Judies 9 Brau

As I mentioned in my previous post, recently I had my first encounter with a Korean brewpub. Having peeked at the menu a few weeks before, we opted to catch a cheap dinner elsewhere and then head here for beer only. The second I walked through the door, a familiar smell snuck into my nostrils and dropkicked me...in a good way. The delicious aroma of malt hung in the air as we passed the primary bar, and through glass I could see some of their brewing operation, proof that they brewed there. The place was surprisingly big, especially for Korea.

As far as I could tell they only have two beers that they brew there. We opted to begin with a heffewiezen. As mentioned before (see last post) they brought it out in a growler.

(from a cameraphone, sorry)
My only complaint was that the beer was too cold. Too cold? Elijah are you in idiot? Well, sometimes, but that's besides the point. The beer was seriously too cold. That's great perhaps if you have a cheap lager and you just mowed the lawn in the middle of summer. But this was at a brewpub, with what I was hoping to be a decent brew. When I first smelled the beer I could hardly pick up anything. My first mouthful was also not very impressive as my tongue couldn't pick anything up except cold. Thankfully as time progressed and I tried to warm up the glass with my hands, the flavor came out a little more. A good solid wheat flavor with some fruity hints, especially near the bottom of the glass. They had done their homework and it was poured in a proper glass, which maximized the flavor near the bottom.

We then tried their dunkel beer. This was also served a bit too cold, but as bypassed the growler this time around, it wasn't as noticeable. "Dunkel" in German means "dark." I haven't had many in my day, but I guess they span the spectrum from light brown all the way to pretty much black. This particular one was definitely towards the latter. It was smooth, but also a little bit to chew on. The malt flavors were also nice, with a strong roasted flavor. This brew explained the strong malt smell I encountered on my grand entrance. Needless to say, I was a fan.

As noted many times in this blog, I don't get to experience quality beer very much here, so this was a real treat. A little bit on the pricey side, but split among a few friends, it's almost the same as buying some imports at the store, and clearly fresh beer is better. Looks like I'll have to return sometime in the near future. I apologize from the less technical side of this review for those who enjoy that, but I was somewhat distracted by talk of ecclesiology and church planting most of the time...