114: Ill-Tempered Gnome

Let me come right out and acknowledge the fact that I received this bottle as a freebie from the brewery when I visited there in February. I should also acknowledge that as a fellow Iowan, I am pre-disposed to admire the products of other Iowans. But I’ll be blunt: I didn’t enjoy this beer as much as I hoped I would. It’s a pretty atypical brown: fairly dry and bitter with not much sweetness. That said, I think they make some great beers (the Espresso Stout and IPA are great), and I would like to especially call them out for reliably including informative statistics about their beer on their labels.

A high percentage of breweries include ABV (that some breweries fail to include this most basic of statistics this mystifies and disappoints me), IBU and O.G. are all included in small print. Sure, they’re geeky, but they’re informative, and help the drinker better understand the product he’s about to consume.

Beer Name: Ill-Tempered Gnome
Brewer: Oakshire Brewing
Price: FREE*
Sampled: April 24, 2010
Rating: 2/5
Notes: Odd hint of brine in the aroma replaced by faint chocolate. Bitter creeps up afterwards, but the middle is simple and direct. Generally prefer more sweet, less bitter in brown.
ABV: 6.8% abv
IBU: 65 ibu
OG 15.5
TG N/A
Serving Type: Bottle.