Belated Sunday Night Suds - Samuel Adams Alpine Spring

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Samuel Adams Alpine Spring.

[Ed note - due to a severe winter cold and an (over) abundance of caution over the OTC interaction warnings, I was unable to try this beer until Monday evening, thus necessitating a belated Sunday Night Suds posting].

I saw this beer at Beer Heaven (more formally known as Shangy's of Emmaus) while vacationing with my family in the Allentown/Harrisburg area. Since the Pennsylvania beer laws require beer stores to sell beer in 24 packs, I did not think that I would get a chance to try the Alpine Spring, as I was not going to purchase a case of the this as yet unknown beer. Luckily, the staff at Shangy's recommended a Wegman's in the vicinity where you can mix your own six packs.

The Samuel Adams website indicates that Alpine Spring is a Kellerbier which is a style that I admit to being completely unfamiliar with. Of course the gurus at BA have seen this style, which they define as:

A rather old, rare, and unique German beer style, Kellerbiers are unfiltered and unpasteurized lagers that date back to at least the Middle Ages. The beer is matured, unbunged (beer is exposed), in deep vaults. The final product is a smooth, naturally cloudy beer that's rich in vitamins (from the yeast). Hop bitterness can be high and alcohol will vary.

Now that I know that Kellerbiers are rich in vitamins, I wonder if maybe I should be imbibing this instead of OTC cold medicine. Although I don't know how well that would go over with my employers...

The Alpine Spring poured a cloudy deep orange and was unlike any lager that I have ever tasted. There was a fruitiness which was slightly reminiscent of Blue Moon (although that happens to be an ale). I have to remind myself that it is unflavored, because the citrus and spice notes from the yeast keep making think that something HAD to be added to bring out this kind of flavor.

Samuel Adams Winter Lager is under the Kosher Supervision of the Star-K. Unlike most Samuel Adams brews, this bottle has the Star-K certification mark on the label. It is not on the current Star-K LOC (http://www.star-k.org/loc/kosher_letter_6635_bostonbeercompany.pdf), but I have emailed them in the hope that this and some other new Samuel Adams brews will be added soon.

To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about the Alpine Spring, please follow this link - http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/35/76571.

As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver.

If you've tried this beer or any others which have been reviewed on the kosher beers site, please feel free to post your comments (anonymous comments are acceptable).

If you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click http://www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com/ to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Bo

The following is a brief summary of a thought said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce this vort to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.

R' Frand noted that the end of the ten makkos (the final three) appear in Parshas Bo. R' Frand quoted the sefer Milchamos Yehuda from R' Lubard who observed that the plague of Choshech - darkness, was different from the other plagues in Bo. While the the other plagues came with warnings, there was no warning that the plague of darkness would afflict Egypt. The question is why?

R' Frand answered that the other makkos were a punishment which were meant to break Pharaoh's will. When a person gives a punishment, he gives a warning first - if you do this again then you will get ...

The makkah of Choshech was not actually a punishment according to R' Lubard. Instead, the makkah was a warning from Hashem to Pharaoh - "you are blind, you need to open your eyes and see what is happening." The makkah was a message to Pharaoh - you don't see, but if you open your eyes, you will see. Thus Choshech was a warning and not a punishment.

R' Frand quoted a Medrash on a pasuk in Tehillim which states "He sent darkness and it became dark, but they did not rebel." The Medrash states on this pasuk that Hashem asked the angels - are the Egyptians worthy of the makkah of Choshech and all the angels agreed. What is the pshat in this Medrash? Quoting R' Lubard, R' Frand explained that before all the other plagues there were debates in shamayim as to whether the Egyptians deserved each plague and some angels argued against the plague. But when it came to Choshech there was no argument as it was a warning, not a punishment.

R' Frand then quoted a second Medrash which stated that the plague of Choshech was thick like a dinar (the coin used in the gemara's times). This is hard to comprehend as darkness is the absence of light, it does not have density. R' Frand quoted R' Lubard to explain that money (the dinar) can blind, causing people to do crazy things in order to get money. He mentioned that stories are told of executives in their 60's who resign because they want to spend more time with their family. But where is the family at that age?

