Beer Review of the Week: Swamphead Brewery: My Thai

Swamphead Brewery, (Gainsville Florida): Found at the ABC Stores Growler Section.     

This week we stay in the state of Florida and travel over to Gainsville... and sampled Swamp Head Brewery's My Thai, A decent beer with some surprise as you let it warm up.

Aroma: Hard to tell definitely some pine, its a bit yeasty, but overall:l pleasant.

Appearance: Nice solid looking IPA. Not much head. Looks like Amber Honey.

Flavor: This beer tastes good around 50 degrees... the flavors come out and then whop there it is a tickle to the back of the throat from the Thai Chilis. Yum. The Kafir lime does coat the mouth well. And the Ginger adds just the right balance to give it more than a yum. This beer builds into a beautiful shenpa (the process of getting hooked), and then is savored the more. This beer deserves kindness and patience as the craftsmanship is truly present. Someone whom does not appreciate finesse will miss the beauty of the overall beer. It is a subtle beauty that in time was worth the patience.

Compared to the Jai Alai by Cigar City brewing it took more time to enjoy... but once I got that flavor... it truly is a memorable beer.   Served with a burrito from Chipolte.

Beer Review: Cubano Style Espresso Brown Ale

It was short of a masterpiece; but the attempt to be different and hold to the traditional brown ale style kept it afloat.

Appearance: Dark brown, not much head, it looked lively and inviting.

Smells: The scent of this beer was everything good about Tampa; espresso coffee, delicious pastries at Segundo Bakery, or just a Tampa style Cuban Media Noche- The scent invited me to Ybor City.

Taste: The Espresso really does not linger like a good coffee should, as the brown ale tradition was favored over any of the other flavors. I was hoping for more of a stout beer than this brown ale. Because a stout or a porter, can go heavier in flavor and not affect the overall beer style. I think they did a fine job of maintaining tradition with an updated twist.

Mouth Feel: The taste at first lingered on the front of the palate only and slowly worked its way to the back. I was hoping for a coated feeling from the espresso.

As I drink more of this from my growler the taste becomes ever so nice. It still is not in the 4-5 Outstanding. But its better than an average beer. Also I loved that Ybor attempted to take a brown ale and work it with heavy flavors. Does any one else do this? Or has any one attempted to do this? So I think they deserve a special mention for being daring to try and innovate the industry. But a 4-5 makes me want to shout out loud and share the good news with everyone else, this beer did not raise my shout out loud meter.

Note:

I am exploring beer and will share a number of beers in the future.   I think it is fun to learn about micro beers and then attempt to share them with my readers.   I hope you have fun reading my blog as much as I enjoy reporting the beer.  

Mazol Tov,
Gregorio Roth