As Baron von Wortzenberger said...

 

"Nature is utterly indifferent"

Werner Herzog on 60 Minutes.

Dan Carey's Imperial Period: Imperial Pilsner by New Glarus Brewing W/Dan Carey

Upon hearing that New Glarus was to release an imperial pilsner, my mind immediately said, "I've had one of those before!" and I recalled thinking that the ostensible pils was really just a helles bock given an "imperial" moniker for marketing cachet. Wasn't it from 3 Floyds? Then I recalled that Point had brewed one for their Whole Hog series but I never reviewed it. Going back through my blog, I realized it was, in fact, an imperial helles from Southern Tier that seemed to me better described as a helles bock.

I also discovered that Lakefront brewed an imperial pilsner as the 9th entry in their My Turn series, Pilo. Furthermore, Chicago's 5 Rabbit Cervecería brewed one as well called Super Pils. (R.I.P. 5 Rabbit.)

New Glarus' brewmaster, Dan Carey, discussed the beer on the latest episode of New Glarus Brewing Podcast W/Dan Carey which I listened to with great interest and, by the time it came for me to sample one, I had forgotten everything he said about it except that it wasn't a big version of their regular strength pilsner, Pilsner. The label doesn't say what variety pilsener this is an imperial take on, though. It does say, however, that there are German and Czech malts in the recipe along with a trio of German hops: Diamant, Hersbrucker, and Spalt.

While I still feel that imperial pilsners are just helles bocks trying to get above their raisin', I chose this brew over New Glarus' other new beer, Tailwagger, as it is spring, the season for pale bocks.

This has to be one of the few beers from New Glarus that has the A.B.V. on the label - 8.7%. Dan Carey is not a boastful man, from my experience, so maybe this was to alert consumers who might stumble across one of these thinking, "Oh look, a pilsner! Pilsners are light colored, easy going, highly quaffable beers with a reasonable amount of alcohol."

Imperial Pilsner is of a slightly darker yellow than your typical German pils yet not quite the golden color of a helles bock. There was a smattering of bubbles inside that floated up to the big head of pure white foam. The aroma was very pilsnery with cracker, bread, and hay/grass to be had.

My first sip had a medium dose of fizz to it and revealed a medium-heavy body, the first real sign of the imperial here. That variety of grains in the recipe yielded a rich bready flavor (after decoction) [Mmm...decoction...] along with some honeyed malt sweetness. My tongue was pleased to also taste a bit more than enough grassy-herbal hops to balance out the big malty taste. The bready sweetness lingered on the finish for a bit until the hops, having taken on a spicier flavor, really dried things out and gave a firm dose of bitterness.

My sampling began with Imperial Pilsner right out of the refrigerator. At the nice cold temperature, sweetness was moderated and this stuff went down easily, not unlike a regular pils. As the liquid warmed, the honeyed sweetness became stronger and the beer became more bock-like. I scrambled to down the stuff before it became cloying and soon enough I had an empty glass before me as my head buzzed. I also found that I was a bit peckish.

I suppose that it was the extra hops that gave this brew a pilsner quality to distinguish it from a run of the mill helles doppelbock and I really appreciated the extra bitterness they gave to the cause to counter all that malt and the very dry finish. And that bready malt flavor was simply savory and delicious.

Imperial Pilsner is a fine spring beer but go easy on it and/or share your can with a friend or loved one.

Junk food pairing: Pair your Imperial Pilsner with a bag of Herr's Carolina Reaper Cheese Curls. Actually, with this beer's potency, get multiple bags. They have a rich cheesy taste and the chili dust adds a firm, though not deadly, heat to complement the hearty hops.

"Going to Raleigh"

Another new tune from Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson. I am really looking forward to their album What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow which is to be released on 18 April.

From the Great White North: Miss Vickie's Sea Salt & Vinegar potato chips

I was traipsing down the organic junk food aisle at my local supermarket last weekend not really expecting to find a new salt & vinegar snack as it had been months since one was seen. Indeed, it was just the usual suspects until I near the end of aisle when I spied bags of Miss Vickie's Sea Salt & Vinegar chips. The brand looked familiar and I, at first, assumed that I had already reviewed it. Well, René Descartes would have been proud because I began to doubt.

