Where have you been Hyde-ing?

Jekyll Brewing Southern Session Blonde Ale

I suppose they could have thought of a longer name for this brew, but it's OK. I don't care what the name is, as long as it's tasty, and this is tasty! If you've read my other beer reviews (which, I know is very presumptuous of me) you know I'm a fan of the session ales. I like them because they're relatively low in alcohol, you can drink more than one (or two) without impairing your mental and physical abilities, and they're good with burgers, pizza and such. But finding a really good one is a bit a of struggle. I've had some great ones (Tailgate's Blacktop Blonde) and I've had some horrid ones (Straight To Ale's 6 Alberts). 

Well, this is a good one. It's brewed in Alpharetta, Georgia and their slogan is "Beer Like It Oughtta Be!" And for this particular Jekyll offering, I would agree. 

If you're one of those beer-drinkers that only enjoys a dark stout or a hopped up IPA, you may consider the Jekyll Blonde too citrusy or lightweight. I enjoy all types of beers – the richest, darkest dark to the hip-hop hoppiest of IPA's but (for me) those beers are to enjoy as a "standalone" refreshment and to only have one (or two at most). The Jekyll Blonde is a brew you can split a six pack with a friend or two over a burger and enjoy the rest of the day or evening without feeling like you need to go take a nap. The best part is, this is one delicious, refreshing brew– standalone or otherwise.

I must admit, I haven't poured one into a glass to check the head and color, but just for fun, using instinct guided by experience, I'm going to guess what it would be like. I'll bet it is a light orangey yellow, a little cloudy, and a bubbly, short-lasting head. I would go check to see if I'm right, but I drank all of them already. So now I have an excuse to go buy some more... which I'm going to do. Right now.

Groovy

Citradellic Tangerine IPA

There's a new store in our neighborhood. It's called Sprouts. If you're not familiar with Sprouts, it's sits somewhere in between Whole Foods and Trader Joe's in the marketplace. There have been so many people begging Trader Joe's to put a store here for years, but TJ's has refused to do it. I've heard that our average household income isn't high enough... I can attest to the fact that is definitely true in this household.

Anyway, it's a very nice store. Lots of the kind of thing you'd expect - big bins of granola, gluten-free this, gluten-free that, lots of things in brown or green packaging, weird looking fruits and vegetables, and about 50 kinds of trail mix. But if you're reading this, you know what I was interested in: What kind of beers do they sell?

Their beer section was tucked into the corner, behind the wine section. I almost didn't see it. I headed back there, making my way through the kale, free-range chickens and spelt flour. The selection wasn't huge, but it was OK for a store that size. I began to scan the shelves. I saw a few interesting choices, but the Citradellic Tangerine IPA especially caught my eye. Perhaps because I have fond memories of my hippie days, or maybe because I thought "tangerine" and "IPA" was an unusual combo. I saw that it was from New Belgium, a brand that I seem to lean toward often despite my dislike for their flagship Fat Tire ale.

So I get home and pour a glass. You can see in the photo that it's a very nice color and has frothy head. I took a sniff of it before I tasted it, and there is a nice, subtle aroma of tangerine.  I took a drink. It was a very interesting flavor - and I mean that in a good way. Something about the hoppiness and the citrusness worked in perfect harmony. The illustration on the label visually describes the taste pretty well. It's hops sliced open to reveal a tangerine within. Understand that the tangerine flavor is very, very subtle. There's more of a tangerine smell than there is a taste. It's not like a "fruit beer" at all. It is quite delicious. 

I welcome Sprouts to my neighborhood, and I welcome Citradellic Tangerine IPA to my refrigerator (and my belly).

I’m Down with Downtime

Sam Adams Downtime Pilsner

I found myself in one of the most horrific and dire situations known to humanity: I was out of beer. I don’t know how it happened. It’s just one of those things that maybe once or twice in your adult life sneaks up on you when you’re not looking. It was dinner time, and we were having burgers. There are two foods that I particularly love pairing with beer - pizza and burgers. Not that I don’t like pairing beer with almost any food, but burgers and pizza are made to have beer with. I open the fridge to grab a brew and … there was no beer in sight. What? How? When? 

“Are you sure?” I asked myself. 

I looked again, “Nope. No beer.” 

OK. No need to panic. Fortunately, I live within a 5 minute walk of two places that sell beer. I knew my choices would be extremely limited, however. One place is a convenience store. I’ve been there before, and have seen their beer selection. I knew it would be a last resort. The other place is one of those “beer and tobacco” strip mall type places that sells lottery tickets, beer and cigarettes. I had never been there before, so I bravely strike out to give it a try. I walk in and suddenly realize how old and out of touch I am. I walk past the assorted “pipes” and other paraphernalia that aids in your “smoking pleasure”. I’ve been around the block a few times… I had an “interesting” youth, but I couldn’t even figure out what some of that stuff could be used for. And don’t get me started on the vape-wear and accessories.

