He'Brew Messiah Bold - Shmaltz Brewing Company

BeerAdvocate

Massachusetts

3.5/5  rDev +2.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Review from BeerAdvocate Magazine June 2007.

There aren't too many KSA (Kosher Certified) beers on the market today--it's definitely a niche within a niche. We dropped in a bit of Matisyahu to listen to while we consumed this beverage. We're not sure if it helped.

Pours out as a brown-colored, amber-tinged brew, with fine clarity. Decent head retention with a spatter of clinging lace. Malty aromas of chocolate and coffee meet with a faint brown sugar center. Solid medium body with a sufficient carbonation for a brown ale. A stodgy maltiness to start, reminiscent of a light roast coffee, featuring a hint of carob and a quick flash of caramel on the taste buds. Mild on the hops with a clean floral and citric bitterness. Clean all around with a mild roasted character in the semi-dry finish.

This brown was around before brown was in, and it's a rich and delicious one at that. We did not go running to the market for gefilte fish to pair with this beer, but a slow-cooked beef brisket, potato salad and red cabbage did the trick. Cheers to Jeremy Cowan for keeping it real.

Serving type: bottle

09-27-2010 18:44:25 | More by BeerAdvocate

Todd

Massachusetts

1.73/5  rDev -49.4%
look: 4 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 1

12oz brown bottle. No freshness date, but it was recently brought into the store where it was purchased.

Pours a near black, deep brown with ruby hues. The off-white head is massive (2-3-finger thick), frothy, foaming and sticks to the glass as is slowly settles to a nice retaining lace.

Light aroma. Musty metallic with some esters of dark fruits, faint toasty toffee and smoke.

Medium bodied with a dull, but even, mouthfeel. One-dimensional malt character with an odd fruity flavor (like Kool-Aid with not enough sugar added) and moderate sweetness, faint toasty edge. A bit dirty and metallic. Hop bitterness is low to missing. There’s some hop flavor, but it’s very weak. Finish is also odd. It’s dry with tannins with a very slight smoky linger. Oxidation is definitely noticeable, with a paper-like feel and flavor throughout the entire experience.

Typical of a lot of contract brewed beers, this is a very dull beer. Quite boring actually. Says “Rich and Robust” on the label, but doesn’t deliver. Hell, it’s not even “bold.” It simply lacks any defining character.

Serving type: bottle

05-12-2005 23:56:55 | More by Todd

Rihup

Illinois

4.25/5  rDev +24.3%

06-02-2013 02:23:55 | More by Rihup

jucifer1818

Florida

4.25/5  rDev +24.3%

05-22-2013 04:13:13 | More by jucifer1818

kingmaker

Louisiana

3.5/5  rDev +2.3%

05-21-2013 00:57:47 | More by kingmaker

BColton1

Rhode Island

3.25/5  rDev -5%

05-19-2013 12:18:19 | More by BColton1

lucasj82

Indiana

3.25/5  rDev -5%

05-15-2013 01:03:53 | More by lucasj82

Bill235

Ohio

3.5/5  rDev +2.3%

05-09-2013 21:32:04 | More by Bill235

BushwyckCraft

New York

3/5  rDev -12.3%

04-14-2013 03:46:05 | More by BushwyckCraft

slay

Delaware

3.75/5  rDev +9.6%

03-25-2013 22:44:29 | More by slay

boudreaux

Alabama

2.5/5  rDev -26.9%

02-14-2013 09:36:45 | More by boudreaux

ptarmigan98

Manitoba (Canada)

3.75/5  rDev +9.6%

02-11-2013 21:27:09 | More by ptarmigan98

templar316

Pennsylvania

3.44/5  rDev +0.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Pours a deep cola colored body with a kahki head that's gone as fast as it appears. Some roasty nuts come out in the nose: cashew, maybe hazelnut . Not much going on in the flavor the malts don't really develope, I get more tea then hops. There's a little of the hazelnut in the finish but it's not enough to save this one from being average. A nice smooth finish though so you can drink a couple.

Serving type: bottle

02-07-2013 03:07:54 | More by templar316

calcnerd

Pennsylvania

3.5/5  rDev +2.3%

02-04-2013 02:53:23 | More by calcnerd

VaporDome

New York

3.25/5  rDev -5%

01-27-2013 07:39:23 | More by VaporDome

TheBrewo

Michigan

3.41/5  rDev -0.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

This beer was served on tap at The Old Toad in Rochester, NY. It arrived in a Blue Point pint glass, glowing a cola brown coloring. It held a one and a half finger head of big creamy light brown bubbles, showing great retention. Spidery patterned lacing was left around the glass as slowly disappeared. No haze or sediment was noted, and carbonation appeared average. The aroma gave pale and light caramel malts, cooked caramel candy, light honey syrups, and a soured mash of rye, dried barley, soured yeast, and lime and lemon citric hops. With warmth came creaminess and lactic acidity to play off the sweeter, oily hoppiness and sugary cherry fruitiness. Our first impression was that sour flavoring dominated along with stark roastiness for a more tangy and bitter beer than expected. The flavoring opened with roasted brown malts, chalky bitterness of barley, and dried cherry and pears. Mixing to the peak was the drying chalkiness of powdered candy, plastics, grassy hops, bittering yeast, lemon rind, adjuncty grain, and bittered choke cherries. The finish came with those same bitterly roasted malts from the beginning, with big drying chalkiness of grain, grassy hops, booze, synthetic cherry pits, light vanilla esters, and all of the bitterness of clove without much of the spice. The body was thin, and the carbonation was medium. There was decent pop and smack, but minimal slurp and cream to the lip. There is actually significant dryness from the chalkiness, giving a dirty, gritty feel to the lips and tongue, and a palpable stickiness around the mouth. The abv was fine, and the beer drank decently.

Overall, what we enjoyed most about this beer was the look and the aroma. There was a beautifully creamy head, with nicely retaining froth and lacing. The nose followed with a fresh blend of fruit, sugars, and hops, for an interesting take on a brown ale. The flavoring, however, fell short, as the bitterness impeded those aromatics from being translated into solid flavoring.

Serving type: on-tap

01-26-2013 01:04:24 | More by TheBrewo

t0rin0

California

3.5/5  rDev +2.3%

01-05-2013 03:09:54 | More by t0rin0

BeerLover99

New Jersey

3/5  rDev -12.3%

01-01-2013 19:21:44 | More by BeerLover99

jdmandel

California

4/5  rDev +17%

12-27-2012 08:48:49 | More by jdmandel

BJasny

Texas

3.5/5  rDev +2.3%

12-26-2012 00:37:38 | More by BJasny

grahamboudreaux

Tennessee

3.25/5  rDev -5%

12-20-2012 07:55:36 | More by grahamboudreaux

cliff1066

Virginia

3.25/5  rDev -5%

12-17-2012 00:30:58 | More by cliff1066

sendbeer

Georgia

1.25/5  rDev -63.5%

12-15-2012 05:53:35 | More by sendbeer

Texasfan549

Texas

3/5  rDev -12.3%

12-11-2012 22:26:41 | More by Texasfan549

kjkinsey

Texas

2.5/5  rDev -26.9%

12-08-2012 21:23:42 | More by kjkinsey