I didn't mess around and just logged into Blogger and did a search of this very blog only to find no reviews of Miss Vickie's salt & vinegar chips nor indeed anything Miss Vickie related whatsoever. I did, however, discover that she is Canadian.

Cue the David Attenborough voice in my head.

"And then a rare Canadian salt & vinegar chip comes into sight. With its brilliant blue bag it signals to potential eaters, 'Here! Come hither and take me home!'"

Yet the brand remained so familiar. Perhaps the store had carried the brand for ages but only recently started stocking the salt & vinegar variety.

Now that's how Vittorio Storaro would have photographed a bag of potato chips if one had been featured in The Conformist. Just look at that fine chiaroscuro!

According to her website, Miss Vickie began making potato chips from spuds that sprouted from the terra firma of her family's farm back in 1987. Wikipedia expands on this and reveals that her real name is Vickie Kerr and that she had some help with the whole potato chip manufacturing thing from her husband Bill. It also notes that the potato farm that launched a thousand chips was in New Lowell, Ontario.

Furthermore, Wikipedia informs us that Miss Vickie's was bought by Frito-Lay in 1993 and, since I read nothing to the contrary, I assume that it remains part of the Evil Snack Empire.

One last thing I discovered: these salt & vinegar chips are apparently available at my local Dollar Tree's. Perhaps they also carry other salt & vinegar snacks...

As you can see, I hope, the chips were of a lovely yellow hue with some spots there were more tan along with bits of brown. I think the skin remained on these puppies as the edges of some chips looked like the fibrous, vitamin-laden outer layer was still there. Sticking my nose, well, my face, really, into the bag and taking a whiff, I was surprised to find that a rich potato aroma dominated followed by oil and a touch of tang. Usually it is the oil that dominates things on the nose.

As you can from the bag, these are kettle cooked chips - I think all Miss Vickie chips are, actually - and they had the requisite kettle crunch. Biting into some, I found them to not be salty above & beyond your average chip and that the vinegar tang was rather moderate. However, they did have a really tasty potato flavor. They tasted like roasted potatoes. As in when you take some baby reds, quarter them, toss them in oil and seasoning, and then bake them for a spell. I don't think I've ever had a chip that tasted quite like these. That wonderful earthy potato flavor overlaid with a healthy dose of Maillard goodness. Quite sapid, mind you, just something novel for me.

A bit more salt & vinegar and I think Miss Vickie is onto something here.

It Rained Down on Me

I have some memories of buying The Division Bell, which was released on this day in 1994, and bringing it home. It was good to see that Rick Wright and Nick Mason had more prominent roles, including five writing credits for Wright. The album sounded a bit more like their mid-70s stuff as opposed to A Momentary Lapse of Reason which couldn't be mistaken for anything but a product of the mid-80s.

One of my favorite songs from The Division Bell was and remains "Take It Back". I was thrilled to hear them play it when I saw the band on a rainy Sunday, 3 July 1994, here in Madison. And here it is.

Phil Collins in his Hawaiian shirt period

Genesis released Duke 45 years ago today. 45 years! Holy biscuits! This is "Behind the Lines" from Milwaukee on 7 June 1980.

Coming soon: 26 March @ Point

Seen before On Becoming a Guinea Fowl. And it's great that this movie made it to a commercial theater here, especially since I missed the screening at Cinematheque. Very affecting.

Coming Soon: 23 March @ AMC Fitchburg

My second senior discount in a row!

Trailers for The Assessment. Things began with a commercial for the Metropolitan Opera which was followed by a commercial for another Christian feature, Carlo Acutis: Roadmap to Reality. This one is a documentary about a kid who died young and, according to Wikipedia, became canonized as the patron of  online influencers. Good lord.

 

Nice to see a trailer for David Cronenberg's latest, though I have a ticket for it at the Wisconsin Film Festival. The Penguin Lessons looks cute.

