A 7% lager attests to the gravity of the situation, as in high gravity brewing, a process usually reserved for bocks or triples to boost the booze. * Is it ironic that the original Apollo Seven ** was all about escaping gravity through liftoff while this Apollo Seven is using a high gravity brewing technique? Do I tend to overthink things, you ask? I’ll have to ponder that a while.
Back to our wanna be bock. A new brewer Apollo Brewing, and this brew is brewed at Brunswick Bierworks. They brew for other groups as well for local distribution. Omnipollo and Phillips, Flying Dog and Mikkeller to name a few, including the infamous Innis & Gunn.
Time to see if this Apollo Seven is a successful mission, or if we have to call Houston. ***
A golden clear pour, no cloud cover, perfect conditions for liftoff. Malt and sweet on the nose, reminiscent of a bock. It has an almost creamy mouthfeel, definitely malty with sweet and a touch of boozy back end bite. It is a clean smooth malty quaff, and strong. Escaping the atmosphere aboard the Malty Falcon. The malty sweet continues as the booze bite fades.
This one certainly reminded me of a bock, not a laid back refreshing lager but full flavoured and creamy, and yes, strong. Liftoff achieved, but with such a strong lager I’m not too sure about the landing.
*Editor’s Comment: High gravity brewing is a technique that increases the alcohol level in beer by using a strong wort with a high original gravity that usually results in a beer of between 6 and 8% ABV. Very high gravity brewing as one would expect, will produce beers above 8% ABV. The wort is the liquid extracted from the mash before fermentation, the unfermented beer so to speak. The mash is where the malt (grains usually including barley) is milled then mixed with hot water to convert the starches into sugars that will be fermented by the yeast to produce alcohol.
**Editor’s Comment: Apollo Seven (October 11-22 1968) was the first Apollo series spaceship to carry a crew and was a successful mission that paved the way for Apollo 11 landing astronauts on the moon less than a year later.
***Editor’s Comment: The famous line “Houston, we have a problem” was from the 1995 movie Apollo 13. It was paraphrased from the actual transmission from space “ Okay Houston, we’ve had a problem here.” when an oxygen tank exploded.
****Editor’s Comment: The Millennium Falcon is a Corellian YT-1300 light freighter that was flown by smugglers Hans Solo and Chewbacca, first encountered in the 1977 movie Star Wars.
****Reviewer’s Comment::I hope you know that the Millennium Falcon is not a real space ship .
I love this beer, smooth with a nice finish for a 7% beer not like others that leave a strong taste of alchohol in your throat. Bonus, great price