He’Brew Genesis 10:10
March 20th, 2009 beckelAnother busy week and hopefully another delightful beer from the fine people of Shmaltz Brewing Company. This beer was brewed for their 10th anniversary and as it is over two years old now I must say it is a miracle I found a bottle at Zipps Liquor. Though not quite as insane of an ingredient list as Jewbelation 12 [review] Genesis 10:10 was brewed with 2-row, Caramel 40, Munich, Black Malt, Wheat, and Dark Crystal 80 Malts as well as Warrior, Centennial, Cascade, Willamette, Simcoe, Crystal and Mt. Hood hops oh and did I mention, 10,000 pomegranates. According to Jewish tradition pomegranates symbolize righteousness so lets get into this righteous ale! Pours an attractive dark apricot color that is a bit hazy and not penetrated by light. Two finger head is off white and leaves a good amount of lacing around the glass, though most of the bubbles dissipate with in a few minutes. The aroma of this beer makes me hungry, but I think that is because I haven’t eaten a proper meal all day. Smelling strongly of fruit juices, slightly fermented pomegranates are easy to identify and are accompanied by some other orange like citrus and an unexpected ginger like spice scent on top of a nice malt base. Very interesting, I really wish I had sampled this beer when it came out so I could compare how the flavors have changed but I have no real excuse to complain. The flavors I get from this beer initially are a variety of sweet malts with an interesting bitter hop taste hidden towards the middle of the flavor which is quickly subdued by the tart pomegranate finish. The many sweet malts in this beer are balanced quite well by the sour pomegranate present giving it a surprisingly smooth mouthfeel. The body is medium and this is certainly a drinkable ale even at a hefty 10% ABV you won’t notice too much alcohol. The malts in this beer have certainly matured over their 2+ years and the addition of fruit certainly creates some interesting extra flavors that are hard to single out. As it warms the pomegranate flavors start to take on more characteristics of dark pitted fruits such as dates which adds a very nice balancing component. Overall this is a tasty brew that further encourages me to try their Origin Pomegranate Ale which is brewed year round beer and an offspring of Genesis 10:10. Not that you can find it anymore but people who enjoy a malty beer and fermented fruit flavors as well will most likely enjoy this beer. In unrelated news I finally purchased a new camera after using an almost decade old digital camera it will be a nice change to be able to take a picture and not wait close to 30 seconds before I can take another one, not to mention the increase in mega pixels by over 12x, hopefully my beer pictures look better now. So go ride your bike, even if it’s raining out and a titty bit nippley.