Coming Soon: 22 March @ AMC Fitchburg

Trailers at a screening of Ash. These followed a commercial for The Chosen: Last Supper and one for the Metropolitan Opera. Why do these Christian movies get commercials instead of trailers? Did the distributor pay to get their commercial shown? Do theaters get paid to run these movies or do they choose to screen them like other, secular/profane ones?

Summer approaches so now cometh the slasher flicks. While I had read some good words about Freaky Tales the trailer left me wholly unenthusiastic. Two red band trailers. They used to be as rare as hen's teeth and now they're not uncommon.

Coming Soon: 19 March @ Marcus Palace

Trailers before Opus and after a commercial for Thunderbolts:

 

 

I am looking forward to Warfare. I wonder how Alex Garlandy it's going to be.

Piper in the sun

I haven't posted a photo of Piper lately so here's one where she's enjoying the sun as she blocks my keyboard. That her face is half in the light and half in shadow is the purrfect symbolism for her naughty-nice personality.

Na zdrowie to Prost!

I finally made my first visit to Prost!, the German beer hall & restaurant which is the heir apparent to Essen Haus, if/when the venerable German restaurant/bar is demolished to make way for apartments or condos or a hotel or whatever is slated to take its place.

Housed in a former church, Prost! is a lovely space with stained glass everywhere.

A friend and I had lunch and I dined with a Früh Kölsch. The bier was delicious, full of bready/crackery goodness. And the food was very tasty. There were enough pickled vegetables on my plate to fell a horse and I think that I ate the equivalent of 2 cucumbers.

With such a lovely space, it's a shame there are TVs. On the other hand, the bier selection is pretty good. However, there was no gose, no altbier, no Dortmunder Export, no schwarzbier, and, most importantly, no rauchbier. But what's not to like about having drei Helles's on tap? Perhaps they'll put a Maibock on tap once Easter has passed.

The wurst was really good and we were told that it was artisanally made by, if memory servers, a Chef Mike somebody-or-other in Chicago. And the senf was sehr gut too. A nice little kick.

Polka on a Sunday afternoon

Next month on the 27th The Bur Oak will host an afternoon of polka - music and dancing.

DJ Shotski kicks things off at 1 with classic polka on vinyl and the dance lessons begin at 2. And then you can put your lesson to the test at 2:30 with The DB Polka Express.

Winding my way down to Bakers Place

Whenever I find myself on East Washington, I marvel to one degree or another at the transformation of the avenue from the home of industrial buildings and used car dealerships to a constellation of fancy high rises. Well, as high as you can get when near the Capitol.

Here are a couple of the latest builds: the Moxy, a boutique hotel and Bakers Place, a mass timber building that nears completion and shall be home to folks who can afford luxury apartments. Costs to live in the lap of luxury will surely be high but their website curiously omits prices.

The white exterior makes Bakers Place stick out but is not my cup of tea. Just looks too clinical, too sterile. On the other hand, I was pleased to see that the graffiti had been removed from the Gardner Bakery Co. ghost signs.

A snowy start to spring

Yesterday was the vernal equinox and to celebrate I went on a hike. (I wonder if my boss has noticed that my first time-off requests of each new year are for equinoxes and solstices - followed by gaming conventions, of course.) After suffering through 4 lanes of stop & go traffic on the Beltline and then some slippery country roads I arrived at my arboreal destination.

Wednesday's lousy weather had left about an inch of the white stuff on the ground and the temperature was just below freezing. However, it was nice and sunny so my spectacles did their best Peril Sensitive Sunglasses imitation as my body synthesized an abundance of vitamin D.

The snow scrunched beneath my feet and so I didn't see many critters - just a bird or two and a chipmunk that scurried across the path just a few feet in front of me. However, I did hear a lot of birds with my whole walk punctuated by the cries of woodpeckers and even one pecking away for breakfast.

Soon enough the forest will be lush and verdant and I shall return.

Chocolate pierogi!

I bought these at Deli 4 You in Schaumburg a couple months back and finally pulled them out of the freezer and lovingly bathed them in boiling water. Served with plain yoghurt.

