I like beer. As a matter of fact, I love the stuff, all kinds; and ever since Boston Brewery launched the microbrew explosion with Sam Adams, I can't get enough of the it. I appreciate new beers, old beers, reinvented beers, etc. Microbrewers love to experiment. Whether they learn from the French or the Belgians, they love to add new fangled or old fangled ingredients to the beers to try new flavors. Espresso beans to stout, chocolate to stout or porter, raspberry, honey, saffron; whatever you can think of, they've probably done it. More after the jump.
Just this past winter, Michelob tried craft brews by introducing the worst flavor in brewing history. In the South, we're known for a very bad concoction of Bourbon and Beer. Known as the boilermaker, it's the cheap way of getting drunk; a poor man's cocktail. So some idiot in marketing thought, 'Hey, let's make a boilermaker, add vanilla, throw in some sweet n' low, a sell the stuff.' Yeah, it's that bad.
Another type of beer that is quickly replacing the Belgian wheat craze is IPAs. Now this isn't a bad thing as I can definately enjoy an IPA every once in a while. Some of the psychohop IPA's are a little hard for me to understand. They tend to be those most bitter, tasteless drinks I've ever had but hey, whatever floats your boat.
Just recently, I tried Saranac's entry into craft brewing, the Imperial Pale Ale. Now, I thought I could appreciate a craft brew from Matt Brewing, but apparently, they don't know what craft beer is. Saranac's Imperial Pale Ale is a fairly week tasting IPA ruined by a sickly alcohol taste. I hope that Saranac has some better brews up it's sleeve than this.
The one type of IPA that just needs to stop now is the Crapricot Apricot infused IPA's. Magic Hat No. 9(I've already spoken about it). The Magic Hat is actually a good IPA which is slightly fucked up by the addition of Apricot Essence. On the other hand, the Aprihop from Dogfishead is just flatout nasty. Much like the Magic Hat, there is a good underlying IPA here, at least in the first sip. On further notice, though, the beer is destroyed by an overly sweet apricot taste that becomes unbearable by the fourth sip.
So after all of this, what's next? A caraway stout? Mustard IPA? Oh wait! Pizza Lager.
Drink on!