I looked past all this and saw a cooler wall straight ahead. I know what that is used for! I get in front of it and start scanning… Bud, Bud Light, Coors, Coors Lite, Miller, Miller Lite…. panic was creeping in. “Have they no beer?” I silently scream in my head. “My burger is getting cold!”

Then I look to my right. Another cooler! Scanning… Angry Orchard, Mike’s Hard Cider… A ray of hope! I see Sierra Nevada! I had tried all of those before… scanning… I see some Blue Moon (OK, but I’m over it), then I see this Downtime Pilsner from Sam Adams… hmm, I hadn’t see that one, so I grab it and get in line behind some tattoos with people under them (not that there’s anything wrong with that). I check out and manage to get back home while my burger is still warm. Whew!

OK, it’s another brew from Sam Adams. Yes, most beer snobs don’t consider them to be a “craft” brewery, but (as I’ve said before) I credit Sam Adams for nudging the craft brew “movement” to the wonderful heights it has become. Plus, they make good beer and Downtime Pilsner is one of them. 

I poured it into my favorite beer glass. It didn’t hold much of head, but it was a nice color, a little cloudy.  It’s a refreshing, spot-on summer brew. It’s low alcohol (5%) and tasty. A combination that, as I’ve experienced on several occasions, is not easy to attain. It has a hint of citrus, a nice malty flavor and finished clean. I don’t know how they do it, but some of these beers I’ve “tested” manage to finish in such a way that it programs your mouth for another mouthful. This is one of those. So, if you’re looking for a great beer to have at a cookout or with a burger, I think Downtime  Pilsner is a solid choice.

Straight Outta Rocket City

6 Alberts

I picked up this beer for all the wrong reasons: I liked the art on the can, I thought the name of the brewery was kinda fun, and they were running a promotion at my favorite beer store where you could win a "Straight To Ale" bicycle. In addition to that, it was a brewery just down the road and over the state line in Huntsville, Alabama (Rocket City). Hence, the monkey in a spacesuit (I guess).

Well, without much hesitation, I would tell you to avoid this brew. It's not very flavorful and it finishes very bitter. I don't have a problem with beers that have a bitter finish, but there is good bitter, and bad bitter. This is definitely bad bitter. I know it must be difficult to brew a session IPA that has a rich flavor and isn't overly bitter. But it can be done. I've had several.

I poured it into a chilled glass to see how it looked and smelled. It looked nice. Yellow color with just a little cloudiness. The head was about two fingers and seemed to last a decent amount of time. It smelled very nice, which is why I was disappointed with the taste. It starts with a nice faintly sweet citrus flavor but quickly deteriorates to something that tastes like nothing, then that dark bitterness creeps in and will not go away.

I am not deterred from trying other brews from Straight To Ale. They must be doing something right. They're expanding in order to increase production. They're on the road to becoming Alabama's largest brewery. So I'll definitely give them another chance... especially if I win that bike. I won't be getting 6 Alberts again, but I look forward to trying one of their other brews.

"Ring, ring..."

"Hello, you've reached The Beer Store."

"Do you have 6 Alberts in a can?"

"Yes, we do."

"Well, you should not let them out!"

Thank you. I'll be here all week. Tip your waitresses.

Let's Meet Up for a Nooner

Sierra Nevada's Nooner Pilsner

Sierra Nevada has been around a long time and has produced many beers. This is definitely one of them. I love all the summer session beers that are popping up. One of my favorite past-times is searching for that delicious, low-alcohol, drink-more-than-one-or-two without the typical "side effects" of an alcoholic beverage.

This one is a noble effort by our California friends, but it misses the mark. Not by a lot. It is an easy drinking German style pilsner. It's a lovely shade of yellow. It has a fairly nice aroma. All good stuff.

I was disappointed that there was basically no head. I poured it pretty much straight down the middle of my chilled (not frozen!) glass. Before I could position my camera, what little head was there had dissipated. 

The label describes Nooner as having "...floral and spicy hop flavor balanced by a crisp and dry finish." Well that sold me. Unfortunately, although a good, solid pilsner, I didn't detect much of a spicy hop flavor, nor a dry finish. Maybe a hint of the floral, and a touch of crisp, but I think their description was stretching it a bit.

I'm not recommending you try this beer, but I'm also not NOT recommending it. It's an "on the fence" beer for me. I definitely wouldn't turn one down if it was offered to me, and I'm not totally ruling out buying it again if the circumstances required it. It is FAR superior to those mainstream "beers".