The choco-filling was gooey goodness with a bit of grittiness from chocobits. Good stuff!

No Dominion yet but soon

Lookie here! Not only have I been notified that my Tull CD is out for delivery but also word that that my copy of the new IQ album, Dominion, has made is safely across the ocean.

Out for delivery

Soon the new Jethro Tull album will be in my clutches!

Ace!

I swear that, upon seeing this window, I heard Sylvester McCoy yell "ACE!" in my head.

Restaurant & brewery --> brewery & restaurant?

Driving home yesterday I noticed that the sign for North of the Bayou the Restaurant out on Cottage Grove Road had been covered by banners reading "BREWERY" along with another banner advertising North of the Bayou the Brewery opening on the 24th.

It appears North of the Bayou is transitioning from a restaurant that has a brewery to a brewery that serves food. There's even a fancy new website.

I've wondered why the brewery was given virtually no attention at their old website/Facebook page for a while now. While I still don't know, it is nice to see the brewery finally get its due.

The website lists 5 brews on tap: an amber ale, an American wheat ale, two IPAs, and Porterton Pinker. Now wait just a minute. Old IP-Abe is named after Old Abe, the bald eagle that served as mascot of the 8th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. Didn't Wisconsin Brewing Company have an IPA named after him too? Indeed they did - Yankee Buzzard.

I think that a visit to North of the Bayou is needed.

With Rue Bourre just down the road a piece, Cottage Grove Road is now ground zero for Cajun food in Madison.

Some classic Summerfest footage

Some music-loving, Super8 converting soul has posted some Summerfest footage from way back in 1971. Sadly it's silent. Still, pretty neat. Was there only one stage back then?

St. Patrick's Day brew

While I didn't make corned beef and cabbage yesterday and instead cooked up some jerk chicken, I did have an Irish-style beer. Tasty stuff. Not too sweet, nice hoppiness.

The Camera Rye: Choice Rye Lager by Pipeworks Brewing Co.

The other day I had a conversation with a friend of mine about bread. We discussed the art and science of making it and both of us admitted to lacking the requisite abilities to make a good loaf of the Staff of Life. At one point I opined that rye bread is the tastiest and my friend agreed. Knowing that I had fellow ryeophile was heartening.

My love of the grain borders on the monomaniacal though I am developing a love for buckwheat. Regardless, I seek out rye bread and Gardetto's rye chips, was near ecstatic upon discovering that Origin Breads here in Madison offers a Sourdough Rye Dark Chocolate Brownie, and still lament years after the fact that Nabisco discontinued their rye Triscuits and that Snyder's did the same with their Pumpernickel & Onion pretzels. Plus I buy any beer with rye that isn't an IPA.

My M.O. was on full display back in January at the Binny's in Schaumburg - this was the stop where I found that Viking beer from Old Irving Brewing - when I spied Pipeworks' rye lager. What luck! A couple months previously at a Binny's I had found Phase Three's Rye Lager and then I find another. Gambrinus was truly smiling down upon me.

With two varieties of Rauchbier, a Helles, and that Pastrami on Rye beer with both rye and smoked malts, the venerable Chicago brewery was already a favorite but a rye lager put Pipeworks into my even gooder graces. They understand that beer is, metaphysically speaking, about fermenting sugars culled from grains and not about hops that taste like tropical fruits.

 

I really lucked out as I was able to capture the lovely off-white head that topped my glass in a photograph for a change. It sat atop the clear, amber liquid for a good while. A modicum of bubbles were to be seen inside. The aroma was positively delightful with the malts giving spicy, earthy rye and bready notes while the hops contributed green, hay-like smells. Either there was no canned/best by date on the can or there was one but in a cryptic code instead of a date but my guess is that my 4-pack was not old as this stuff just smelled fresh to my nose.

 

My first sip revealed a medium-light body with a healthy fizziness. The rye contributed its lovely earthy-spicy flavor while the barley had a cracker taste. I also detected a slight caramel sweetness. The hops seemed to add a peppery flavor. All the malt flavors lingered only briefly after swallowing as the spicy hops offered a medium level of bitterness and a fairly dry denouement.

