Sunday, March 25, 2012

Hell or High Watermelon


21st Amendment Brewery - Hell or High Watermelon – San Francisco, California

This is by far the coolest looking beer can I have ever seen. The cartoonish caricature of the Statue of Liberty sitting on really what looks to be the Golden Gate Bridge, but probably isn’t, is just too cool. So it’s really a shame that this beer actually isn’t very good. In fact, it is pretty terrible. Why they chose to ferment it with watermelon concentrate and then add more watermelon juice afterwards is a mystery to me. I mean…did they really want their beer to taste like (to quote a friend) “A natty with a melted jolly rancher in it.” Probably not. Honestly, the first thing that popped into my head when I took my first sip was, “this tastes like my burning throat after I vomit.” So maybe this brew is just a little too acidic 21st Amendment Brewers…my advice to you is not to try so hard next time and just make a normal beer for your fancy can. Everyone will be happy!

It appears as though 21st Amendment Brewery is really into the artwork that goes on their cans. Check out their website to see for yourself!!

Craft beers in cans is apparently a new market trend. Smaller breweries are discovering that cans are in fact easier to ship, do not get contaminated by sunlight (skunking the beer), AND are more environmentally friendly. So, many places are taking on a the new look and canning up some of their beers instead of bottling them. Don't be afraid of a craft beer in a can! It's not a gimmick! Don't believe people who say beer tastes better out of the bottle. It's not true. Cans taste just as good. Miller Light out of a can will always be Miller Light/crappy. Craft beer out of a can will always be craft beer out of a can/yummy! Next time you are beer shopping go for the craft cans. Not only will you be purchasing new, great, exciting beer, but you will also be saving the environment!!!!

Obviously 21st Amendment has fully embraced the can and is using it as an effective marketing strategy by putting their beers in awesome-looking cans. It would be hard to walk by a beer with an Astronaut Monkey on it called "Bitter American." Just like it was hard to walk by a beer that had a cartoon statue of liberty on it. Hopefully I'll like what the monkey's hiding inside a little more!


Thursday, March 8, 2012

Juniper Pale Ale and a taste of Italy


Oopsies. Sorry for my prolonged absence from the blogosphere! I blame.....my dire need to watch recorded DVR shows, trying not to gain weight from V-Day (doesn't even merit me writing out the full name) cookies/candies/baked goods, and embracing my ripe age of 900 years by going to bed early all the time. I will make it up to you by giving you two reviews today!


Rogue - Juniper Pale Ale - Newport, Oregon

Rogue makes some of my favorite beers, so I was excited to try a new variety. As I have mentioned before I usually don’t like many Pale Ales, but this one ended up being okay. My suspicion is that the addition of the Juniper Berries gave the beer that extra flavor shot that maybe took away from the hoppiness of the usual pale ale. The flavor combination was nice, however, the first sip the only thing I could think was, “that hurt my nostrils.” So this beer has some zest you should be ready for. Or if you're sickly with a clogged up nose maybe you will still be able to taste it! Is that why people like strong pale ales and IPAs? Because they can't taste rull grood? I sense an Blogpinion post about that topic in the near future!



La Rossa Birra Moretti – Italy

7.2% alcohol, 92.8% kinda gross. I’m confused as to what type of beer this is, and it tastes like metal. So I probably won’t be getting it again, or trying harder to figure it out.


(Guess that was really just like one post...deal with it, the second one sucked. I'm surprised I even wrote that much about it.)

Until next time, stay thirsty my friends.