Propeller Skies

Alert Propeller Skies readers will recall I discovered Magic Hat beers at a bar in Pittsburgh about a year ago. Until sometime this summer, Magic Hat’s delicious products were unavailable in Atlanta - Strip City™ and The Republican was too lazy to bring me back any when she drove to New England, so I was thrilled to find a variety pack at Green’s.

While consuming the myriad brews in the variety show, I recorded my impressions to share the joy of Magic Hat with Prizzo Skeezy readers. Unfortunately, I was heavily into my research when I did that and my notes are rather unclear, so some errors or omissions may occur.

#9

Magic Hat #9 is billed as an almost pale ale. That is not inaccurate, as the beer does not explode with hoppy zest like Smoove D reference pale ales Sierra Nevada and Phinn and Matt’s. Nevertheless, this is a fine brew with hints of apple and raspberry. Although Magic Hat #9 is not in my regular pale ale rotation, I do enjoy it and will pick up a six pack every now and again.

circus boy

I hate hefeweizen. When I get some as part of a variety pack, I sample it, confirm I dislike it, and then unload the rest on unsuspecting homeless people, of which my neighborhood has plenty. Much to my surprise, I enjoyed Magic Hat’s Circus Boy. The hefeweizen was savory, with a stinging hint of citrus. I suspect I liked it because it was a fairly minimalist example of the style - Magic Hat did not overdo the beer with an excess of competing flavors.

hocus pocus

Hocus Pocus is a seasonal ale produced by Magic Hat. I found it crisp, with a taste of copper. There is a nice, but not overwhelming, hop bitterness to the beer. Hocus Pocus is nicely balanced and reminds me of unnaturally blue sky and open fields.

notion (summer 2008)

I have no idea what the fuck this beer was, but I liked it. In contrast to the previous three brews, this is a fairly dark beer. The flavor was caramel with plenty of malty goodness and an unexpected finish with hints of lemon.

Several months ago, Deezy offered The Photographer and I some brews he made with a Mr. Beer Home Beer Kit. I was skeptical, but the beer tasted perfectly fine.

About a week ago, The Photographer hooked a cracka up with a Mr. Beer Home Beer Kit. I cooked up a batch, and while I have not sampled any yet, I expect decent results based on Deezy’s beers.

ease of use

As a beginner, a key advantage of the Mr. Beer Home Beer Kit is simplicity. The tedious work is already completed - all I had to do was boil water, dissolve the Booster, and add hopped malt extract. While the pre-made hopped malt extract limits flexibility compared to all grain brewing, the final flavor of the beer can be modified with additional hops, or by adding honey, brown sugar, or molasses to increase alcohol content and subtly change the flavor.

mr. beer home beer kit initial impressions

Mr. Beer is extremely easy to use. I only needed an hour to sanitize everything, cook the wort, fill the keg, and pitch the yeast. I plan on brewing a few of the ingredient kits to get a feel for the process and then experiment a bit.

If all goes well, I see an upgrade to a more hard core setup in the future. However, Mr. Beer provides enough avenues for customization to keep me occupied for at least the next year.