Schokolade Bock, the winter seasonal from Amana, Iowa’s, Millstream Brewing Co. is a rich, flavorful brew that does Iowa’s first microbrewery proud.

Schokolade (German for chocolate) Bock pours a deep honey brown color with a tall and fluffy tan head. Its initial aroma is of sweet, roast malt with notes of coffee, chocolate and noble hops.

The lager’s initial flavor is rich malt with just a touch of sweetness and a moderate amount of roast. At mid tongue, the malt flavors take a turn toward dark fruit with notes of light fig and black cherry. Sweetness at mid tongue is very subdued.

Malt flavors are rich, but very well balanced with some subtle and true-to-style noble hop bitterness.

Those dark fruit malt flavors linger into the back of the throat, where the beer’s roastiness seems to ramp up and flavors move towards light coffee and dark cocoa.

Schokolade Bock’s finish is long and keys on roasty malt with flavors of light cocoa dominating. Complimentary notes of hop bitterness leave a pleasant taste in the mouth.

The beer is medium bodied and medium flavored and was purchased at Miller Liquor in North Sioux City, SD.

Schokolade Bock is listed at 5.2% alcohol by volume and is a welcome addition to the winter beer celler. It is recommended.

-Tim Hynds

Brothers’ Reserve Cherry Oak Doppelbock is a very highly recommended doppel, whose oak and cherry essences are so well integrated into the beer that I wonder why all doppels aren’t this flavorful.

With this beer, Widmer Brothers Brewing Company of Portland, Oregon, has achieved a wonderful balance of malt, oak and cherry. No one flavor overshadows the other and all contribute to a smooth, satisfying beer.

Cherry Oak Doppelbock pours a dark honey-brown with a quick-to-fall tan head. The beer’s aroma is of toffee malt with undertones of cherry and minor notes of oak.

This doppel’s initial flavor is of sweet caramel and toffee malts that show an incredible depth of malt flavor that gains in intensity and richness at mid-tongue.

At mid-tongue, some small but very complimentary notes of oak flavor join in. The oak is so well integrated that you really have to search your taste buds for it, for this is no oak bomb.

However, the star at mid-tongue is the beer’s cherry flavors. However, as with the oak, these flavors are subtle but oh-so-important to the complexity of the beer.

Some dark chocolate malt flavors appear at the back of the throat as well as some piney hop flavors that serve to help balance the beer’s malt.

At 9% alcohol by volume, this doppel has a pleasant alcohol warmth that shows in the beer’s finish. That finish is long and is dominated by deep, flavorful malt accentuated by oak and some light cherry notes.

Summing up this beer’s flavor profile is pretty easy. Sweet-ish malt throughout, cherry forward at mid-tongue and oak forward at the back of the throat. However, be reminded that all flavors integrate wonderfully.

My only criticism of the beer is a very slight metallic note that shows deep in the back of throat.

Brothers’ Reserve Cherry Oak Doppelbock is very highly recommended and was purchased at Miller Liquor in North Sioux City, SD.

-Tim Hynds

Warrior IPA enters the Siouxland marketplace with a fresh hop beer brewed with 100% Colorado-grown hops. My only fault with the beer is that I think the hop profile gets a little too jiggy in the finish.

Brewed by Left Hand Brewing Co. in Longmont, Colo., Warrior pours a deep golden orange with a tall, light tan head that left lots of lacing in the glass.

Its aroma is of  citrus and floral hops with an almost equal amount of caramel malt notes.

Warrior’s initial flavor is a short blast of sweet caramel malt at the tip of the tongue. The malt flavors are then overrun by strong floral and piney hop flavors at mid-tongue. However, as much as the hops overtake the malt, apparent malt flavors remain to provide a pleasant backbone for the bitterness.

Hop flavors start to get a little jiggy, turning slightly vegetal at the sides of the tongue. Those rather strong flavors increase and continue into the back of the throat.

