Shmaltz Brewing Company started out 13 years ago in San Francisco and although they are now based out of New York, they came back for SF Beer Week to celebrate their 13th Anniversary with this event and the release of Jewbelation 13.

This event, appropriately named as their Bar Mitzvah (also the subtitle for Jewbelation 13), featured all of their Hebrew beer brands including two limited edition brews: Jewbelation 12 (2008) and Jewbelation 13 (2009). The party also included 2 live bands and cake. Although Amnesia was extremely crowded, this was a great event and a wonderful opportunity to have a vertical tasting of of the Jewbelation beer.

The following are some notes that I took for the Jewbelation beers.

Jewbelation 12 is the Shmaltz anniversary beer from 2008 made with 12 malts, 12 hops, and 12% alcohol by volume. Although it was a dark bar, it was still apparent that this beer has a deep dark color. It has a dark-roasted malty-sweet aroma and scents of bittersweet molasses. The flavor follows the aroma with a not-quite barley wine molasses flavor and astrong roasted malt flavor coupled with some pure cocao flavors. Jewbelation 12 also has notes of prunes and dark dried fruits. The smooth bitterness of this beer brings out molasses and coffee flavors. Smooth bitterness. Despite being 12% abv, this beer is not very boozy. The mouthfeel was syrupy and lightly carbonated.

Jewbelation 13 is the 13th anniversary beer made with, you guessed it, 13 malts, 13 hops, and 13% alcohol by volume. It has a similar color and mouthfeel to 12 but it has much different flavors. Since this beer has not been aged for a year, it is greener in both age, flavor, and hops. The flavor comes off much less like molasses and much more more like beer brittle. The hop bouquet is much more apparent and is spicy and earthy. It is clearly more bitter, with a more harsh bitterness, and more hoppy than Jewbelation 12. The hop flavor makes me think of a very hoppy stout with an enhanced dark chocolate flavor. It is roasty and sweet and balanced by the hops. The beer was good to drink “fresh” and will certain age well. I will definitely wait for about a year to try the bottle that I have in my beer cellar.