Tin Mill - Red Caboose Amber Lager

Dead Soldier 

Where to Dig Up More About This Beer

Red Caboose Amber Lager
Tin Mill Brewing Company
First & Gutenberg
Hermann, MO USA
Est. 2005
www.tinmillbrewing.com

Brain Damage Quotient = ?.? % ABV
Fluid Oz. = 12.0

Postmortem Brew Review
Yellow/amber color.
Malt grain with soft hops. Aromas remind me of potatoes.
Short head disappears to a cover but leaves clingy lacing.
Soft malt taste, proper lager style bitter hops finish that is long and tangy.
Soft carbonation.
Light body and a dry hops finish. 

Grim Reaper's Eulogy 
I received this from a friend that is familiar with the Hermann, MO area, when she returned from a recent trip. If you look closely at the bottle label you will notice the faint etchings of a map. A map of the Hermann area, complete with the mighty Missouri River. I had not heard of this brewery, but got schooled by reading all about them on their website. All you need to know about how they approach beer is what I read, here:

At Tin Mill Brewery, we follow the Reinheitsgebot, or German Purity law, to the letter using no corn or rice in our beers. The barley we use is grown and malted in Germany and comes from some of the best barley fields in the world. Our hops come from the Hallertau Region of Germany about an hour north of Munich. Even our traditional copper brew kettles are imported from Germany.

Another thing Tin Mill does with their beers is Krausening.  This is a process currently used by only a few brewers in the United States.  They take beer that is almost finished fermenting and then they add a little newly fermented beer to recharge the fermentation activity to help naturally carbonate the beer. Then Tin Mill ages the beer in cold cellars for five weeks. This cold lagering process gives the beers a more balanced flavor with a clean finish and a true German style taste.

So you can see they are serious about their brewing. I was impressed by the way the hops stung long after each sip and also how the malt sweetness just wants to come out to play in a tantalizing way. I usually encourage others to try Amber Style beer as a gateway into fuller bodied beers. This is one great example of such a brew. It will change your mind about lagers and teach you how flavors can play in balance within the beer. Premium German ingredients also say a lot about the makeup and character of Red Caboose.

Note of interest - - - I could not find much about the Red Caboose Amber Lager on Tin Mill's webpages. It may have been a seasonal or been replaced by one of the other featured beers, (methinks it's the Maibock!)  No matter. I will look forward to trying more of their offerings knowing now how much they respect the brewing process.