Hitting a roadblock: Rahr & Son's Gravel Road

Obannon’s just received a new seasonal brew, Gravel Road, from the fine folks at Rahr & Son’s Brewery in Fort Worth, TX.  Gravel Road is only going to be available from July to August, so I figured if I didn’t try it now, I might not get another chance until 2012.  I’ve had 3 beers from Rhar & Son’s so far.  The first one I tried was their Summertime Wheat, which I wasn’t a big fan of, spice note was way too strong.  The second I tried, their most popular brew Ugly Pug Black Lager, was actually pretty good, I'd say it was the best Schwarzbier I've had.  This brewery has been a big hit or a real miss for me, so I didn’t really know what to expect from Gravel Road, I was hoping for a smooth ride.

Doesn't look very smooth, looks painful

This beer is an unusual style of brown ale called a sticke altbier.  ‘Alt’ is German for old, as in old beer, not alternative beer.  They didn’t create ‘alternative beer’ for the hipsters.  It’s considered old due to a longer conditioning time.  The word ‘sticke’ indicates that this is a stronger variation of altbier, and stronger it is with an abv of 7.25%.  I wish I had known Gravel Road was an altbier beforehand, because I most likely wouldn’t have ordered it, I wasn’t in the mood for something so heavy.

Gravel Road pours a dark, ruby brown color with a eggshell white head.  That reddish tinge in the color is from the CaraRed malt used as part of the mash.  This beer left no lacing, although I’m not sure if that was from the beer or from the glass (condensation can ruin any lacing which might occur).

This beer had a toasty, woody smell.  The real star here was the malt.  It was hard to pick up on anything else but I think I might have smelled raisin.

After my first taste I was pretty much finished with this beer.  The only thing I could taste was the toasted malt flavors, and maybe a hint of sweetness.  I found out later that this beer was made with Munich malt, which is kilned to a dark color and produces an amber-brown brew, but I’m convinced that this batch was kilned too long.  The malt tasted burnt, plain and simple.  It was also slightly bitter, but it wasn’t a hop bitterness, it was like a char bitterness.  This beer left a bad aftertaste, and my mouth felt like a desert.

Bottomline: I’m giving Rahr & Son’s Gravel Road 2.5 out of 5.  This beer gets a 50% because it’s an interesting type of brew, and it could have just been a bad bottle.  I seriously doubt I’ll ever have this again, unless it’s free and given to me.  I’m hoping for big things from the Rahr brewery, but they might need some work filling in the potholes.

Because no one like changing a popped tire