Shmaltz Brewing

Blockhead Gets Barrel Aged. Go Get It.

Shmaltz Brewing has just released a barrel aged edition of Human Blockhead.  The beer has almost become iconic, featuring Donny Vomit, a human pin cushion and part of the real Coney Island Freakshow. (And a nice guy to boot, with Continue Reading →

Shmaltz Brewing He’Brew Lenny’s R.I.P.A.

Shmaltz Brewing Lenny’s R.I.P.A.

“Satire equals tragedy plus time.”
Lenny Bruce

Emmis, Shmuck! 40 years alive. Over 40 years dead. And shares of Lenny Bruce commodities are still long-term performers – solid! Sure there’s been books, posters, films, plays, a box set of course. Continue Reading →

Shmaltz Brewing He’Brew Origin Pomegranate Ale

Shmaltz Brewing’s He’brew Origin Ale.  Brewed with pomegranate.

In the Greek myth of Persephone’s abduction by Hades, lord of the underworld, the pomegranate represents life, regeneration, marriage, perhaps the seasons… contradictory versions, way too convoluted for a beer flyer-googleit! – The Continue Reading →

Cocoa Nibs, Vanilla & Chilies To Fight Bone Cancer

 

Virginia McLean, partner in the Reunion project, died from complications from multiple myeloma in June, 2007.   She had a fantastic quote “Cancer can cause my death, but it can only take my life if I give it that.” Virginia is the inspiration for the Reunion project, a way to drink good beer and raise money for the Institute for & Bone Cancer Research.  100% of the proceeds go straight to IMBCR. (www.imbcr.org)  This Institute works to prolong the life of individuals suffering from the currently incurable form of bone cancer, and hopes to one day find a cure. This institute does not have a huge operating budget — and proceeds from this Reunion project really make a difference.

The 2011 edition of Reunion features some new people in the collaboration – Shmaltz Brewing & Olive & Sinclair.  Shmaltz needs no introduction, but you previously met Olive & Sinclair & their chocolate in Terrapin’s “Moo Hoo” released last fall.  Reunion Ale 2011 is a dark ale brewed with Cocoa Nibs, Vanilla, & chili peppers.

Introducing Shmaltz Hop Manna

<UPDATE 4/29:> Hop Manna was made only for special brewclubs nationally & internal tastings.  Shmaltz doesn’t have the capacity/time to brew this for normal distribution.  Based on it’s success, you could see this beer go into distribution in 2012.

Shmaltz Brewing is Continue Reading →

Coney Island Human Blockhead

Shmaltz Brewing’s Coney Island Human Blockhead.

Pound for Pound the Blockhead is a true professional. Penetrate the senses. Engage the brain. Propel towards the palate. Try this at home or your favorite drinking hole. Purely for your amusement.

Style: Doppelbock
Availability: 22oz bombers, Continue Reading →

Posted in New Releases, Shmaltz Brewing

Blockhead Gets Barrel Aged. Go Get It.

Coney Island Barrel-Aged Blockhead

Shmaltz Brewing has just released a barrel aged edition of Human Blockhead.  The beer has almost become iconic, featuring Donny Vomit, a human pin cushion and part of the real Coney Island Freakshow. (And a nice guy to boot, with and without things up his nose.) Human Blockhead is assertive doppelbock even before it finds it’s way into bourbon barrels.

Barrel-Aged Coney Island Human Blockhead® features eight specialty malts of barley, wheat, rye and oats, and six hop varieties ranging from European Noble roots to American Pacific Northwest new school flavors. An imperial American bock aged in fresh first-use Buffalo Trace Bourbon Barrels, Human Blockhead’s® enormously developed body is rounded out by flavors of oaky deliciousness.

Style: Doppelbock (Barrel Aged)
Hops: Crystal, Liberty, Cascade, Warrior,Tettnang,
Malts: Specialty 2 Row, Munich, Vienna, Crystal Rye, Pale Crystal, Flaked Oats, Rye Ale

Availability: 22oz bombers. 4th Release in barrel aged series

10% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in New Beers, Shmaltz Brewing

Shmaltz Brewing He’Brew Lenny’s R.I.P.A.