This was the message of choshech - just as Pharaoh was blinded by his hatred of the Jews, so too we can be blinded by the pursuit of money.

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Monday's Musings on Sports - The Passing of Paterno

When I was growing up on Long Island there were not many options for college football. Hofstra and St John's had teams, but neither were very good. If you wanted to become a college football fan, you needed to look beyond the NYC metro area. My close friend Lonnie O became an Ohio State fan, for reasons that I cannot remember. When I was looking around, I decided to become a Penn State fan, largely because of the icon which was Joe Paterno.

Since players rarely spend more than two or three (or at most four) years in school, college football fans can't lock their affections onto a particular player. Most college coaches are as transient as their players. They may spend two or three years on a team, but soon the lure of the pros or a larger or more prestigious college program comes calling and the $$ are hard to resist. If a college coach does manage to stay for more than five years, he must produce or face the calls for firing by alumni who return for a game or two each year. These booster/donors root for their alma mater, not the players or coaches. As such, they owe little allegiance to the current coach or AD.

One of the few exceptions to the above was Joe Paterno. For those who did not attend a college with a Division I football program, its hard to understand the persona who was Joe Paterno. Nicknamed "Joe Pa", Paterno was always viewed as fatherly figure who managed to get the best out of his athletes. It never mattered that he dressed like it was still the 70s as the PSU football players also dressed in what could be kindly called "throwback" uniforms and had reputations to match. Traditionally, PSU graduated intelligent ballplayers to the NFL. For a time, Penn State was most well known for its linebackers, but at times they did send offensive players to the pros as well. Again, the constant was the lack of scandal or controversy, which most attributed to Joe Pa being at the helm.

And then came the scandal which hit in November. There is no way to sugar coat it and to his credit, Paterno did not try to make excuses. When he was interviewed last month (the first time that he was allowed to comment) he admitted that he did not know how to handle the accusations which were made against his (then) assistant coach. He passed the report up the pipeline to his athletic director and President and left it for them to act. While I would have liked him to have done more, its not hard to understand how a (then) 75 year old man would not know what to do with allegations of this kind against his assistant.

I do not write this post to comment on, or justify, Paterno's actions ten years ago or earlier this year. I am just struck by what happened after Paterno was ignominiously removed as head coach a few months ago. Although Paterno had a history of health problems, his passing came as a shock. A man who was well enough to stand and coach on the sidelines earlier this year, was diagnosed and succumbed to cancer inside of three months. But was it the cancer, or a broken heart due to the realization of what had transpired, which felled this icon.

The gemara in Avoda Zara tells a story of Elazar Ben Dordaya who sinned and was mocked by his paramour and told that he could never receive repentance. He asked the hills and mountains, the sun and moon, heaven and earth and the stars and constellations to pray for him, but was turned away by all. He then placed his head between his knees and cried until his soul departed.

I do not mean to equate the Elazar Ben Dordaya story with Joe Paterno, but the realization that one has made a major error with far reaching ramifications and the swift way both departed with broken hearts struck a chord with me. Feel free to comment with your thoughts...

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Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Va'era

The following is a brief summary of a thought said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce this vort to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.

In the beginning of this week's parsha, Moshe tells the Jews the four languages of geulah that we know from the Pesach seder. After reciting the language of geulah, the Torah writes at Va'era 6:9 that Moshe told this to the Jews, but they did not listen because of the shortness of breath or spirit and the hard work.

R' Frand noted that this was hard to understand since at the end of Parshas Shemos (4:31), Moshe and Aharon tell the Jews about being redeemed from Egypt and they say Amen and they understand the geulah is coming. What could have happened to cause this sea change in thought?

R' Frand first offered a pragmatic answer that the Jews were forced to work harder and go looking for straw to build their bricks after Moshe first addressed the Jews in Parshas Shemos.

R' Frand then gave a deeper answer which he quoted in the name of the Ralbag. R' Frand stated that the shortness of spirit or breath was not descriptive of the Jews - it was about Moshe himself! Moshe had previously been thinking that he would go down and tell the Jews that they were leaving and that they would leave immediately thereafter. Moshe was depressed that the geulah did not come right after he addressed the Jews. His depression impacted on his manner of addressing the Jews and he lacked his exuberance. As such, the Jews did not listen because his words rang hollow to them.

