Mother Earth Brewing
Kinston, NC
Available: NC
Owners Stephen Hill and Trent Mooring founded Mother Earth Brewing Co. in an old building in downtown Kinston, employing green techniques at every stage of the renovation. Their commitment to environmentally low-impact business influences their brewing practices, as well.
ABV: 4.9
ABW: 3.8
Color: 16.7
Bitterness: 18
Original gravity: 1054
Determinedly dunkel: this one pours a dark chestnut brown, caps it with tan foam, and gives you aromas of malt, fresh bread/yeast, and a generally clean feel. The mouth is a bit fizzier and a bit fuller than most German dunkels I’ve had, but that’s quite suitable to American tastes (as is the slightly higher hopping). I put an extra bottle in a beef stew, and that was real good, too. Nicely done; evocative. I’m just taking Deutsche Bahn, on the Isar River line…I’m in a Munich stadt of mind.
The nearly ebony hue of this beer seems dunkel-y enough, as does the off-dry nose replete with notes of cocoa, fireplace embers and a hint of star anise thrown in for good measure. The body also satisfies those dark lager urges, with a light and chocolaty front end, full but crisply malty body kept on the dry rather than bitter side by an almost herbaceous hoppiness, and a roasty, slightly tannic finish. I’m enjoying this Bavaria-style delight so much, in fact, that I’ll forgive the brewery for slapping on the label one of my most currently reviled beer adjectives: “drinkable.”
Lew Bryson writes about beer and whiskey from his home in southeast Pennsylvania. He has a family and two dogs. That's all you need to know.
Once described as “beerdom's Brillat-Savarin,” Stephen Beaumont is the author of five books and countless articles on beer, spirits, food, travel, and how it all goes together.