Shmaltz Brewing Lenny's RIPAShmaltz Brewing Lenny’s R.I.P.A.

“Satire equals tragedy plus time.”
Lenny Bruce

Emmis, Shmuck! 40 years alive. Over 40 years dead. And shares of Lenny Bruce commodities are still long-term performers – solid! Sure there’s been books, posters, films, plays, a box set of course. But the big Four-O inspires innovation, something hip, modern – unorthodox – a taste that really swings…

Ladies and Gentlemen, Shmaltz Brewing Co. is proud to present Bittersweet Lenny’s R.I.P.A. Brewed with an obscene amount of malts and hops. Shocking flavors – far beyond contemporary community standards. We cooked up the straight dope for the growing minyans of our nation’s Radical Beer junkies. Judges may not be able to define “Radical Beer,” but you’ll damn well know it when you taste it. Bruce died, officially declared a pauper by the State of California, personally broken and financially bankrupt simply for challenging America’s moral hypocrisies with words. The memorial playbill read: “Yes, we killed him. Because he picked on the wrong god.” –Directed by, the Courts, the Cops, the Church… and his own self-destructive super ego. Like Noah lying naked and loaded in his tent after the apocalyptic deluge: a witness, a patron saint, a father of what was to come. Sick, Dirty, Prophetic Lenny: a scapegoat, a martyr, a supreme inspiration.

From Burlesque to Broadway, Carnegie Hall to the Courtroom, Long Island to Lima, Ohio to L.A., savor the provocative spirit of Lenny’s R.I.P.A., our HE’BREW monument to the richness, the bitterness and the sacred sweetness that is life… L’Chaim!

Style: Imperial IPA
Hops: Warrior, Cascade, Simcoe, Crystal, Chinook, Amarillo, Centennial. Dry Hopped with Simcoe, Amarillo and Crystal
Malts: 2-row, Rye Ale Malt, Torrified Rye, Crystal Rye 75, Crystal Malt 80, Wheat, Kiln Amber, CaraMunich 60
Availability: 12 oz bottles, 22 oz bombers, Draft.

 10% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in New Beers, Shmaltz Brewing

Shmaltz Brewing He’Brew Origin Pomegranate Ale

Hebrew OriginShmaltz Brewing’s He’brew Origin Ale.  Brewed with pomegranate.