R' Frand brought a proof from the Noach story. The question is often asked - why is it that Noach was unsuccessful in bringing anyone to do teshuva. The answer is - Noach did what he was told to do, but not out of any great belief that what he was doing was necessary or that the flood would actually happen. Since Noach did not give off an expression of sincerity, he was unable to convince others to repent.

The moral is - if a person is deficient in his faith, he cannot have an impact on other people. Thus because Moshe was not giving his message with the same inner strength, it did not have the same impact on the Jewish people.

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Monday's Musings on Sports - Rooting for or against and R' Zera

Although this post is generally devoted to sports with a link to Torah, I heard a vort in a R' Mansour shiur on Parshas Shemos (downloaded from www.learntorah.com) which actually made me think back to sports from Torah.

The gemara in Megilla 28a contains numerous discussions between illustrious Rabbis and their students, wherein the students asked - why did you merit to have a long life. Each Rabbi responded to the questioner about his own particular middah or middos (attributes) which he felt was the reason that he was zoche to long life.

In answering the question that was posed to him, R' Zera responded that he was zoche to long life, in part due to his not rejoicing at the downfall of his friends.

This concept was foreign to the Rabbi who was giving the shiur. He posited - how can anyone be happy when something bad happens to someone else? He answered that what it must mean is that the person was genuinely happy for others and felt bad when something bad happened to the other person. This is the sign of a "gadol" - one who feels a sense of community responsibility and does not think solely about himself and his needs.

While R' Mansour could not conceptualize being happy when another fails, a sports fan finds this fairly routine. As a Jets fan, I could never root for the Patriots and actively hope they will fail when playing. Although the Mets have been non-competitive for the last two years, I still find myself happy when the Phillies fail. And don't get me started about the NY Islanders, even though they have not had a decent season since before my 13 yr old was born...

Back to the vort, -- R' Mansour tied the vort into the phrase said at the bris that the small child will grow to be a gadol. It is fairly obvious that the child will grow to be big, so why is there a need to say it? He answered that the baby is the ultimate "taker" or selfish being. When a baby wants to eat, it wants to eat. If the baby wants to be picked up - it must be done NOW! A baby does not care that the parent does not feel well, or just got home from work or was up all night. But when the baby grows to be a gadol it becomes aware of the needs of others and abandons its selfish activities.

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Sunday Night Suds - Keystone Ice

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Keystone Ice

I have two general rules when it comes to beer sold in oversized cans. Rule #1 - If the beer comes from from large domestic breweries (such as Coors) don't expect much flavor. Rule #2 - If the beer is priced at less than $2 per can, be prepared for the look you will get from the sales clerk when you buy just one can. When I purchased the Keystone Ice, I avoided Rule #2 by using the self checkout line at the supermarket (although I think that I may still have gotten a look from the kid manning the help desk). The first rule still applied...

When opening the Keystone Ice, I was immediately hit with the aroma of corn or adjunct lager. It brought me back to my early beer drinking days when I used to prefer Bud Ice which came in 12 pack bottles with little penguins that turned blue when the beer was cold enough to drink. At that phase of my beer career, I was not looking for hops, I just wanted something cold to go well with the cholent on shabbos and the Bud Ice fit the bill.

The Keystone Ice poured a pale, almost straw colored yellow. There was some foam on top of my glass from the initial pour, but it quickly dissipated. The taste was macrolager, as could be expected, but not as bland as Budweiser or MGD.

Of note, the beer does have a relatively high alcohol content for a domestic macrolager (5.9% abv according to the can), so drinking a 24 oz bottle would be the equivalent of three standard beers. Of course given the taste, you might need to be tipsy already to even consider drinking the whole can...

Keystone Ice is certified kosher by the Orthodox Union like nearly every beer produced by MillerCoors and there is an OU on the can. For the experts take on the Keystone Ice, please click here http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/306/2947.

As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver.If you've tried this beer or any others which have been reviewed on the kosher beers site, please feel free to post your comments (anonymous comments are acceptable).

