mattberan
Matt Beran
Web Page: http://www.mattberan.com
Registered Since: 2008-01-03 18:47:11
Profile: A homebrewer in Shakopee MN
Reviews by mattberan:
Summit Maibock
Week 16: Summit Maibock (April 14–20) | Reviewed on April 3rd, 2008
This is what I’ve come to expect from any beer ending in …bock. I want to say this tastes smokey. Perfect balance for malt. A little sweet on the aftertaste, but the overall taste is simply amazing. Once of the best Minnesota beers in existence.
Reminds me of…
Week 14: Schell Maifest (March 31–April 6) | Reviewed on March 31st, 2008
If there is one thing I can tell you: serve this beer cold. Ice - cold. Then, as you get further down the bottle you’ll get slightly buzzed you won’t mind the taste so much.
I’m biased. One night in college I drank a sixer of this and a 5th of peppermints schnapps and ruined a couch. Needless to say this beer brings back bad bad bad memories.
Colder the better though.
I’m giving it a three because it’s got decent flavor and no hops. I’d probably give it a two but I’m trying to make up for my bias.
Winter WHOAlock
Week 13: Flat Earth Winter Warlock (March 24–30) | Reviewed on March 24th, 2008
This is the heaviest beer I’ve had since Surly Furious. I can’t tell if it’s just the fact that Finnegans is so light, or what. This beer is like syrup. Light on the carbonation, no head to speak of. This is gonna take me about 40 minutes to drink, slowly.
Great on flavor, hop lovers love warlock.
Another balancing act, well done
Week 12: Finnegans Irish Amber (March 17–23) | Reviewed on March 10th, 2008
A very fulfilling beer, very well balanced, another one for people who hate hops and bitter. This does lack some flavor though, and comes at me as weak. The fore and mid palate are tasty but the back palate is crap, like dirty water. Could slam about 50 of these if necessary.BOO TWIST OFFS.
Standard Schell’s tribute
Week 11: Schell Pilsner (March 10–16) | Reviewed on March 9th, 2008
Schell rarely disapoints me (Please Rett consider adding Hauenstein to the list!) This beer is a great slammer with enough flavor to please picky beer people. I’d say this should be served in more bars and at more parties. A good amount of hops for people who don’t like hops. Very well balanced beer, with a slight lean toward a mid- to - end- pallate maltiness.
YAY POP TOP! Screw off caps suck.
Average Beer
Week 10: Lake Superior Special Ale (March 3–9) | Reviewed on March 8th, 2008
I was expecting a bit more (last time I read the reviews here before tasting). This is what I’d call a very classic beer. The hops are strong, but I can’t quite place what kind they are (something I’m trying to do more and more). The carbonation is a bit low and the malt very very mild. Classic Ale flavor. P.S. Boo to twist offs again. But yay that I bought a six pack, good ale.
Decent Belgian
Week 9: Brau Brothers Frame Straightener (February 25–March 2) | Reviewed on March 8th, 2008
I just got done brewing a belgian trappist clone and it turned out really stanky but light. That kind of prepared me for this. I’d say definately crisp, high malt taste, mild hops and strangely strong mid and after pallet (thus the name I assume.This is a good beer, and my first ever visit to Blue Max, I’m in love with that store! P.S. BOO for twist off bottles.
A +
Week 8: Flat Earth Cygnus X-1 (February 18-24) | Reviewed on February 28th, 2008
From start to finish, my favorite beer yet. This Beer is permanently on my top 10 beers. There’s a bit of spice in the carmelly malt. I will buy this again and again and again.
Alternate Beir
Week 6: Herkimer Meet Up, Alt Bier (February 4-10) | Reviewed on February 6th, 2008
A great lager, but only one please. It’s great body and fine flavor is only killed by the curse that is it’s sweetness. This is one of the few lagers I’ve had that is full flavored and delicious. This beer inspires me to find the darkest lager I think that will be the best lager. Some the best lagers in my mind: Stella, Lion Imperial, and Coney Island Lager. Beyond the sweetness. Beyond the syrup sticky sweetness, this beer is a tribute to lagers. Is it bottled?
A winter ale to beat.
Week 5: Summit Winter (January 28-February 3) | Reviewed on January 27th, 2008
Fantastic beer. This is exactly what I expect from a big brewer though: perfect carbonation, great flavor, still fairly light on the palette and a great, no SUPERB aftertaste; very nutty aftertaste. This reminds me a lot of nut ales, like Newcastle, Nut Brown ale, Samuel Smith and then there’s a slight taste of a pumpkin beer almost with the spiciness.
Not quite filling enough for my personal tastes, but I predict this to be the highest ranker on brew52 to date. Boo for twist-off bottles. They can’t be reused for homebrew 
Decent, I’d hit it.
Week 3: Flat Earth Belgian Pale Ale (January 14-20) | Reviewed on January 24th, 2008
Great thirsty beer. If I were back on the farm I’d slug about 20 of these down while picking rock and four right after I was done. Not the best, not the worst. I can see why some people pick this up as their fail-safe beer though.
Surly on tap
Week 4: Surly Furious (January 21-27) | Reviewed on January 23rd, 2008
The local burger-n-beer joint has Furious on tap. This beer tastes like a hop nugget with medium malt poured on it. It’s basically the epitome of homebrew flavors. I’ve never had it in cans now which disappoints me, but they served it slightly warmer than I’m used to and it really made the malt stand out more than the hops.
What amazes me is how the flavor is so distinct and defined that it stays with you, I can even remember exactly what it tasted like this morning.
Schell SnowStorm - A late entry
Week 1: Schell Snowstorm (January 1-6) | Reviewed on January 14th, 2008
My life slowed to a crawl for the first time in weeks. This gave me the opportunity to go steal one of these out of neighbor’s garage.
The best part of this beer is that it was free. The bad thing is that now my palatte has been burned in with this flavor so I’m rendered useless as a tasting machine for the night. That aside:
I like the dark malt, but it doesn’t mix well with the lack of a hops aftertaste. If they had switched hops to something stronger or increased the amount I think this would have been amazing.