Shmaltz Brewing Co.
Saratoga Springs, NY
Available: AK, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, KY, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, NB, NJ, NY, NC, OH, OR, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, VA, WA, WI, AL
Proceeds help Coney Island USA, a non-profit, fulfill its mission to defend lost forms of American popular arts and culture, leading the renaissance in Brooklyn’s historic Coney Island neighborhood.
ABV: 5.5
ABW: 4.4
Color: 2.6
Bitterness: 15
Original gravity: 1056
Murky, milky gold color. Brimming with spices—I'm getting orange peel, ginger and subtle anise (or possibly fennel?). The hops are toned down to not conflict with the spices, and there's a light malty bed where all these spices can cohabitate. Light finish, with the spices still lingering. Certainly entertaining and thirst quenching, but I'd actually like the spices to be a little tamer for balance and drinkability. (A little less python, a little more garter snake?)
I've come to expect almost anything from Shmaltz Brewing, and most of it done surprisingly well, but a spiced white lager? Well, it certainly has the color of a Belgian wheat, or white beer, albeit a little darker than most. The nose is sweet ginger with a hint of anise, pleasant enough, but I find the body somewhat confused, as if the spice is trying to find a home within the crisp maltiness of the beer. A slight bitterness and a whiff of strength finishes the experience, which might be likened to that of a gingered white beer crossed with a märzen.
John Hansell is an equal-opportunity drinker. He writes about beer, wine and spirits. He is the creator, publisher & editor of Malt Advocate, a magazine for the whisky enthusiast.
Stephen Beaumont boarded his first plane at the age of 15 and hasn't looked back since, obsessing about travel to the point that he gets nervous if he doesn't have a ticket or two stacked on the corner of his desk. When he’s not running around in search of new taste experiences, he makes his home in Toronto, where a new cultural experience is only as far away as the next neighborhood.
