Just a few days after saying that I could not find copies of Celebrator magazine – I find one at Jolly Pumpkin’s store in Dexter, Michigan. I also found this Bam Noir labeled as Batch #246 even though the brewery does not list that one as a Bam Noir batch. No never mind. Numbers can have that quality.
This beer is a great introduction to the style of this brewer. The drying planks of oak are there in the glass with the tang picked up from whatever was in the pores of the wood. I find that there are hazelnut, fig and brown sugar notes with twig hops. At 4.3% it’s a great candidate for the CAMWA brew of the year. Soft water. But be warned – a full 15% of BAers reject this one. Conversely, Bam Noir makes me want to roast a chunk of fatty salmon as it would cut through that richness well.
Spencer Thomas – November 12, 2007 5:47 PM
http://aabg.org
I was looking forward to this beer, because it is definitely in one of my sweet spots — oaky, funky, a bit sour. I had my first chance at it on draft at a local Octoberfest celebration. I was surprised that I wasn’t wild about it then, but I think the problem was that it was just not right for the setting. My second experience was drinking it from a 6-pack at a “retreat”, and I liked it a lot better then, particularly sitting in front of the campfire. At home, sipping from a snifter, it’s even better.