Finish is medium in length and keys on floral and astringent hop flavors, supported by caramel malt sweetness. At the very end of Warrior’s finish, the hop flavors turn slightly soapy.

Warrior is listed at 6.6% alcohol by volume and 60 IBUs. Thankfully, the beer’s caramel malt flavors are able to support its hop profile. Because without the level of malt it has, Warrior’s finish would be akin to an astringent hop bomb.

I consider the beer to be full flavored and medium bodied.

Warrior IPA was purchased at the HyVee Wine and Spirits in South Sioux City, Nebr.

-Tim Hynds

The 2009 edition of Schell’s Snowstorm continues the trend of the New Ulm, Minn., brewery kicking out a top notch winter seasonal.

This year’s version of the beer – the style and recipe changes each year – is a Baltic porter. And, Schell’s take on the style is at once flavorful and delicate. I consider it a very accessible version of the style, but one that devotees of big malt beers can still enjoy.

However, if you are looking for a malt powerhouse, you will be disappointed.

Snowstorm pours a deep, opaque mahogany with a tall tan head that leaves lots of lacing on the glass. The beer’s initial aroma is of roast malt with some sourdough notes. Those aromas are combined with some  light cherry cola and gravelly hop scents.

Snowstorm’s initial flavor is moderate roasty malt with a modest bit of toffee sweetness.

Roasty malt flavors ramp up at mid-tongue, but is balanced with floral hop flavors that show at the sides of the tongue. Some moderate cherry cola (but not the cloying cola sweetness) flavors and anise make an appearance here.

Mouthfeel at mid-tongue is rather spritely, making the beer feel less heavy in the mouth than its flavors would otherwise lead you. It’s a feature that makes this brew go down rather easily and keeps Snowstorm from becoming a 40-weight version of the Baltic porter style.

Hop bitterness picks up slightly at the back of the throat and the malt takes on a dark fruit flavor (think light raisin and black cherry) with moderate to heavy malt roastiness.

The moderately long finish on this Baltic porter is rather dry and keys on roasty malt supported by floral hops.

I consider the 2009 edition of Snowstorm to be on the the lighter end of full flavored and medium bodied. It is highly recommended as a flavorful, but not heavy take on the Baltic porter style.

I’d love to let you know the beer’s alcohol by volume content and other stats, but Schell’s website still lists the 2008 Snowstorm (a fine Weihnachtsbier). In fact, Internet information says this beer isn’t scheduled to be released until Sunday (Nov. 1, 2009). My guess is that this beer will hover around 6% ABV. I’ll update with a comment when the information becomes available.

Schell’s Snowstorm was purchased at Miller Liquor in North Sioux City, SD.

-Tim Hynds

MILWAUKEE (AP) – How low can beer makers go? Having conquered the beer-belly set, some of the nation’s biggest brewers are trying to win over the six-pack-ab crowd with ultra-low-calorie suds.

The question is: Are drinkers willing to sacrifice flavor and a bit of the buzz? And: How long before beer gets turned back into water?

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BEIJING (AP) – Tibet’s Lhasa Beer is ramping up exports to the United States amid strong demand.

Monthly shipments will expand ten-fold from less than 100 tons to 1,000 tons by the second half of next year, Norbu Tsering, the company’s deputy general manager, told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday from the Tibetan capital.

“The distributor in the U.S said our beer sold quite well and they want us to increase our supply. We have to increase the production to meet the demand of both U.S and domestic market, as people here also have a strong demand for our beer,” Norbu Tsering said.

The company exported its first two batches to the U.S. this year, with the latest shipped to the ports in Houston, Seattle, Southern California, Northern California and North Carolina, he said.

U.S. distributor Dzambuling Imports LLC, based in El Cerrito, California, launched sales of Lhasa Beer in Texas on Aug. 3. Packaging and labels of the exported product features traditional Tibetan-style colors and images, in contrast to the more sedate look of the domestic version.

