Shmaltz Brewing is an elusive beast, elusive enough that I had to ask Stinky for clarification about how the relationships played out between Shmaltz, He’Brew, and Coney Island. According to the resident beer industry expert:
“Shamltz is the actual company. Coney Island is the Lager line-up, and He’Brew is the ale line.”
Okay then! The beer I sampled at The Gate last night at their “White Out” event was part of the Lager line, a rare “White Lager,” essentially an American Wheat beer fermented with bottom-fermenting Lager Yeast. This produces an extremely light bodied and easy to drink beer, while not overwhelming the nose with the kinds of compounds produced with more traditional Wheat Beer Ale yeasts.
Spiced with Pepper, Ginger, and probably a couple other things including something that produces a good amount of Anise flavor and aroma, this is truly a strange but highly attractive beer. A beautiful golden color, I felt like I could immediately look around the bar and see who was drinking this beer, even in a sea of other White Beauties. I was under the charm of the snake, or something. That sounded weird, but this is a truly enjoyable beer, dry and delicious. Is this an Uber-American beer, or a weird refugee from Belgium via Germany? Or from San Francisco via South Brooklyn? I’m not sure if I’m any closer to understanding where this beer is from or how it was formed from the minds of Shmaltz, and it’s definitely producing a lot more quesitons than answers. Fine with me — just drink it!
2 Comments
Hi there. This is Zak from Shmaltz Brewing Company. Thanks so much for recording your encounter with our beer. Your resident beer industry expert is absolutely right, Coney Island is our line of lagers, and HE’BREW, our line of ales. I hope you come across some of our other beers along the way.
Thanks for stopping by our humble blog! More Shmaltz reviews to come.
Post a Comment