Friday, December 12, 2008

A holiday beer with a malt ball center?

This (literally) just in from the fine folks at the Karl Strauss Brewing Company in beautiful San Diego, California.

I'll name this PR sheet... Karl Strauss and the Malt Ball.

San Diego, CA - December 12, 2008 - It is tradition at Karl Strauss that each winter a different Karl Strauss brewer gets to try their hand at the Holiday Beer. This year the opportunity fell to our very own Ian Young. Ian knew he wanted to brew a Stout, but he had visions of malt balls dancing in his head. Our friends at Briess Malting had kicked off the holiday season for us with a sack of Briess malt balls and that's when inspiration hit - Ian wanted to use the malt balls in his holiday beer. Some thought he was crazy, others were intrigued, but no one expected the end result to taste so good.


This beer is rich and full-bodied and based off of a recipe for a classic Russian Imperial Stout. But we used large amounts of chocolate malt and dark caramel malt for a less roasty version of the classic style. Rolled oats introduced during the four-step mash helped create a smooth and full mouthfeel. A blend of Willamette and Chinook hops were added solely for balance, and then came the fun part. The equivalent of 5,000 malt ball centers was tossed directly into the boil. "I wanted the four-step mash to create a dryer taste from the barley and then have a lingering sweetness from the non-fermentable malt ball sugars added during the boil. I love malt balls, but now I think they taste even better in beer!" said Ian.

Karl Strauss Imperial Malt Ball Stout is a rich, full-bodied stout with
loads of chocolate flavor and a subtle sweetness imparted from the malt balls. This is the perfect winter warmer on a cold night, and at 8.5% ABV, you won't need a fire to warm you up. The hint of chocolaty sweetness makes it an excellent match with heartier fare such as holiday roasts and of course chocolate desserts.

You can enjoy the Imperial Malt Ball Stout at all six Karl Strauss Brewery Restaurant locations and select bars across Southern California during the month of December.


Karl Strauss Imperial Malt Ball Stout
8.5% ABV
85 SRM
30 IBU


I don't know about you, but I'm drooling! I want some of this beer!!!!!

4 comments:

Thomas said...

How is it by you, when it's just a press release republished?

Eli the Mad Man said...

Huh? It isn't by me. Not really sure what you mean by that. Maybe I didn't make it clear enough, but I did say: "This (literally) just in from the fine folks at the Karl Strauss Brewing"... followed by "I'll name this PR sheet..."

So it should have been fairly clear. Since it wasn't... I've added quotes to make it painfully so.

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, or any other beer blog for that matter, PR sheets are a standard thing that a great many of us republish. That's what they're there for.

Anonymous said...

Check his Blog history.

He's just jealous cause he's been blogging for 6 years and doesn't have your following. Now he's trying to get his own Beer podcast going, and he doesn't even know about press releases.

-Stevie Chips

Dave said...

Eli - this beer sounds wonderful! I know how good the dark brew pairs with chocolate. If they ever send you some this way let me know!

I recently had a Deschutes The Abyss and ate M&M's with it and man was that good.

Malt Ball Stout should be excellent.