Urban Family Brewing has new ownership as of early 2017. I
wanted to try out the beers and see what has changed since my last trip in
2016. A short bus trip on the D-line and a mile walk in the semi industrial
district around Fisherman’s Terminal led me to the brewery.
Outwardly not much has changed. The building is still the
same warehouse space as before with an upgraded garage door to open during clement
weather.
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| The front entrance is still pretty nondescript |
As you step through the front door you are confronted with the same
seating area immediately before you and the bar area to the left.
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| The view immediately after stepping in the front entrance |
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| Near the front door looking toward the bar through the seating area |
What has
changed is the number of barrels stacked between the seating area and the
brewing area. The tap list is now a big screen terminal but the taps and cold
storage are in the same place.
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| Monitor screen with tap list. The low light setting on my camera does not capture this image well. |
I ordered a flight, sipped, noted and then
ordered another flight.
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| l to r: Island Crusher (pineapple), Duality (nectarine), Preservation (raspberry and blackberry), and Last Train Imperial Porter |
Tasting Notes:
Island Crusher (6.2%): Hazy gold. Lactic aroma with
some pepper. Sour, orange-juice like texture, light body. Sour slightly
astringent finish. A thirst quencher.
Duality (8%): Slightly hazy gold. Ester and sour
aroma with warmth, and nectarine. Medium body, sweet sour dried nectarine
flavor. No ethyl acetate. Sweet sour finish.
Preservation (6.5%): Slightly hazy purplish red.
Sweet berry perfume, esters, and lactic aromas. Sour, sweet, raspberry flavors
with medium body and lactic acid. Slightly astringent sweet finish.
Last Train (11%): Opaque black. Burnt malt and a
slight fund in the aroma. Burnt malt, sweet malt, dry, candy, bitterness and
some funk – phenols(?). Bitter finish.
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| l to r: Saison Magnolia, Replicator (IPA), Fruit Snacks (IPA), and Karate Church (Pale). |
Saison Magnolia Batch #2 (7%): Slightly hazy gold. Slight
aromas of esters, phenols, and lactic. Sweet, savory, medium body, slight
phenols, low bitterness. Bitter sweet finish.
Replicator (8%): Very hazy yellow. Dank tropical
fruity hop aroma. Sweet full body, fruity hop flavor. Very low bitterness.
Bitter sweet finish.
Fruit Snacks (7%): Hazy light yellow. Esters and
pine-sol hop aroma. Sweet, bitter (low), full body, esters, fuity-piney hops.
Sweet bitter finish.
Karate Church (5.8%): Hazy yellow. Piney hops (turpentine).
Full body, sweet, bitter, piney hop. Sweet finish.
I am not sure what the business model is for Urban Family.
They attract a neighborhood clientele but they also bottle. Are they seeking a
wider audience than lower Magnolia? The beers are still as good as they were
before the ownership change, but most of the attempts I tasted fell short of
outstanding. I enjoyed the beers I had, bought a couple of bottles of the
fruited beers, but I was not wowed by anything. I hugely enjoyed the raspberry
beer, but I am a sucker for raspberry beers. I love nectarines and the Duality
was close enough that I felt I should buy a bottle to try at home, but the
nectarine flavor was subtle at best.
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| Bottles of Duality and Preservation for off-premises consumption |
Today was the NFL championship game, so the place was filling up with patrons
to watch the big game. Would a normal Sunday attract the same crowd? I suspect
so. The tap list had plenty of variety with something for just about anybody,
which should keep a local drinker happy. I think Urban Family would do well to
perfect one or two reliable recipes to have on hand all the time so that the
experimentation skeptics would have a go-to beer. I guess that what is telling
is that none of the beers I had today were replicates of the beers I tasted in
2016. Recipes need constant tweaking and perfecting before they become reliably
drinkable and enjoyable refrigerator beers.
The display of barrels was impressive and I hope a long term
aging program is in progress. None of the beers I had today shouted barrel
aging and no designation appeared on the tap list. I didn’t ask. I guess I
should have but that bank of barrels looks promising.
I cleared out as soon as I was done with my flights so I
could get home to finish making dinner.
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