Hickey Bros. Kentucky Common is what I drink!

I wasn't planning on writing a post tonight. I'm still unpacking from my trip home. Everyone knows that it takes a week minimum to unpack. And it is best done slowly while drinking beer (Aren't most things done best that way?). Opening the fridge, I spied with my little eyes a 15 way back in the corner (well, not too far back, it is a Japanese fridge.). In Good Beer Country Boys language, a 15 is a Hickey Bros. Kentucky Common. The 14 numbers before it were beers from winter and spring '08. They are all gone except for 15 bottles of 10. 10 is a bitch that is about 10% alcohol. 10 blew chunks all over my ceiling while he was still in the fermentor. 10's real name is not something I will repeat on this website.

I poured the Hickey Bros. K.C. into a big ass Yamachan mug and admired the nice inch and a half head holdin' steady. We, at GBCB Brewing, pride ourselves in our attention to homebrewing detail. 15 in a glass shows a priming job that is not too little, not too much, but just right. Also, for those of you who don't know about Yamachan, it is the Nagoya version of Buffalo Wild Wings and they keep Ginga Kogen on tap.

I really love Kentucky Common. I drank my first one at the New Albanian Brewing Company in Indiana this last summer. They are located on the Ohio River right across from Louisville, KY where this style originated. New Albanian only brew it as a summer seasonal and it is only on draft at their pizza pub and their public house. As far as I know, this is the only place it is made beside homebrewers whipping up a batch for consumption or a traditional style competition. The second Kentucky Common I drank was GBCBs own. As was the third, fourth, fifth, and on and on.

Hickey Bros. Kentucky Common pours a dark, but thinner color. In the glass, it is identical to a Yuengling Black and Tan. The taste is a combination of brown ale and sour mash. If you have ever toured a Bourbon distillery (Being from Kentucky, I've toured seven) you know the smell of sour mash fermenting in the giant cypress vats. A couple of the distilleries, Maker's, 4 Roses, Wild Turkey, will let you stick you finger in and taste the mash. It is this smell/taste, combined with a flavorful brown ale that is Hickey Bros. Kentucky Common. To make this beer, we started a mini sour mash with a pound of malted barley, a pound of flaked corn, 1/2 pound of flaked rye, and yogurt culture, soured it for 2 days, strained it, and then made the beer as normal. This really comes through in the taste.

I apologize for talking about Kentucky Common so much. I think this is the fourth post that praises the greatness of this lost fermentation. I'm sorry. I'm a fanboy.