If you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click http://www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com/ to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Shemos

The following is a brief summary of a thought said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce this vort to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.

The second perek of this week's parsha introduces Moshe as a persona in Jewish history. However, the allusion to Moshe is without fanfare, as the Torah states that a man from the house of Levi went and married a woman from the house of Levi. It is not until Parshas Va'era that we learn that Moshe's father is Amram and his mother is Yocheved.

The Ramban explains that the reason that the Torah does not mention the names of Moshe's parents was pragmatic. Had the Torah written Amram, it would have needed to list his lineage going all the way back to Levi. To avoid having to list the entire genealogy, the Torah merely states that Moshe came from the house of Levi.

R' Frand next quoted R' Sorotzkin in Aznaim L'Torah who explains that the reason that Moshe's parents are not mentioned was to show that anyone can have a son like Moshe. R' Frand explained that the anonymity of Moshe's lineage demonstrates that a person does not need to come from a family of gedolim in order to succeed and become a leader in Klal Yisrael.

R' Frand also quoted an explanation from R' Ya'akov Kaminestky, who explains that the Torah intended to teach that Moshe was a mortal and came from mortals - a regular guy and a regular girl. In so doing, the Torah alludes to the foundation of the Jewish faith -- that the physical and spiritual can be united for a positive purpose. A person has a body which is infused with a soul which can be used for a positive purpose. This stands against other religions which believe that the soul is compartmentalized and the body exists to do evil.

R' Kaminetsky also referred to a pshat in Sefer Bereishis (2:4) about creation. The medrash recites a dispute between R' Eliezer and R' Yehoshua as to the nature of things in the heaven and on Earth. R' Eliezer explains that everything in shamayim was created in heaven and everything on Earth was created from the Earth. R' Yehoshua explains that everything (both the physical and in the heavens) was created in shamayim.

R' Kaminetsky explains that the dispute is actually about the nature of humanity in this world. R' Eliezer states that the spiritual is created from above and the physical remains on the Earth. R' Yehoshua disagrees and states that both physical and spiritual aspects of man come from above.

R' Kaminetsky linked this dispute to another dispute recorded in Gemara Beitzah about the proper activities for yom tov. R' Elazar states that yom tov is either for learning Torah and davening or eating and having a good time and enjoying the yom tov. R' Yehoshua states that the day can be split, the first half in davening and the second half enjoying the yom tov. R' Kaminetsky states that the dispute follow the prior dispute as to creation. Since R' Eliezer believes that spiritual and physical are distinct, then on yom tov one must choose one course of activity. R' Yehoshua says that everything came from above and the day can be split so that the physical enjoyment can be elevated to a spiritual level.

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Sunday Night Suds - Samuel Adams Winter Lager

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Samuel Adams Winter Lager.

As mentioned in the November 27, 2011 edition of Sunday Night Suds (http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2011/11/sunday-night-suds-samuel-adams-black.html), this year's Samuel Adams Winter Collection box included two relative newcomers to the Sam Adams stable of beers (Black and Brew Coffee Stout and the dairy Chocolate Bock) along with some of their usual winter limited editions - Old Fezziwig, Holiday Porter and Winter Lager. As I have been drinking this beer for many years, but inexplicably never reviewed it, the time has come for a review.

The Winter Lager is truly a spiced beer as the bottle label (and the radio commercials flooding the airwaves in the NY area) proclaims that the beer is spiced with ground cinnamon, ginger and orange zest. When drinking the beer, I don't pick up any of the individual flavors, but it does make for an interesting brew. The beer pours a very dark orange with little to no lacing. The first taste is a bit dry, but the beer grows on you quickly and the malt starts to come through. After a few sips, the flavors start to hit and even the hops come through. I could drink a few of these and thankfully, SA has cooperated and releases these in six and twelve packs. Now if they could only do the same with some of the other winter classics like Old Fezziwg and Black and Brew...

Samuel Adams Winter Lager is under the Kosher Supervision of the Star-K. Like many other Samuel Adams brews, this bottle does not have the Star-K certification mark on the label. The kashruth can be confirmed by clicking on the link to the Star-K LOC here -- http://www.star-k.org/loc/kosher_letter_6635_bostonbeercompany.pdf.

