Today's Happy Hour libation:
That's a Gurkha Liga C-10 microbatch sitting in the ashtray... already one-third gone. This cigar is good stuff, by the way.
(secret message to Our Favo(u)rite UK Reader: note the yellow tin in the background.)
Update, 1615 hrs: I'd characterize the brew as "beer for folks who don't really like beer." From a review at Beer Advocate, selected at random:
Poured from 12oz. bottle into pilsner glass.
Beer is a cloudy yellow-orange, with visible effervescence. Head is cream colored and is about a centimeter thick when poured, and it maintains this thickness for a considerable amount of time. Lacing is thick and stays right where the beer leaves it.
This is definitely a cherry brew. Maraschino cherries dominate the scent, with an undertone of lemony acid underneath. Some wheat character is barely noticable.
First taste has no surprises. Cherry, cherry, cherry, with a touch of lemon and - you guessed it - the faintest touch of wheat character. Finish is kinda fizzy, with a slight bitterness that fades quickly, noticable wheat on the palate lingers. As the palate adjusts and the beer warms slightly, the beer gets a touch more sour, which helps to, but doesn't quite succeed, in shifting the cherry flavor from a childish maraschino to a more adult bing.
This beer is extremely light and fizzy. Between the carbonation and the extremely understated beeriness in favor of fruit, it is not unlike drinking a cherry cream soda.
It would seem at first that, as similar to soda as this beer is, that it would be easy to slam these all night. However, from experience I can tell you this beer loses its novelty fairly quickly. While one of these on occassion (sic) is a light and unchallenging (sic) treat, drinking more than one in a session proves a challenge.
Serving type: bottle
Yup... what they said... or: more beer I'll be looking to give away. I followed this brew up with a 1554, which is MUCH more to my liking.
Do you like that Sam Adams? I've never had one.
ReplyDeleteSee my update, Dan. In other words: Yuck. I'll stick to the more "traditional" Sam Adams beers, which tend to be pretty good.
ReplyDeleteCherry Wheat is good as a (VERY) occasional brew. Just like you wouldn't mix fruit in with Scotch but you might vodka, fruit in beer has its place as long as its appropriate. Wheat beer is of course one of the most appropriate places for fruit. The cherry flavo(u)r is a good compliment to the lightness of the wheat, but I found it very powerful, almost to the point of being overpowering, which is why I drink is very occasionally. One glass is usually more than enough.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of wheat beers, I'm going through Boulevard withdrawal being up in AK. Lots of good local microbrews (they even have Shiner in the Class VI!) but no Boulevard.
Heh, it would appear that great minds think alike on this brew. I can vouch for the fact that it's damn near impossible to drink more than one in a night. A couple of us made the mistake of getting a pitcher of it one night...BIG mistake.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason cherry beer just does not sound good to me.
ReplyDeleteMike: Great minds DO think alike. I also think this beer would be good as a "once in a while" kinda beer, but NOT as a steady diet. BTW... I liked Boulevard... a lot... when I visited with SN1 in Omaha. Great good stuff!
ReplyDeleteLou: Cherry beer...as done by the Belgians... can be quite good, indeed. But this Sam Adams interpretation? Nope.
I'm not a big beer fan. I'll gross you out with what I like - Corona, with lime.
ReplyDeleteSorry.
Did you try sprinkling it with the Colman's? :-)
ReplyDeleteDon't fruit the beer.
ReplyDeleteYep, Barco, "don't fruit the beer" is in there
ReplyDeleteKris: Mission Accomplished. I'm grossed out. :D
ReplyDeleteJim: You are frickin' diabolical.
Darryl: Yeah, right. Whatevah.
Andy: There's SUPREME irony about a bunch of dudes drinking MILLER LIGHT and pontificating on Man Laws. I don't know where to begin, other than stating the obvious.