Sunday, June 12, 2016

Shmaltz Star Trek Vulcan Ale Review



Name: Shmaltz Star Trek Vulcan Ale
Style: India Pale Ale
ABV: 5.4%
IBUs: 45

A few months back, I reviewed Lightspeed Pale Ale in honor of the newest Star Wars movie being released that day. But did you know there's actually a Star Trek beer, as in, an officially licensed one? Yep, I give to you the Shmaltz Brewing's Vulcan Ale. It's referred to in the sub-header as The Genesis Effect Red Session IPA.

So what's the story behind this? Well, when I did some research, the first thing that came up was The Federation of Beer Brews, which is an officially sanctioned website by CBS that shows off different Star Trek themed beers from different breweries. It turns out that Vulcan Ale is one of just a few Star Trek themed beers that are made by different breweries. I have to give kudos to CBS for opting to use craft breweries to promote such a beloved franchise.

Appearance - Hazy & cloudy dark orange color with some very mild visible carbonation. The head takes on a slightly khaki-colored look and starts out about 1 finger in width but it quickly fades to a thin, semi-translucent look. There is, however, a good amount of lacing left behind.

Aroma - Strong caramel and toffee maltiness upfront with some mild piney and citrus hops right behind it.

Taste - Toffee and piney hops start things off on the front of the palate, while the middle opens up to more of that caramel maltiness. Towards the back, I'm starting to pick up on some bitter citrus hops and some mild biscuit notes. As for the aftertaste, the only thing I'm getting is just some bitter resin flavors.

It's on the maltier side of the IPA spectrum but it manages to provide a good enough hop balance to make this an easy recommendation. If this is a sign of anything, I'll be sure to check out the other Star Trek beers should they become available in my area at any point in the future.

Shmaltz Star Trek Vulcan Ale - 8/10

3 comments:

  1. Thanks Nick for beaming our brew into your Universe. The Federation of Beer is a group of Craft Beer lovers that approached CBS for a hopportunity to brew artisan ales in 2012. Since then we have shared our passion of inter stellar brews with Harvest Moon Brewery in Belt MT, Tin Man Brewing of Evansville IN, Zatecky Pivovar of Zatec, Czech Republic, Garrison Brewing of -Halifax NS, Shmaltz Brewing of NY, and most recently Clock Tower Brewing of Ottawa ON.

    The epicenter of collaboration is the annual Brewers Association Craft Brewers Conference where our friends sit down with us to discuss the next season and new episodes, styles and themes.

    Our Prime directive is to engage the sci Fi community with craft beer, to broaden the awareness of styles and to engage beer lovers to have Fun with their intrinsic geekiness.

    On this brew, we began the project to pay homage to Shmaltz's 20th Anniversary thst coincides with Star Trek's Golden Anniversary.

    HeBrew Genesis was TOB ( The Original Brew) for Shmaltz. A special recipe leveraging Star Trek's iconic Wrath of Khan - The Genesis effect was a Logical Libation to begin our celebration of Star Trek's Golden Anniversary year.

    Stay tuned for an exciting new episode that will beam into retailers and pubs across North America in July.

    Garrison Brewing has begun shipping a commemorative Star Trek 50th Golden Anniversary Ale in KHANADA and we expect communication channels from Shmaltz to announce their next Episode in short order.

    Live Long & Post!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Nick for beaming our brew into your Universe. The Federation of Beer is a group of Craft Beer lovers that approached CBS for a hopportunity to brew artisan ales in 2012. Since then we have shared our passion of inter stellar brews with Harvest Moon Brewery in Belt MT, Tin Man Brewing of Evansville IN, Zatecky Pivovar of Zatec, Czech Republic, Garrison Brewing of -Halifax NS, Shmaltz Brewing of NY, and most recently Clock Tower Brewing of Ottawa ON.

    The epicenter of collaboration is the annual Brewers Association Craft Brewers Conference where our friends sit down with us to discuss the next season and new episodes, styles and themes.

    Our Prime directive is to engage the sci Fi community with craft beer, to broaden the awareness of styles and to engage beer lovers to have Fun with their intrinsic geekiness.

    On this brew, we began the project to pay homage to Shmaltz's 20th Anniversary thst coincides with Star Trek's Golden Anniversary.

    HeBrew Genesis was TOB ( The Original Brew) for Shmaltz. A special recipe leveraging Star Trek's iconic Wrath of Khan - The Genesis effect was a Logical Libation to begin our celebration of Star Trek's Golden Anniversary year.

    Stay tuned for an exciting new episode that will beam into retailers and pubs across North America in July.

    Garrison Brewing has begun shipping a commemorative Star Trek 50th Golden Anniversary Ale in KHANADA and we expect communication channels from Shmaltz to announce their next Episode in short order.

    Live Long & Post!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for the information, I will definitely keep my eyes peeled for that!

      Delete