Would I buy this beer again? See above

Ding Dong Bell's

 

Wow. March already. Daffodils are blooming and trees are budding. Soon the summer ales will be hitting the shelves again. Ahhh... One more reason to love summertime.

I tried a brew from Bell's a while back and reviewed it here. Two Hearted Ale. It is one fine beer. So I thought if that one was so good, maybe I should try another one from Bell's. They have an entire end cap of all the Bell's brews at my favorite beer store. I stood there and deliberated over which one to try next. After much reading and studying (and wondering if the employees were beginning to get suspicious of me lingering there so long) I finally just reached out and grabbed one at random. It was the Midwestern Pale Ale. Like the Two Hearted Ale, I wasn't a fan of the label design (the curse of being a professional artist for 30 years is that you let your design sense overpower rational thinking sometimes).

– Just a side note about the label art on the Midwestern Pale Ale bottle: It's a painting of a red barn. I don't necessarily have anything against paintings of red barns, but this particular painting looks like something your semi-talented Aunt Betty would paint after she's been taking painting classes at Viv's Art Nook on Wednesday nights for a month. Not the quality of something you'd expect to see on the label of a nationally distributed beer. Plus, all of Bell's labels look like they were designed as high school graphic design projects. The look doesn't reflect the quality contained inside the bottle.

But with the tired old saying of "don't judge a book by its cover" playing in my head, and the fact that I didn't like the Two Hearted Ale label art either, I took it to check out.

The next day I popped open my first Midwestern P.A. to have with dinner. We were having cheeseburgers and sweet potato fries. What better dinner to have a beer with? I took a nice long sip.
Initially, I thought it was OK. Then immediately an overwhelming twang of bitter weirdness, followed by an unpleasant aftertaste of a whole other level of bitter weirdness. I almost hate to say it, but it tasted very close to a mainstream beer like Bud or Coors. It's been a while since I've tasted one of those, but that was the taste this beer recalled. I thought I must be drinking it wrong. So I took a bite of my burger and another healthy sip of M.P.A. ...Same thing. So I blamed the sweet potato fries.

A couple of days later, I thought I'd give it a second chance, except this time I would have it without eating anything. I cracked open number two to have while I was preparing dinner. Big sip. Same taste. I had to declare the sweet potato fries innocent.

I thought I'd give it one more chance a few days later. I had been at band practice. I was hot and sweaty after a three hour rehearsal and loading and unloading my drum kit. I ask you - what better time to have a beer than after that? BIG gulp gulp gulp... Ahhhh! I was very thirsty. Let's just say it DID quench my thirst, but it tasted the same. Three strikes and you're out. I have three left if anyone wants to give it a try to see if I'm wrong.

Would I buy this beer again? I'm checking the "No" box.

Take Your Pilz

Trader Joe's Josephsbrau Plznr

We don't have a Trader Joe's market in my town, so when I go to a town that has one, I try to stop by and stock up on all kinds of goodies that aren't available at my local Kroger, Publix, Walmart, Target, etc.

It had been a while since I'd visited a TJ, and I noticed they have jumped on the craft beer bandwagon. One thing that's nice about TJ's is that you can get quality products for low or reasonable prices. Unlike Whole Foods, where I walk out with at tiny sack of groceries in my recycled organic hemp shopping bag with $150 less in my wallet.

They had a handful of different "store brand" brews, and they were cheap. About $3 - 4 less than what I was used to paying in my favorite beer store for a fine brew. So I grabbed a six pack of the "PLZNR" Czech Style Lager for $6.99. 

The next evening I popped one open, got my favorite beer glass out of the fridge (not the freezer - but that's another topic of discussion) and poured it. It made a pretty nice head. It began to dissipate rather quickly. As you can see in the photo, it had gone down considerably before I could line up the shot. It has a nice color. I raised it to my mouth... and that was when I got my first whiff of doubt that this was going to be a good brew. The smell was... shall we say... not good? But I wasn't going to let that stop me. I took a nice big sip, another nice big sip. Pause. Another nice big sip. 

Hmmm. How shall I say this? Was it awful? No. Was it great? Absolutely not. How about good? Was it good? Mmmm... no. Was it OK? Mmmm... yes. Light carbonation, bitter, a hint of citrus.

I guess the best conclusion I can come to is that it is drinkable. That's not saying a lot, but in all honesty, of the six I bought, there are only three left in the fridge too weeks later, so somebody's drinking them. And since I'm the only beer drinker in the house... Plus I could not, in good consciousness, offer a friend or family member one of these.

I would say if you want to try a very good pilsner, get a Lagunitas PILS or Blue Paddle by New Belgium. You can't go wrong there. I would avoid the Josephsbrau PLZNR. I love Trader Joe's, and I'll try some of their other store brand beer offerings, but I won't be buying this one again.

Would I buy this beer again? Not to be redundant, but no.