Sprecher Shakparo Ale

Brewed by Sprecher Brewing Company
Style: Traditional Ale
Glendale, Wisconsin USA

Over ripe apricots, doughy aroma. pours a cloudy blonde with a thin white head. Fruity, funky, wheaty, with hints of citrus, almost bubble gummy, with a strong resemblence to Hitachino Nest Red Rice, almost olive-live. Not bad, but i like me some gluten!

Shakparo: ale made from sorghum & millet, brewed without wheat or barley, fire-brewed, African-style...with a label featuring a trio of African pals, giraffe, lion, and elephant traveling together against an African sunset without once mauling or stampeding one another...hakuna matata! 16 ounce bottle, 5.7% abv. Poured into a Delirium Tremens tulip glass. Elephants going back to Africa, so to speak. Very hazy apricot appearance, disappearing head... Slightly sour and funky aroma, at first...smells like a spiced wheat beer, though we know it isn’t. Reminds me of a yeasty Belgian pale ale, oddly enough. Bright flash of flavor in the mouth. Citrusy feel, then softly fading, leaving a faint lemony ring behind. Feel almost hefe weizen-like at times, though there’s no wheat here...so this is what sorghum beer tastes like, eh? Not bad... Although for a while, it gets too acidic and astringent for me... got to say, not the sort of thing I’d want to have too often...

Amber beer, fast-fading head with lots of suspended yeast. Aroma is quite sweet and herbal with a fairly cidery character. Light apple/pear aromatics with a touch of banana. Also a touch of brown sugar. Flavour is fairly sweet and fruity with a light herbal spiciness on the back. Some lactic tartness on the back as well. It’s sweeter than I’d like, but it isn’t bad.

Hazy gold with white head. Aroma is ginger, coriander and apples. Taste is unexpectedly tart and funky. Oddly sweet and dry simultaneously. I was pleasantly surprised at its lack of downright awfulness in spite of its sorghum formulation. Maybe it had something to do with it being "fire brewed." $2.50/16 oz

Bottle from the brewery. Hazy orange amber with medium short lasting head. Aroma is slightly medicinal (infection like), rotting peaches and light candy sugar. Sweet sprite like base with peaches, orange, medicinal alc, spicey, fermented applejuice, lemony tartness is only . Medium, overcarbonated body. Not all that great though maybe I should try some more tradional West African beers before I make too brash a judgement, thoguh the aroma and flavor could very well be infection.

Coming from someone who has drank quite a bit of sorghum and millet beer in West Africa, this is quite interesting. I’m not familiar with "shakparo" style, though I’ve had many types of local (not bottled, exported) brews. Smell is tart and sweet, similar to a wheat beer. Body is very, very thin compared to traditional sorghum and millet beers, but I see it has to be that way with the greater carbonation. Taste is honey, toasted corn, caramel, and lemon. Finish is sweet and cloying, with a a bit of peppery spice. Very sweet throughout, but nicely drinkable. Much different from the traditional beers, but a wonderful experiment!

Had this one bottled, thanks Jon! Has a hazy, dark yellow pour with not much head to speak of. Oddly appealing nose, a bit citrusy, a bit grassy, a bit and a bit wheaty. Actually, much like the nose of brewed Earl Grey tea, bergamot. Very fruity, like many wheat ales, with lemon, orange and banana playing a big role. I imagine this is what umqombothi tastes like.

What a bad idea. Apparently sorghum and millet tastes like cheap cough syrup mingled with beer (and not too damned much of that) and cherry. Not the worst crap I’ve had, but a long, long way from a drinkable brew.