 

For once we have some truth in advertising. Pipeworks wasn't lying when they named this beer "Choice" because this is one toothsome brew. The restrained sweetness allowed the piquant rye flavor to shine. And credit to the hops as well with their complementary spiciness that was the perfect balance to the grains and made for a refreshing finish to boot.

 

Junk food pairing: You can't go wrong by pairing this fine rye lager with a bag of Herr's Cheddar Horseradish potato chips and a tub of Helluva Good!'s Bacon Horseradish dip.

The first signs of spring

First I saw 2 robins. Then I heard and finally saw several red-winged black birds. A killdeer sighting came next. This was followed by the sight of orange barrels along the interstate. And now Just Coffee's spring seasonal, Early Bird, a mighty tasty coffee.

Join together with the prog band

Last week I discovered a Madison band called Golden Joining that play "eclectic progressive rock". And I did so by scanning Crucible's schedule. I told you it was a prog-friendly venue!

They played Crucible yesterday but I was not there. However, they have a gig coming up on 2 May at Gamma Ray. Check them out.

The ritual Maibock

I had my first Capital Maibock of the season over the weekend and it was tasty. As best as I can recall, this was the first microbrew I ever tasted ergo it will always have a special place in my liver and I endeavor to have some every spring.

The Horror at the Little Free Library

After my Seventh Doctor bluray set arrived I set out to my favorite Little Free Library to donate my DVD copy of "Remembrance of the Daleks". And now that I think about it, I seem to recall owning "The Greatest Show in the Galaxy" as well so now I have to go take a look to see if I need to make a second donation.

Just look at the books that I found there.

Arthur Machen! Robert E. Howard! Edgar Allen Poe! Douglas Adams! Arthur C. Clarke!

I initially became enamored of the Library because someone made sure there was always at least one Stanislaw Lem book in there whenever I peeked in and now it's early/Gothic horror.

Goodbye Birnam Wood

When listening to the new Jethro Tull album, I came to the song "Dunsinane Hill" and found that the word "Dunsinane" rang a bell - outside of Shakespeare and in a more Tullian way. It took me a few days but I finally recalled that the band had performed an instrumental called "Birnam Wood To Dunsinane" at some shows back in 2007.

Well, it appears that the new tune is the old one with lyrics added, by and large. Take a listen.

I was unable to find "Birnam Wood To Dunsinane" as a standalone Youtube video and have tried to embed a video of a full concert that contains it starting at the desired song. Since I am shite with HTML, know that the tune begins at 38:54.

 

And here's the new version.

Another new song from Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson

Another tune from Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson has been released: "Marching Jaybird". I am really looking forward to their What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow album which comes out next month.

Foraging in Fitchburg: Blackberry Grape Kombucha by Forage Kombucha

Having sampled all of the Soul Brews available to me, I looked once again to Madison for more kombucha to taste and blather on about. I had intended to dig into the brews of Rude Brew Kombucha but they were no longer on the shelves at the Willy Street Coop or, at least the one on the north side. I would swear I've seen their teas there in the past couple months but there wasn't even an empty bit of shelf space with a sticker giving the prices of the absent brews. Their website is gone as the domain has expired. Does it still exist?

And so I perused the shelves in search of another local kombucha and came upon the teas of Forage which is brewed by our neighbors to the south in Fitchburg, a suburb of Madison.

Forage puts their teas into lovely, colorful cans and taking one from the shelf and laying it in my basket made me feel like I was going to abscond with a bit of summer, as if one can put sunny skies, sweltering heat, and road construction into a can.

I went with their Blackberry Grape for no particular reason. I suspect that it was at either side of the shelf and I decided to start at that end and make my way to the other.

The tea was a hazy light purple. Its aroma smelled tangy sour, at first, and then my nose was greeted by blackberry followed by something I can only characterize as an indistinct fruitiness. I smelled fruit but I couldn't really discern which ones. Finally there was a tad of the floral. Certainly not a bad start.

