Beer of the Week: Holsten pils

Beer score: 3.3

Company: Holsten
ABV: 5.0
IBU: 28

Come from Hamburg, Germany, and proves not all German beers are excellent.

The color is a shade of weak piss and the smell isn't much better, that scent giving off some faint hints of corn and chemicals.

The taste is a little better, with a touch of carbonation. Has a very smooth bitter flavor with a touch of cheap sweetness.

This one reminds of typical mass-marketed beers for an American audience.

Beer of the Week: Murphy's Irish Red

Beer score: 6.4

Company: Murphy's
ABV: 5.0
IBU: 12

Coming to us from Ireland, this tasty brew has gone by a number of different names over the years. I first tasted it a couple of decades back when it was labeled "Murphy's Irish Amber," but according to my research online, that's the same beer as "Murphy's Irish Red," which I recently had the pleasure of tasting.

Pours a light copper color with red hints. Smells malty and bready with perhaps a little caramel sweetness.

To the taste, sweet with a touch of carbonation. That caramel is a little stronger in the taste, maybe with a little toffee.

Smooth enough you could drink this stuff all day long.

Beer of the Week: Curmudgeon

Beer score: 7.4

Company: Founders Brewing Company
ABV: 9.8
IBU: 50

This one had been retired in the past, but I found it back on the market recently, which is awesome.

And it's definitely something different after I've been sipping pale ales and amber ales the last few days.

The bitterness hits you right up front, but it's not too much to handle. The strong, burnt molasses smell quickly translates into a strong, burnt molasses flavor that takes a sip or two to become familiar with, but it's quite enjoyable once you know what to expect.

A touch of caramel is in the flavoring, with lots of malty sweetness.

Yes, I can recommend this beer, but it's not for novices, and I'm not sure it's something I'd want to drink regularly. Still, it's different, and it would be great for special occasions or when you want to serve something unusual to a beer-snob friend.

Books read in 2024: No. 41 -- Flavius Josephus: Eyewitness to Rome's First-Century Conquest of Judea

by Mireille Hadas-Lebel

Started: August 29

Finished: Sept. 10

Notes: Earlier this year I was reading biographies, and I've got the bug again. Here, I've read some of the works of the first-century Josephus, but I don't know much about him personally other than a bare sketch of an idea. So, I felt it time I learned more.

Mini review: Josephus turns out to be an interesting, and somewhat controversial, character of history. A Jewish priest and general in the generation after that of Jesus, Josephus had firsthand views of the Jewish war with the Romans and even the fall of Jerusalem and destruction of the Second Temple. Eventually captured by the Romans, he remained in chains for a few years but eventually became a favorite of a general who soon became emperor. Josephus then spent the rest of his life in Rome sort of as a guest of one emperor or another while working as a writer and historian. Unfortunately not all his works have survived, and we do not even know when or how he died, though he would have been an older man.

Beer of the Week: Leinenkugel's Original Beer

Beer score: 5.9

Company: Leinenkugel's
ABV: 4.7
IBU: 17

In the past I've seen this beer marketed as "Leinenkugel's Original Lager," but it's the same beer.

Over the years (okay, okay ... decades ... yeah, I'm old), I've found Leinenkugel's to have some of the better mass-marketed beers in the U.S.

This one is a good drinking brew for snobs and non-snobs alike.

Pours a nice golden color with hints of orange in the coloring. Gives off faint scents of honey and caramel.

Not sweet, but the bitterness isn't overpowering. Just a tad too much carbonation for my liking, but not enough to hurt the overall quality. There's maybe a little corn or honey in the flavoring.

Beer of the Week Blast From the Past: Coopers Black Crow

Beer score: 7.7

The Coopers Brewery from South Australia is still around, but they stopped making this beer a couple of decades ago. Too bad, because I remember liking it, as my few notes remind me.

Anyway, this one was very wet and drinkable, but it left a little of a soapy texture on my lips but not a soapy flavor (if that makes sense). It did have too much carbonation for me, but was a pretty decent beer.

Not awful. They should bring this one back. Or maybe they have but under a different name ... I shall have to investigate with my taste buds.