In the Greek myth of Persephone’s abduction by Hades, lord of the underworld, the pomegranate represents life, regeneration, marriage, perhaps the seasons… contradictory versions, way too convoluted for a beer flyer-googleit! – The pomegranate gave its name to the Hand Grenade from its shape and size (and the resemblance of its seeds to a grenade’s fragments) – Although not native to Japan, the pomegranate is widely used for bonsai, because of its lovely flowers and for the unusual twisted bark that older specimens can attain. – St. John of the Cross made the pomegranate seeds the symbol of divine perfection. – The Pueblo believed that those who witnessed the ingestion of the arils were blessed with powers of divination. – In China the pomegranate is widely represented in ceramic art symbolizing fertility and abundance. A picture of a ripe open pomegranate is a popular wedding present. – In ancient Rome newlywed women wore headdresses made from pomegranate twigs, and its juice was consumed as a remedy for infertility. – Among the Bedouins of the Middle East, after a wedding, a fine specimen of pomegranate is split open by the groom as he and his bride open the flap of their tent or enter the door of their house. Abundant seeds ensure that the couple who eat it will have many children. – In Buddhism, along with the citrus and the peach, the pomegranate is one of the three blessed fruits, often represent the essence of favorable influences. – The heavenly paradise of the Koran describes four gardens with shade, springs, and fruit, including the pomegranate. Legend holds that each pomegranate contains one seed that has come down from paradise. – Since the rind of the fruit is tough, but the juice sweet, the pomegranate came to symbolize the priest; severe on the outside, indulgent on the inside. – In Christian art, the pomegranate often found in paintings of the Virgin and Child symbolizes resurrection and life. – The Song of Solomon compares the cheeks of a bride behind her veil to the two halves of a pomegranate. – The Qu’ran mentions pomegranates three times – twice as examples of the good things God creates, once as a fruit found in the Garden of Paradise. – In some parts of the world, it’s believed that Eve tempted Adam with a pomegranate. – “Or from Browning some ‘Pomegranate’, which if cut deep down the middle / Shows a heart within blood-tinctured, of a veined humanity.” -Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Lady Geraldine’s Courtship – Medieval representations of the pomegranate tree were associated with the end of a unicorn hunt. The captured unicorn appears to be bleeding from wounds that are pomegranate seeds dripping blood red juices on his milk white body. Wild and uncontrollable by nature, unicorns can be tamed only by virgins. Once tamed, the unicorn was chained to a pomegranate tree. – Etymology: The genus name, Punica is after the Phoenicians, who spread its cultivation, partly for religious reasons. Its species name granatum derives from the Latin adjective granatus, meaning ‘grainy’. However, in classical Latin the species name was malum punicum or malum granatum, where “malum” is an apple. This has influenced the common name for pomegranate in many languages (e.g. German Granatapfel, seeded apple). Even “pomegranate” itself has this meaning; pomum is Latin for apple. – In “The Persian War,” Herodotus writes of golden pomegranates adorning the spears of warriors in the Persian phalanx. – The pomegranate was chosen as the logo for the Millennium Festival of Medicine from a shortlist that included DNA, the human body, and a heart beat. – The British Medical Association and three royal colleges feature the pomegranate in their coats of arms. The Royal College of Physicians of London had adopted it in their coat of arms by the middle of the sixteenth century. – The use of pomegranate rind and root bark as a treatment for tapeworm infestation (“Latas tineas ventris”) was recommended by several early Roman medical writers and is still listed as a treatment for tapeworms and diarrhea in a current encyclopedia of medicinal plants. – Dioscorides describes some of them: “All sorts of pomegranates are of a pleasant taste and good for ye stomach…The juice of the kernels prest out, being sod and mixed with Honey, are good for the ulcers that are in ye mouth and in ye Genitals and ye paines of ye eares, and for the griefs in ye nostrils”.

Style: American Strong Ale (w/ pomegranates)
Availability: 22oz bombers, Draft

8% ABV 

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Coming Soon, Shmaltz Brewing, Terrapin Beer Company

Cocoa Nibs, Vanilla & Chilies To Fight Bone Cancer

Virginia McLean, partner in the Reunion project, died from complications from multiple myeloma in June, 2007.   She had a fantastic quote “Cancer can cause my death, but it can only take my life if I give it that.” Virginia is the inspiration for the Reunion project, a way to drink good beer and raise money for the Institute for & Bone Cancer Research.  100% of the proceeds go straight to IMBCR. (www.imbcr.org)  This Institute works to prolong the life of individuals suffering from the currently incurable form of bone cancer, and hopes to one day find a cure. This institute does not have a huge operating budget — and proceeds from this Reunion project really make a difference.

The 2011 edition of Reunion features some new people in the collaboration – Shmaltz Brewing & Olive & Sinclair.  Shmaltz needs no introduction, but you previously met Olive & Sinclair & their chocolate in Terrapin’s “Moo Hoo” released last fall.  Reunion Ale 2011 is a dark ale brewed with Cocoa Nibs, Vanilla, & chili peppers.

Label:
Teaming up with Shmaltz Brewing for the first time, Terrapin Beer Co. returns for a third year as a production partner for Reunion ’11. We brew Reunion each year in memory of our dear friend and partner in this venture — Virginia MacLean. Virginia lost her battle with Multiple Myeloma in 2007. It was her wish that we continue to raise funds and awareness on behalf of The Institute for Myeloma and Bone Cancer Research (www.imbcr.org).

This year’s beer is a dark ale brewed with cocoa nibs, vanilla and chili peppers. It was inspired by a fantastic dessert that we used to share with Virginia at our favorite restaurant. This brown ale leads with a sweet and subtle spicy aroma. The flavor begins with complex malt overtones and quickly gives way to a chocolate and vanilla mix of satisfying bliss. Just when you thought it was over, the heat from the chilies sneaks in and coats your tongue with tantalizing heat.