Taking a sip, I found it had some really nice fizz to it with a light body and not much sweetness. A firm tang was accompanied by a herbal tea taste, a mellow fruitiness, and another tad of the floral. Normally I don't look at the ingredients list until I am done sampling but there are times when I look at it mid-tasting. Such was the case here.

I was not surprised to see hibiscus near the top of the list. So that's where that floral taste comes from. I was, however, surprised to see red wine grape skins & blackberry flavor towards the bottom as well as the fact that genuine blackberries were absent. (Same with lychee - "flavor" only.) Closer to the front of the line were currants, schisandra, and guayusa. What the heck are schisandra, and guayusa?

Schisandra is a climbing vine that Wikipedia says is native to North America and I presume its fruit was used here. Guayusa, on the other hand, is an Amazonian holly tree whose leaves are used to prepare a tea.

The finish was fairly dry in a tanniny way and I was able to taste the lychee flavor. I also tasted herbal tea and a hint of hibiscus in addition to a general fruitiness that lingered.

With all the fruits and the flavors, the two types of tea (black and green), and those exotic berries & leaves, I was rather surprised that everything seemed to be in balance. There wasn't really any single flavor that stood out; instead it made for a nice gestalt. It was also not particularly sweet, which I really appreciated. The fizz was the perfect amount, there was a very nice tanginess to it, and this brew had a tasty fruity-botanical combination. Oh, and there was no SCOBY.

My gripe is, that for a drink that is touted as organic and probiotic, whose maker always uses "pure ingredients", and, in general, is touted as natural and healthy, the use of blackberry flavor and lychee flavor is disappointing. I much prefer that real fruit be used. (Do these flavorings come from Amoretti?) I find is disingenuous to put blackberries on your label when you only use blackberry flavor.

The Rauch: Rauchbier by Dovetail

It's a shame that the Steve's Liquor out on Junction Road is on the far west side instead of the more fashionable east side where I live. This is because that store is a reliable source of the elixir that is rauchbier. They always have Schlenkerla's Helles available, if nothing else, and are happy to stock rauchbiers from whomever may distribute them to Madison and not just Schlenkerla. Last year I recall going in and finding they had a rather nice selection of Schlenkerla's smoky brews.

On a more recent stop, I found some of Dovetail's Rauchbier which only has to make the trip from Chicago and not across the ocean from Bamberg. (Though I didn't see the Fastenbier on my this visit. But, it's not too late as it's still Lent.) I tasted it several years ago when I took a trek out to Ravenswood and stopped in at the brewery. Sadly, I had never seen it on a Madison shelf until now and had somehow always missed it on my various stops at Binny's.

It has been the Mr. Snuffleupagus of brews. The Dovetail website declares it's Rauchbier season and the Binny's website says, "Oh yeah, we've got some." Yet it's nowhere to be seen when I am wandering the aisles. It's as if another rauchhead always buys that last 4-pack just before I walk in the door so I just miss it by mere seconds.

And thusly I was thrilled to see it here in Madison.

My recollection of having drunk it several years back does not extend beyond "Ooh! This stuff is amber and tasty." so there was this sense of tasting it for the first time all over again.

The big tan head of loose foam that topped my pour lasted a goodly amount of time so you are able to see it in my photograph. The beer was clear and had a deep amber hue. Lots of bubbles were to be seen inside. Oh mama, did I smell the smoke! Others seem to describe every rauchbier they encounter as smelling and tasting like bacon. Yet no one seems to describe smoked beef brisket as smelling or tasting like bacon. Who among us thinks smoked cheddar has any bacon-like qualities? Does anyone add smoked paprika to their food thinking it will add the aroma and flavor of bacon?

It's just this beer piety that most people accept and generally ends further attempts to really dig into what the malt is laying down for your palate.

Here the smokiness is distinctly unbaconlike and more akin to smoked Swiss cheese. There was also plum in the aroma as well as a herbal hoppiness.