To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about the Winter Lager, please follow this link - http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/35/101.

As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver.

If you've tried this beer or any others which have been reviewed on the kosher beers site, please feel free to post your comments (anonymous comments are acceptable).

If you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click http://www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com/ to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Vayechi

The following is a brief summary of a thought said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce this vort to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.

In this week's Parsha, Yaakov gives the brocha to Ephraim and Menashe and used the words "v'yidgu larov b'kerev ha'aretz." Rashi comments that this means that Ephraim and Menashe should be like fish who are not influenced by the ayin hara. The gemara in Berachos explains that fish which are under the sea are not seen by the eyes and therefore they are not subject to the ayin hara. As such, Yaakov's brocha to Ephraim and Menashe was that they should be like the fish - uninfluenced by the ayin hara.

R' Frand then said that there was another aspect to why fish are not subject to ayin hara. The Chizkuni states that there are no names of fish mentioned in the Torah. The Paneach Raza explains that various animals have names mentioned, be they kosher or non kosher and even the shratzim have names. Meanwhile, the fish are not named at all. The Paneach Raza explains that because the fish are anonymous, they are not subject to ayin hara.

R' Frand extrapolated this to people by quoting a Rashi in Sanhedrin. He explains that yes, it is true that people have names. However, Rashi in Sanhedrin writes that if a person has the ability to stay out of the public eye and not put himself in front of others and draw attention to himself, he can avoid the impact of ayin hara. He further explained that humility can be a protection against ayin hara. The Chida writes that a person who truly has humility is protected from the ayin hara. The gematria of ayin is 120, the gematria of anava (humility) is 121. The Chizkuni writes that if a person has humility, the person is above the ayin hara and will not be subject to its impact.

R' Frand next discussed the brachos that Yaakov gave to his sons. He quoted a mehalech of R' Yaakov Kaminetsky about the brachos given to Shimon and Levi. Yaakov tells them that they will be scattered among the shevatim. Rashi explains that Levi was not given any land and they had to be dependent on others for their livelihood. The tribe of Shimon were given the jobs of being itinerant teachers.

R' Kaminetsky asked - if these people are the melamdei tinokos and the sofrim which are very important jobs, how can this be a curse? R' Kaminetsky answers that it is not a curse - it is a very special kind of person who can be a teacher or sofer. Shimon and Levi were very special people and showed this through their kannaus. Everyone was aware of what happened to their sister, but Shimon and Levi were the only ones who acted.

But what happened to their kannaus? Levi refined their zealotry and perfected it, so they were able to act after the cheyt ha'egel. This is why they are given great brochos from Moshe in V'Zos Habrocha.

Shimon never refined or channeled their zealotry, which is what allowed them to be involved in the Zimri/Cuzbi story. R' Kamientsky explains that kannaus which is not tempered or directed by halacha will end up eradicating the people from the world. Only the gedolei yisroel can determine when its right to use this middah.

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Monday's Musings on Sports - Santonio, Larry and Ryan (Not that Ryan)

At the tail end of the Jets final game of the season, the cameras focused on WR Santonio Holmes who was sitting on the bench while the rest of the starting offense was trying to salvage the game. Soon thereafter, CBS showed a replay of what appeared to be a fight in the huddle between Holmes and some other player, but the camera angle did not reveal who he had been fighting with. As the game wound down, CBS continued to cut away to Holmes, looking as if he was pouting while he was sitting on the bench. However, the announcers did not have much information as to why Holmes was relegated to the bench.

Today, more of the story about Santonio's activities were revealed. ESPN Radio reported that last week Mark Sanchez held meetings with the wide receivers to try to work through problems with the passing game. According to the report, Holmes was uninterested in attending the meeting. Additional reports indicated that Holmes had been expressing his displeasure over the last few weeks and had called out his coaches and teammates in various meetings. All of this childish behavior culminated with the fight on Sunday, after which the offensive coordinator had Holmes pulled from the game.