Many thanks to all who have supported this project and have helped us honor Virginia’s memory.
Cheers — Pete and Alan

Availability: 220z bombers, draft.  Released annually, style changes each year.

7.6% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Beer History, Beer News, Shmaltz Brewing

George Washington’s “Small Beer” Brewed Again

A beer George Washington drank before sending the English packing for good has been brewed again.  Among the collected writing of America’s first president was a handwritten recipe for “small beer” from 1757.  The New York Public Library is in possession of this recipe.  It was in a notebook from when he was a Colonel in Virginia. The recipe reads:

Take a large Siffer [Sifter] full of Bran Hops to your Taste. — Boil these 3 hours then strain out 30 Gall[ons] into a cooler put in 3 Gall[ons] Molasses while the Beer is Scalding hot or rather draw the Melasses into the cooler & St[r]ain the Beer on it while boiling Hot. let this stand till it is little more than Blood warm then put in a quart of Yea[s]t if the Weather is very Cold cover it over with a Blank[et] & let it Work in the Cooler 24 hours then put it into the Cask — leave the bung open till it is almost don[e] Working — Bottle it that day Week it was Brewed.

The recipe resembles a porter, no doubt drawing from English roots.  Shmaltz/Coney Island Brewing will be recreating this original recipe for The New York Public Library’s 100th Anniversary.  Only 15 gallons will be created, with half staying true to the original recipe & half using malted barley instead of molasses. The name? “Fortitude’s Founding Father Brew”. Washington was a well known beer drinker, & home brewer. It is mentioned that upon British troops leaving New York, Washington celebrated with a pint at Bull’s Head Tavern.  <MSNBC, Dailymail.co.uk>

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Coming Soon, Shmaltz Brewing

Introducing Shmaltz Hop Manna

<UPDATE 4/29:> Hop Manna was made only for special brewclubs nationally & internal tastings.  Shmaltz doesn’t have the capacity/time to brew this for normal distribution.  Based on it’s success, you could see this beer go into distribution in 2012.

Shmaltz Brewing is soon to release Hop Manna, an American IPA.  The label indicates this IPA is dry hopped with Cascade, Crystal, & Amarillo.  Of course Manna is certified Kosher.  What’s a Shmaltz label without Jeremy Cowan’s amazing writing:

In the book of Exodus, the ancient Hebrews survived 400 years of bondage before the ultimate supreme court dropped the 10 deadly Plagues on the land of the taskmasters and its head dictator, the Pharaoh.  Even then, only the begrudgingly, did he Let My People Go.  The freedom ride across, nay through the sea left a band of wandering nomads broke and suffering, no doubt with a mighty thirst and profound hunger.  Enter the Manna: a glorious gift to nourish body and soul.  Manna was said to combine the tastes of everything delicious to each person, depending on the desires of the one experiencing it.  And as the Good Book says, Each shall gather according to one’s need and shall enjoy a double portion to get through thy chosen day of rest.  Manna fed the entire tribe, but tradition suggests the righteous received manna ground in a heavenly mill, wile the wicked had to grind it below for themselves.  Perhaps we’ll let the brewers decide who’s been naughty or nice…

Hear o’Tribe of Shmaltz…Behold! A celebration of the flower of the craft beer revolution! A golden opportunity to feed your inner hop head and rejoice in Hop Manna, our newest delicacy of the modern He’brew Beer family.  L’Chaim!

Style: American IPA
Availability: 22oz bombers.

6.8% ABV
65 IBUs

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Shmaltz Brewing

Coney Island Human Blockhead

Shmaltz Brewing’s Coney Island Human Blockhead.

Pound for Pound the Blockhead is a true professional. Penetrate the senses. Engage the brain. Propel towards the palate. Try this at home or your favorite drinking hole. Purely for your amusement.

Style: Doppelbock
Availability: 22oz bombers, Draft

10% ABV 

by Reid Ramsay