Shmaltz Brewing Company - Coney Island Albino Python

Ranks up there as just about the most phallic beer label art we’ve ever seen, but the real-life show depicted in the portrait is similarly suggestive indeed. Expect profound citrus (orange) notes, provided by the addition of sweet orange peel, and a very active lager yeast strain that has produced an ample supply of fruity esters. These notes bounce off of fennel and aniseed spice notes. Notice how the aroma is absolutely full of fennel, and this is also very big on the palate too, as are the flavors of ginger and the distinctive spice you get from raw ginger root. It is so spiced that it comes off with a slight medicinal kick, like some sort of nerve tonic you might buy off a wagon outside an old freak show. Reminds us of spiked jasmine tea with a lingering nip of mint and menthol. Very intriguing and quite complex, it’s not unlike Meetha Masala Mukhwaas herbal blends often found in authentic Indian restaurants. Not surprisingly therefore, it works nicely with Indian cuisine. The spices are pretty massive, so we recommend drinking this on the cooler side of the suggested serving temperature, as the spices can get a bit rowdy if you let it warm up too much. In other words, keep the Albino Python cool or it might crush you.

Few beer brands have the chutzpah to carve out a niche for themselves with the sort of irreverence that the HE'BREW beer brand has (brewed by the Shmaltz Brewing Company, based in San Francisco, CA; brewed in Saratoga Springs, NY). There is plenty of pushing the proverbial envelope in their labels and marketing. Take the tag line for all the HE'BREW beers: "The Chosen Beer," or the name of their 9th anniversary celebration beer: "Jewbelation 5766." But there's no gimmick here—their beers are truly solid and superbly well-crafted. The brand actually got its start as an inside joke among founder Jeremy Cowan and friends who, while drinking one night in 1987, started brainstorming crazy marketing ideas for Jewish merchandise. The idea for a Kosher, Jewish-American, high holy days celebration beer called "HE'BREW," with the tag line "Don't Pass Out, Passover!" was born. In 1996, Jeremy brewed 100 cases of his first commercial batch with the goal of selling them for the Hanukah holiday; HE'BREW Genesis Ale was sold out of the trunk of his grandmother's Volvo—all 100 cases of the stuff. In 1997 he quit his day job to dedicate more time to the brand, and by 2001 he was selling 5,000 cases per year. Around 2007, Jeremy launched his Coney Island Lagers series of beers (featured this month), inspired by the spirit, history, and future of the famed Brooklyn playground known as Coney Island. Like the HE’BREW brand, the labels on this all lager lineup are highly attention grabbing—but that’s the idea behind the freak shows that helped make Coney Island famous: to draw you in to experience something never seen before; to amaze and dazzle you (and not infrequently, to rip you right the hell off too, but trust us, these beers are the genuine article).