Taproom Talk

Here are pictures.  Check back for a podcast from the event.

Pretty much any beer that attaches itself to Celtic history, people, words, or folklore is worthy of a tasting and almost always the beer turns to be a winner. And so it was as I eagerly opened a bottle of Rogue’s Kells Irish Lager.

This malty smelling, amber-gold-ish beer poured with a medium head that lasted the entire tasting. The taste can simply be described as wow! This lager has an excellent taste! It’s incredibly smooth with malt undertones and a slightly peppery tang that left me savoring each sip.

The Kells Irish Lager is an excellent brew that I highly recommend imbibing. While I’m sure that the vast majority of people in Ireland have never even heard of this West Coast beer, they’d be proud to know their name is attached to this worthy drink.

Recently, I found myself having a spiritual experience sitting in a downtown Pittsburgh church. This wasn’t any normal church, however. It was once a church, but now a brewery.

Pittsburgh’s Church Brewery is a holy pilgrimage everyone should experience when visiting this fine city. Not only is the brewery’s ambiance devotedly unique, but they’ve managed to produce a few laudable beers as well.

The Blast Furnace Stout was a divine showing that evening with its malty essence and true oatmeal stout taste that had wonderfully subtle hints of oats and the prized roasted-ness of espresso. The dark Pious Monk Dunkel was also a reverent tasting with its smooth hoppy taste that had an impressively smooth finish.

But, by far, the most blessed showing of the evening was their Non Denominator doppel bock. Weighing in with a priestly alcohol content of 8.1% and 25 IBUs, this is an exceptional beer. Looking something like a stout in color, this beer poured with an impressive head and had a subtle malt taste to it that elegantly combined a warming spiciness. I also picked up hints of nuts in the taste, much like that of brown ales. The beer had an inviting finish that I could feel down to my stomach and which left me looking forward to the next sip.

There is no need to be religious to enjoy the saintly beers and hallowed ambiance of Pittsburgh’s Church Brewery; however, you may find yourself with religion once you leave and contemplate the visit’s tastings.