Beer-a-Day #212
A refreshing neo-BerlinerWeisse fermented with honest-to-goodness peaches to (get this!) 4.5% abv! Because extreme beers don’t have to be extremely boozy! Available in 4-pack and draft during the sweaty months.
Pale straw with a little chill haze. Just a hint of peaches in the aroma. Taste is rather more tart than I expected. It’s refreshing though.
Beer-a-Day #211
I love the funky bottles Grupo Modelo uses. The label simply says “Dark Beer”, but multiple sources online call it a Munich dunkel. I usually only get to have it out at a Mexican restaurant.
Dark brown with a nice head. Caramel and maybe a little fruit (peaches?) in the aroma. Body is lighter that I would have thought and just the slightest bit astringent. It’s good, though. I could go for some salsa.
Grupo Modelo, S.A.B. de C.V. (en Español)
Beer-a-Day #210
After all of those macro lagers for most of this month, I needed something more my style. Well, I love me a good American IPA, and I’ve heard good things about Goose Island. Even better, I haven’t seen it at my usual retailer.
I notice the aroma first. Plenty of citrus and lavender from the hops. Yellowish amber with some haze and head that laces nicely on the glass. Nicely balanced. My wife likes it, too. I would definitely have this again.
Beer-a-Day #209
Well, this concludes my two-week (or so) delve into the world of macro-brewed lagers. This seems like an appropriate way to finish.
Commonly known as “The Beast,” Milwaukee’s Best is a bargain brand from MillerCoors. However, it is very hard to find on the MillerCoors website and it doesn’t rate it’s own branded website (although Milwaukee’s Best Light is so honored). There’s also the disconnect of the “Established 1895″ on the can and the “Introduced in 1984″ on the website.
I can honestly say I’ve never had this beer. Even in our youth we never felt so desparate to have this. I guess we were spoiled.
Extremely pale with a white head. The head drops quickly and leaves no lacing on the glass. A bit floral with an acrid aroma, not unlike burnt plastic. It’s flat and nearly–but not near enough–flavorless. It’s not as bad as I’d feared, but it’s still pretty bad.
Beer-a-Day #208
“Cold As A Mountain Stream, Smooth As Its Name”
Here’s some factoids I didn’t know: Busch Bavarian Beer was introduced in 1955 and was the first new beer brand from Anheuser-Busch following prohibition. They dropped “Bavarian” from the name when they took it national in 1979.
I remember that in our youth we would occasionally drink this as a cost-saving measure, but always had to be careful to say “Busch Beer” and not just “Busch” lest we get dirty looks and cold-shoulders from female college friends.
Well, this is predictable, isn’t it? Pale straw with a quick-dropping white head. Floral aroma. Kind of a plastic taste to it. Not awful, but given a choice between this and no beer at all, I’d have a tough time choosing.
Beer-a-Day #207
Michelob used to be the upscale brand in the Anheuser-Busch stable. No yelling former athletes, no snarky comedians, no scantilly-clad women. I do recall one commercial featured Eric Clapton doing a redone version of “After Midnight“. Then it seemed to be mostly neglected, with A-B tinkering with the formula, only restoring Michelob to an all-malt formula recently.
Of course, now Anheuser-Busch InBev is repurposing the brand as their “faux craft” line. I’ll have to try out the new flavors. In the meantime, I scored one of the last of the original lagers in the new/old style bottles.
Pale amber with a white head. A bit of fruit in the aroma (apples?). Taste is pretty good, if a little overcarbonated. Not bad for a light lager.
Guess which section we didn’t sit in yesterday.
Beer-a-Day #206
My wife was busting my chops about my weight today. (She likes to poke my belly and say “there’s your little project”.) No, it’s all the damn sweets I’ve been eating lately. I’ll show her!
Anyway, this came out at the height of the low-carb diet craze. It proudly proclaims 2.6 grams of carbohydrates and 95 calories. It’s also 4.2% ABV.
As is typical of light American lagers, it’s very pale with a white head that drops almost instantly. Has a rather fruity aroma. Flavor is light and with a bit more fruit from the hops. Actually, this isn’t too bad. Not as flavorful as I would like, but compared to the other beers I’ve been having this past week, it’s pretty good.
Beer-a-Day #205
I’ll guess we’ll stick to imports for another day. I’d say European, but this is actually a product of Canada. (At least they still get to say it’s an import.)
Inky dark, with a light beige head. I get a bit of vanilla and a smidgen of coffee. Flavor’s a little harsh; it’s not as smooth as I was expecting from an Irish stout. It’ll do in a pinch.
Beer-a-Day #204
Taking a break from domestic macro lagers, it’s time to try one from Europe. Might as well go with the biggest.
Heineken’s a bit of a whipping boy around here. I have never, ever, had a Heineken–or even encountered one being drunk by someone else–that wasn’t lightstruck. It’s so consistent, in fact, that it seems like the Heineken people are doing it on purpose. Do they hate Americans? Or is it just a big joke? “Look what we convinced those silly people to drink!”
True to form, it’s skunked. I suppose there’s no point in telling you that it’s straw colored and clear, with a white head and nice lacing. Besides the skunky aroma there’s a distinct taste of boiled vegetables. I can’t believe people actually think this is the way it’s supposed to be. I can’t finish it.
I suppose I need to get it in the “keg can” or, better, get overseas and have their offering in the brown bottle, which I’m told is actually pretty good. But I’m done ever trying the import in the green bottle.
