and just a slight touch of thinning as it warms. Low carbonation, fairly low fruitiness for the style, but as the bartender told me, it was kind of a dry stout/foreign stout hybrid (and the distinctions can get pretty blurry between the two styles). Very flavorful, I will reiterate, and I was very impressed to find this so well-made already.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
On draught at the brewpub (well it’s really a nice restaurant with a small brewery), 4/16/05. Dark copper-auburn, medium amount of mostly dissipating off-white head, quite transluscent body, light lacing. Smells fuzzy and bitter, with light toasted malt, a bit of iron and caramel. Flavor begins dry, lightly woody/grainy with lots of toasted malt. Prickly, but not very bitter hops add good balance and as it warms and finishes there is a touch of creamy caramel. Very crystally (malt), quite carbonated, but oh so fresh tasting. Medium body with no water/thinning.