In contrast to Santonio's juvenile behavior, there was a story on Sunday about a different highly paid wide receiver who played for another under performing team. When the season began, there were high expectations for the Arizona Cardinals. The Cardinals had traded for highly regarded QB Kevin Kolb and it was thought that WR Larry Fitzgerald would justify his massive eight year - $120 million contract. Although the Cardinals won their first game of the season, they lost their next six games in a row. Although the streak was partly due to QB injury (twice during the season, the Cards were forced to use Richard Bartel from college juggernaut Tarleton State at QB), the stretch of games was disheartening to a veteran player like Fitzgerald. Rather than publicly complain or sit out games or practices, Fitzgerald continued to work hard and finished the season with 1400+ yards (fourth best in the NFL). However, the most startling contrast was how Fitzgerald approached the final game of his season. Although the Cardinals had been eliminated from possible post season play, Fitzgerald refused to stay out of the game after he was seen coughing up blood on the sidelines. Indeed, it was learned today that Fitzgerald had suffered a bruised lung, yet he played the entire game and made three catches for forty-six yards during the overtime drive that won the game for the Cardinals.

Our third player being contrasted in this post is Ryan Clark, a free safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Clark is infected with the genetic defect, sickle cell anemia, which he has been able to overcome when playing at normal altitudes. However, during Clark's last game at Denver, the combination of exertion and the sickle cell trait caused him to become so ill that doctors were forced to remove his spleen and gall bladder. Despite the history of illness and possible dangerous repercussions, Ryan may still play this weekend in the Steelers' road playoff game at Denver.

The contrast of Clark/Fitzgerald's determination and Holmes' juvenile activity was particularly ironic to me. Having read the conclusion of the Joseph story this past shabbos in Parshas Vayigash, we had seen numerous instances where Joseph could have given up and not continued in the path of Torah. Starting from the beginning of the saga, Joseph knew that his brothers hated him and that the errand that his father had sent him on to find his brothers was fraught with danger. Yet Joseph willingly went looking for his brothers and wound up in a pit. In the following parsha, Joseph resisted the advances of Potiphar's wife and wound up in jail. Later, having interpreted the butler's dream, Joseph remained in jail for another two years, until he was summoned to Pharaoh to interpret his dream. In each of these instances, Joseph could have simply given up on life, or at the very least, could have decided that there was no point in staying on the derech. However, Joseph chose not to sulk or abandon hope and ultimately became the second in command in Egypt.

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Sunday Night Suds - Brooklyn Brewery - East India Pale Ale

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Brooklyn Brewery's East India Pale Ale.

The Brooklyn Brewery East India Pale Ale is one of the oldest styles produced by Brooklyn Brewery. It has a well earned reputation as a quality English IPA. As it has been a number of years since I posted on the definition of this style of beer, I have reproduced the BA definition below:

First brewed in England and exported for the British troops in India during the late 1700s. To withstand the voyage, IPA's were basically tweaked Pale Ales that were, in comparison, much more malty, boasted a higher alcohol content and were well-hopped, as hops are a natural preservative. Historians believe that an IPA was then watered down for the troops, while officers and the elite would savor the beer at full strength. The English IPA has a lower alcohol due to taxation over the decades. The leaner the brew the less amount of malt there is and less need for a strong hop presence which would easily put the brew out of balance. Some brewers have tried to recreate the original IPA with strengths close to 8-9% abv.

Although Brooklyn sells this beer in multiple forms including 12 oz bottle, draft and cask, I have only tried this brew in 12 oz bottle.

The beer pours a bright amber, almost brass like in color and the hops and malt are equally present and appreciated. The resulting balance is a beer with some dry hoppiness and some notes of pine and a little citrus.

The English IPA is on the high end of the alcohol spectrum with a reported 6.9% abv. The brewers of the East India IPA recommend pairing it with spicy food such as Chinese, Mexican or Thai. I had mine on its own, but I could see how it would stand up nicely to Chinese or other spicy fare.

Brooklyn Brewery East India Pale Ale is under the kosher supervision of the Va'ad of Detroit as are all 12 oz Brooklyn beers which are brewed in the Utica plant.

For the experts' take on the East India Pale Ale please click here http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/45/147.

As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver.If you've tried this beer or any others which have been reviewed on the kosher beers site, please feel free to post your comments (anonymous comments are acceptable).

Finally, if you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click http://www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com/ to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!