Backswing Oatmeal Stout

Number Five in the Backswing series. This one is a beer that I often drink only in the colder months, but I needed one more to fill out a mixed six-pack, so here we are. 

There are a lot of different types of stouts: cream stout, milk stout, imperial Russian stout, hybrid styles, it's almost infinite! An oatmeal stout uses...you guessed it...oats as one of its grains. The result is a thicker, creamer brew. The misunderstanding among "dark beer" neophytes is that stouts are necessarily heavier, as well as higher in alcohol content. For the old school stouts such as Guinness, this isn't the case, although for sub-styles like Imperial Russian Stout this would be true. A Guinness has about the same consistency as any other mass-produced beer and the ABV is usually at 5% or less. 

Backswing's version of this style pours a deep chocolatey brown, with a three-finger beige head that slowly recedes to a thin lacing. As one would expect from a stout, there's a mélange of flavors that include milk chocolate, café au lait, brown sugar, molasses and vanilla. The ABV is 5.5%, so it's definitely sessionable. 25 IBUs give it a moderate hoppiness, but nothing distracting. Something that I did not expect was the mild smokiness. I'm of the opinion that you definitely can overdue the smokiness, and some rauchbiers are frankly undrinkable, but the smokiness level adds an air of mystery. Thumbs up. 

Backswing Brown

I'm glad to see that most of Backswing's beers don't have cutesy name and just called by their style, so this isn't something like Back Nine Brown, or Fuzzy Puppy Brown, but merely "brown". The term "brown ale" can be used for a variety of styles, but usually refers to an ale with moderate bitterness, and brewed with dark malts. Backswing Brown pours a chocolate brown hue with a huge tan head (tall, quickly dissipating heads seem to be a feature of Backswing beers). Brown ales tend to be looked down upon by beer snobs in favor of IAs, quads and more exotic and forgotten styles. But brown ales (despite the unassuming name) are often quite complex. Backswing Brown, is moderately hoppy, at 30 IBUs, but with the bitterness hiding in the background. At 6.5% ABV, it's on the outside edge of sessionable, but still low enough for more than one. Chocolate is the main flavor, with a little bit of almond and hazelnut for good measure. A decent brew for a cool, rainy, Spring night. 
 

Backswing Backspin Apple Wheat Ale

We're on Day Three of the Backswing Brewery themed reviews. Today's brew is Backspin, an Apple Wheat ale. At 9.8 IBUs, it's almost as if it was brewed without any hops (it's also the first time I've seen IBUs expressed fractionally) - there's so much apple dominating the taste, I'd have guessed that it was a hard cider. If you're a fan of ciders, you might enjoy Backspin; me, I don't seek them out. It pours a clear medium golden hue, with a scanty white head. Other than the obvious apple, there are hints of pear, white grape and lemon, but you have to really concentrate to taste anything other than apple. Did I mention that apple predominates? Yes, I did. 
 

Backswing Bugeaters FC Goalden Ale

Beer #2 of the backswing Series of Beer Reviews.

Apparently there's a soccer team around here that I was unaware of. Named the Bugeaters (the original name of what became the Cornhuskers). Also note the spelling of "golden" as "goalden". 

A golden ale, also called a "blonde ale" is what you might call you basic, no frills ale. No flavorings, no resuscitation of long forgotten beer styles from obscure towns in Germany or Scotland. 

Bugeaters is one of those ales that has absolutely nothing wrong with it, yet aren't memorable. It pours a hazy amber with a head that is so tall I ran out of fingers to measure it. The ABV of 5.5% allows you to safely have more than one. 17.5 IBUs is pretty low on the bitterness scale. I categorize Bugeaters as a dry ale, no hint of sweetness, and really, not hint of any others flavors other than ale flavor. Not that that's a bad thing. 

Backswing Citra Kölsch

The next few beer reviews will all be from Backswing Brewery in Lincoln, Nebraska. Based on the labels, none are particularly fancy, and certainly don't have fancy names. Number one on the list is a style that is a summer favorite of mine: Kölsch. The label lists it as Citra Kolsch - without the umlaut - but I like umlauts, and the standard spelling has an umlaut...) To refresh your memory, a kölsch is one of the hybrid beer styles. It is brewed using ale yeasts, i.e. top/warm fermentation. It is then "lagered", i.e. left to cool and age, sometimes for months. 

Backswing's Citra Kölsch clocks in a 22 IBUs and 5.2% ABV. This makes a eminently sessionable - low enough in alcohol content that you can have a few of them in a deinking "session", and very low in hop bitterness. It pours a hazy goldenrod with a towering cumulo-nimbus head. "Refreshing" is the first adjective that comes to mind. There's a subtle honey-like sweetness, and some peppery notes. As the name implies, there's some citrus quality, mainly orange peel and lemon zest with some grapefruit lurking in the background. Definitely a beer that you want to keep in mind for your summer beer drinking.