The beer’s makers market its mellow flavor produced from traditional Himalayan high mountain barley and imported hops.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Horizon Red Ale from St. Paul, Minn’s, Summit Brewing Co. is a satisfying hop-forward ale that doesn’t forget that hoppy ales need malt for balance.

Horizon Red Ale pours a ruddy brown with a tall fluffy tan head that leaves lots of lacing on the glass. Its aroma is slightly sweet malt dominated by nicely done grapefruit and orange citrus aromas.

The ale’s initial flavor is a jolt of citrus hoppiness (it’s 65-70 IBU) blended with a well balanced and slightly sweet biscuity malt flavor.

Hops and malt are well balanced at mid tongue, with the hops turning from citrus and slightly floral to pine flavored.

At the back of the throat, both hop and malt flavors take a turn. The hops move from piney to slightly resinous and the malt turns roasty with some coffee notes. These flavors were unexpected – more so the malt turning roasty  – but were very pleasant.

The medium length finish on this ale is very dry and focuses on piney hop flavors and light roasty malt.

I consider Horizon Red Ale to be medium bodied and medium flavored. I recommend it as a very worthy hop-forward ale.

Horizon is 5.7% alcohol by volume and was purchased at the Southern Hills Mall HyVee in Sioux City.

-Tim Hynds

The 2009 edition of Snowstorm, August Schell Brewing Co’s. winter seasonal, is in now in stock at Miller Liquor in North Sioux City, SD.

Snowstorm is brewed as a different style beer each year and the 2009 version is a Baltic porter.

As always, Sioux Brew encourages you to support all local retailers who are making an effort to stock quality beers.

-Tim Hynds

LONDON (AP) – Britain’s competition watchdog said Thursday it found no evidence that making pubs buy beer from the companies that own them was damaging competition, dismissing a complaint from campaigners for drinkers’ rights.

The ruling from the Office of Fair Trading, ending a months-long inquiry into the pub sector, sent pub company shares higher on the London Stock Exchange.

The Campaign for Real Ale, or CAMRA, had argued that so-called beer ties – which force pub franchise holders to buy beer from the companies that own their pub – pushed up prices at the tap and limited choice for pub patrons.

But the Office of Fair Trading said it found “generally effective competition between pubs” and would not be taking further action.

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Josef Schraedler, Director of the Weihenstephan Brewery, right, and Jim Koch,  Boston Beer Co. founder and master brewer, left, talk about beer  in the brewhouse of the Weihenstephan brewery in Freising, southern Germany, on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009. Boston Beer Co., maker of Samuel Adams, is teaming up with a venerable German brewery to jointly brew a new craft beer to be marketed in Germany and the U.S. next spring. Boston Beer CEO Jim Koch and Josef Schraedler, managing director of Weihenstephan, told The Associated Press Wednesday that their two companies have been working together for two years on the beer, which they will make and market jointly.  It has yet to be named, but will be marketed in bottles with corks instead of the usual metal caps. It will pack a punch, with 10 percent alcohol. (AP Photo/Christof Stache)

FREISING, Germany (AP) – The Boston Beer Co., maker of Samuel Adams, will team up with a venerable German brewery to jointly produce a new craft beer to be marketed in Germany and the U.S. next spring.

Boston Beer founder and master brewer Jim Koch and Josef Schraedler, managing director of Weihenstephan, told The Associated Press Wednesday that their two companies have been working together for nearly two years on the beer, which they will make and market jointly.

It has yet to be named, but will be marketed in bottles with corks instead of the usual metal caps. It will pack a punch, with more than 10 percent alcohol. Both men described it as a Champagne-like “crisp pale brew.”

The Weihenstephan brewery, owned by the state of Bavaria, dates back to 1040 when Benedictine monks began making beer at their cloister outside Munich.

The new beer will also follow Germany’s famed Reinheitsgebot, or purity law, which stipulates that beer can be brewed with only four ingredients: water, malt, hops and yeast.

“We’re creating a brand, a product that never existed before, a very premium brand” Koch told AP.

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