This stuff had a really nice fizziness and a big dose of rauch caressed my tongue into a smoky bliss. I also tasted a bit of caramel, though this was not a particularly sweet brew, some mild stone fruit, and a bit of bread. Oh, and those herbal hops added a nice bit of balance.

The smokiness lingered on the finish a bit before a wave of hops came in to provide what I thought was a moderate bitterness and slightly more dryness. This is not a particularly hoppy beer but there was enough to balance all those malt flavors and I liked how they came in and washed the smoke away.

Sehr schön! The smoky taste was the star of the show here with a clean, sharp flavor not dulled by sweetness. My hypothesis is that sweetness makes for a heavier taste that mimics fat in some way and gives rise to comparisons to bacon. Without the sweetness, the smoke flavor is cleaner and more woody and leans towards the fuliginous.

And thus ends my hypothesizing for today.

But, in truth, I loved all the malty flavors, especially that bit of bread. I wouldn't have minded a little more hoppiness but, as it is, they offered balance and a nice herbal-spicy flavor. The bitterness was nice on the finish too. Just a great mix of flavors.

Junk food pairing: Bleu cheese is the perfect pairing for your Rauchbier and I recommend grabbing a bag of Buffalo Blue Cheese Combos. The spicy heat complements the hops while the creamy, earthy taste of the cheese brings out new, albeit subtle, dimensions to the smoke.

Hot For Teacher's Aid: Teacher's Aid by Soul Brew Kombucha

I went back to see if I could find out which Soul Brew flavors my Frau selected back in 2022 when we first encountered their kombucha at Milwaukee's South Shore Farmers Market and found this:

Aren't they pretty?

Teacher's Aid is the third and final flavor I've seen at the Willy Street Co-op and the subject of this post. I recall enjoying the other flavor, Cherry Bomb, and hope it becomes available again. Perhaps it's only available during the summer. Cherry season in Wisconsin is June/July, after all, though I suppose they can be sourced from somewhere out west at other times.

Soul Brew's website is unavailable right now so I cannot find out what other flavors they offer and when they might be available, if not year-round. And so this looks to be my final Soul Brew review, for now.

 

When I opened my bottle I heard a brief sploosh sound as if a wee depth charge has gone off inside and bubbles came rushing up and out of the mouth. It wasn't like shaking a can of soda and opening it but a more leisurely rush of foam - like how people exit a building during a test of the fire alarm system as opposed to there being a genuine fire. I'd never encountered this with kombucha before. Heck, with any carbonated drink to my recollection. I swear I had treated the bottle gently. I swear!

 

The brew was a hazy light red and less brown than my photo portrays. There were plenty of bubbles inside. I received a big burst of cinnamon when I put my nose to the glass. This was followed by a nice vinegar tanginess and a small dose of berry which the labels informs me was elderberry.

 

My tongue received a large dose of fizz on my first sip, which was not surprising considering all of those bubbles I spied with my little eye. Cinnamon came next which was again not surprising as it was so prominent in the aroma. It had a delicious sweet-tart flavor which featured that elderberry along with some tasty floral something - hibiscus, said the label. This wonderful 1-2 of elderberry and hibiscus became more prominent as the tea warmed, though that spicy cinnamon remained at the fore.

 

The fruity, floral, and even cinnamon flavors quickly dissipated on the finish leaving a nice tang that was accompanied by a fine tannin dryness. As the tea threw off its chill, Soul Brew's distinctive lemon-mint combo added a hint of briskness to my tongue as the liquid made its way down my gullet.

 

My notes say that the ingredient list didn't have any flavored teas so it appears that the lemon flavor came from lemons and the elderberry goodness came from genuine elderberries. Oddly there was no SCOBY. How do they get a small disc of bacteria and yeast into each bottle? Is there a machine that does that? A SCOBY Inserter, perhaps?

 

Teacher's Aid was very good. I personally would like to have a little less cinnamon in the recipe to allow the fruit-floral combo to come through a bit more. However, I would still gladly drink this brew again.

What the hell is WisDOT doing in Kenosha?!

 

 

 At least the bathroom is clean.