This beer is good. A group out of Chicago called Off Color Brewing whipped this one up and were sure to pack in all the necessary ingredients to set this off right. This beer called Class War could benefit from hitting the crop feature before printing the next batch of labels, although given that this beer is a Gotlandsdricka style beer, in a champagne bottle, and found priced and placed among other craft beer collections, I wouldn’t expect the benefits to be all that pronounced, but it couldn’t hurt. A Gotlandsdricka beer is a smoky ale, historically from the Swedish island Gotland, and brewed with juniper berries. Leaving Class War as a dark, but not too cloudy, robust smoky beer. This beer reminds me of an imperial porter but with less beer flavors and more sweet and spicy hints. It’s interesting because the 9.5% abv is well hidden, I find it thirst quenching without thinking that it’s watery, and the flavors are just a little off center enough to throw off my palate. And that’s enough intrigue to get me on board with this beer and this brewery. And I really like honey, although I would have never known that it was an ingredient. I’m looking forward to trying Off Color’s 15 Feet beer, which is also smoked, so look for that review to crop up sometime. Overall smokestack rating = 5.5 smokestacks.
| Brewer | off color brewing |
| Beer Name | Class War |
| Brewer’s verbose Description | Gotlandsdricka, or Gotlandsdricke, is the indigenous farmhouse ale of Gotland, the largest island in Sweden. A cousin to the Finnish Sahti, it’s similarly kept alive by a handful of old men and very much in danger of dying off with them. Was taught how to make it by the head brewer at Nårke over the course of several, several beers where he made me run through several books he had with him a the bar despite the fact that a) they were in Swedish b) there were no pictures and c) I don’t speak Swedish. Undeterred, he carried on and felt it was very important to discuss the tradition of brewing dricke and also that there are different sexes of juniper trees. Our version is deeply spicy with both malted and unmalted rye and a hefty addition of juniper but, while rich, finishes dry and fruity thanks to a large honey addition and a portion of malt Dave smoked by hand over pear wood in the backyard. ABV is deceptive and balances against the stonefruit sweetness of dark munich. At 9.5% it should leave you well prepared for the brave new world we’re heading into or at least blissfully despondent. Just remember, vikings didn’t have health insurance either. Gonna go ahead and guess lots of us won’t anymore, so we have priced Class War accordingly. Brewing for the proletariat. |
| Food Pairings | Deep dish or Chicago Style or Chicago style deep dish or a hotdog with tomatoes on it… Actually, just stick with pizza. |
| Brewer Location | Chicago, IL |
| Alcohol content by volume | 9.5% |
| IBU (International Bitterness Units) | I’m thinking it doesn’t have a rating |
| Beer opacity rate 1 – 7 (light – dark) | 5.5 |
| Smell smoke? 1 – 7 (No – George Burns) | 4 |
| Smokepower taste: 1 – 7 Smokestacks | 5.75 |
| Sausage detection? Y or N | N |
| Beer thickness 1-7 (water – used motor oil) | 5 |
| Overall Happiness Rating: 1-7 (low – high) | 5.5 |
More about what a Gotlandsdricka beer is can be found at Wiki-somethin’another:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotlandsdricka
Off Color’s website’s OK, and they emphasize their core competency (beer making), which is good:
SmokeBeerMinistry 