HeBrew Rejewvenator 2008

Shmaltz Brewing Company
Brewed at Olde Saratoga Brewing (Mendocino Brewing Co.)
Style: American Strong Ale
San Francisco, California USA

Golden-brown. Clear, but sufficiently dark so as not to see through it. No head. Figgy aroma with date syrup, tomato and a piloncillo like dark sugar note. Soft, somewhat chewy but the sugars tone it down. Understated bitterness and a warming finish. Fits in somewhere between a dubbel and an old ale. One of Hebrew’s better efforts.

Deep brown coloured body with a thick glow and a nice sized tan head. Very fragrant pit fruit, deep fruit flavours and a good heavy dose of malt and a touch of hops. Medium-bodied; Sharp pit fruit tastes with good sweetness and an overpowering maltiness coupled with some honey tones. Overall, a nice and thick beer - showing some pit fruit flavours and a ton o fmalt. Good to try, but not my favourite. I sampled this 65 cL bottle purchased on 09-May-2008 from K&E Discount Liquor in New Paltz, New York, sampled on 20-August-2008 home in Washington, D.C.

Opaque purplish brown like garnet or pomegranate seeds. Hardly any head but what’s there is fizzy and light brown. Nose is fruity and jammy with pomegranate and cherry. Prickly, fizzy mouthfeel. Bread crust flavors: much breadier than it smells. Body is also jammy though. Can really taste the figs. A bit intense with its dark bread and fig jam flavors. Interesting.

Appearance: Pours a clear, reddish-hued body with an inch of beige head. Smell: Strong maltiness that’s both grainy, bready, and surely sweet-smelling along with a hoppy scent smelling of flowers and spice, with a lesser hint of citrus fruit. Plenty of dark fruits in the nose. Taste: Pale malts with a blend of toasted grains and dark caramel topping. More malt tastes of toffee and brown sugar as things progress. Fruitiness coming across a taste of raisins soaked in concentrated fig juice, with maybe a dash of red wine. Light touch of acidity. Continually grainy throughout. Spicy, citrusy hops with a medium bitterness, though it doesn’t quite cut through the sugar. Minor kick of booze near the warming finish. Mouthfeel: Medium-plus body. Medium carbonation. Some stickiness to the mouthfeel. Drinkability: It’s all good fun! Come on! An interesting twist of doppelbock and fruit beer. What’s not the like?

22oz bomber served in a shaker pint. Poured a deep reddish amber with a thin tan head. Some raisiny fruit in the aroma with toffee malty smells as well. Great depth of malt flavors. More toffee and molasses. Medium to full bodied with a little sweetness. Long complex malt flavors in the finish. Rich mouthfeel. Unique blend of dopplebock/old ale style maltiness. If you like malt, give this one a try.

22 oz. bomber bottle, a lengthy humorous blurb along the left side of the label, 2008 release, sampled in a tulip glass. Part doppelbock, part dubbel, infused with fig juice, this should be interesting. L: Yeast cloudy appearance, ruby hued brown in color with a tight creamy tan head that has good staying power, slowly recedes into thin sudsy ring. A light amount of splotchy lace dots ring the brim of the glass. Rejewvenator looks inviting enough with its tasty plush looking body. S: Delicious juicy fig aroma that is augmented by smells of raisins, yellow grapes and spicy dark malts. Further whiffs bring out grainy brown breads with a light trace of citrus. The alcohol has a pleasant dark sherry aroma, a desert sherry to be more precise. F: Creamy medium body with a hint of airiness, finishes dryly crisp. Rejewvenator has a lightly rich, malty feel in the mouth, smooth and rounded, the malts and yeasts stickily coat the tongue, giving the flavors a long finish. T: Interesting and complex tasting, mild hop bitterness at first, lemon and grapefruit zestiness mixed with a mild herbal spiciness, then come the malts and yeasts. Hints of cocoa, grainy breads, dark sugar crystals, raisins, grapes and candied figs, Rejewvenator is full of lush flavors. The alcohol has a dry spicy warmth that conceals its strength. The finish is a long lasting array of bittersweet flavors, roasted grains, fig juice, oily citrus peels and soft touches of spicy, minty herbs. D: Rejewvenator would make an excellent after dinner, desert beer, I think it would go great with any dark fruit or chocolate cake.

Poured dark brown/amber, quickly fading head. Not an overwhelming amount of aroma. Some faint dark fruit. Taste of burnt fig, dry roasted malts, some hops, some fruit mostly hidden beneath the burnt bitter taste. Somewhat thick and filling, but hard to get past the dry, burnt taste. Fairly easy to drink. I became somewhat bored with this beer after being so excited to try it. The fig concentrate is mostly hidden, not very forthcoming. Overall impression was bland and boring.

Bottle. Head is initially small, frothy, light brown, mostly diminishing. Body is dark amber. Aroma is moderately malty (caramel, malt syrup, roasted nuts), with notes of Bit-O-Honey candy and plum, hint of cardboard. Flavor is moderately to heavily sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly to moderately sweet, lightly acidic, moderately bitter. Medium to full body, watery/syrupy texture, lively carbonation, lightly to moderately alcoholic. Not exactly unpleasant, but rather muddled and aimless. A generic sweet, syrupy-malty brew...pretty much the definition of average.