Spaten Lager - Spaten-Franziskaner Brau

Vitals:

Name: Spaten Lager

Style: German Lager

IBU: ??

ABV: 5.2%

Gravity: 11.7 OG

Purchased at: Trixie's Liquor

Descriptions:

Appearance: Pours a pale clear yellow; great visibility through the beer. Nearly no carbonation. 1.5 fingers of white head with a nice foamy cap, decent lacing (surprisingly) but not much retention.

Smell: Not too much here - light pale malt smell and some sweet grassy hops. This smells like a typical European lager, nothing great but nothing offensive here...very forgettable smell.

Taste: Very mild flavor; the malt is slightly sweet and you even get a slightly buttery taste. The beer rolls into a little bit of a lemon and citrusy hop flavor, but mostly grassy hops through the main body of the beer. The beer is very smooth and gives a balanced taste throughout; no bite, simple and uncomplicated...

Mouthfeel: This is the lightest beer I've had in a loooong time. Very smooth drinking on this one with a slightly dry finish. This is such a smooth, drinkable beer, you really can't help but love it!

Overall Grade: B

Comments: This beer is so very drinkable and is close, ABV-wise, to being a solid session beer. The taste is not great, but it's good, and the mouthfeel/drinkability wins most of the points here. If you're in for a long drinking session and want a solid lager, this is where you should start your search!

Cheers,

Hurls

Wild Blue - Anheuser-Busch

So, let's be clear from the outset. I did a BYO 6-pack from Trixie's Liquor to try some new things, review them, etc. I didn't realize this was an Anheuser-Busch product until I was trying to look up some stats on it. Very interesting that they're brewing a blueberry ale, and I wasn't ashamed of the choice to try it - gotta keep expanding horizons here.

Vitals:

Name: Wild Blue

Style: Blueberry Lager

IBU: ??

ABV: 8.0%

Gravity: ??

Purchased at: Trixie's Liquor (BYO 6-pack)

Descriptions:

Appearance: This is...beer? As you can see in the photo, this "beer" pours a deep dark murky purple color that looks like grape juice. There was about 1.5 fingers of light purple head (like a watered down eggplant color), which had pretty weak retention and minimal lacing left behind. I immediately begin to question my purchase.

Smell: This beer smells liiiiike......wait...for...ittttttt...blueberries - Surprise Surprise! Other than a faint mild maltiness to this beer it smells like what I'd imagine a blueberry soda to smell like. The smell is not very appetizing and my questioning of said purchase deepens.

Taste: Um...this tastes like a freakin' wine cooler...what trickery is this? No no no, hold on...I might be wrong about the taste...I think it may be better described as a glass of wine mixed with a shot of hard liquor mixed with a tiny bit of lager and finished off with a cup of sugar. Blech...this tastes like a bag of crap, very unpleasant. On a lighter note, Sarah seemed to enjoy the first sip. However, when queried as to whether she would like to finish the drink (I can't even call this "beer," much less beer) she respectfully decline. Purchase fail.

Mouthfeel: Light and over-carbonated - like grape soda. Not much else to say here...

Overall Grade: F

Comments: My first F given on this site. Anheuser-Busch must be so proud! You should avoid this drink at all costs. The only person who should buy this is someone who likes wine coolers but wishes to claim themselves to be a beer drinker. Even then it may be dicey. I feel like drinking this beer was like a bad dream in Willy Wonka's factory. Only, considering Willy Wonka could make the snozberries taste like snozberries, I doubt he would've slapped his brand on such an awful, POS drink, as Anheuser Busch shamelessly has. Shame on you, Anheuser-Busch, shame on you. To make matters worse, Anheuser-Busch doesn't even claim this as one of its own, as it is brewed by "Blue Dawg Brewing."

In conclusion - this beverage is like a small child. If you happen to have one, pay someone else to take it off your hands for a while so you can enjoy your evening.

Cheers,

Hurls

Two Women - New Glarus

Next up on the reviewing is another component of the make-your-own six pack that I got with my 1/4 barrel of Moon Man (we'll get to that review eventually) for the kegerator. The beer is called "Two Women" and is another New Glarus brew that I opted to try out.

Two Women is a deep dark country lager that is made with Bohemian malt and Hallertau Mittelfrueh hops. Beer stats are as follows:

Name: Two Women

Style: Country Lager (Bohemian)

IBU: ?? I would say 25-30 at most based on being a Bohemian lager

ABV: 5%

Gravity: ?? I would say 1.045 - 1.055 based on being a Bohemian lager

Purchased at: Riley's Wines of the World

The Descriptions: So this beer totally poured a lot darker than I thought it would...coming out a bit browner than I initially expected. There was a generous ~2.5 inches of head, but the head on this beer is so light and bubbly...it left the beer pretty quickly. The aroma left much to be desired...it just smelled like a typical lager, slightly grassy, not too distinct on the hops, but also slightly bready.

This beer tasted like it smelled...leaving much left to be desired. The malt came through more than the hops and seemed to be somewhat toasted, which gave a decent backing to the beer. However, it seemed to me that the malt was about the only thing coming through prominently. There was a slight initial fruity taste, but it disappeared and left a metallic, unappealing aftertaste. Truth be told I just couldn't get into this beer.

Overall Grade: C-

Comments: This beer is just lacking in all aspects, in my opinion. It did not distinguish itself in any way, which is atypical of a New Glarus brew. I think they just missed the mark on this, which is a shame because from what I have read the initial recipe of this beer (before they pulled a Favre-like retirement and un-retirement, though with a longer break than ol' Brett) was a huge hit. I will say this: if you're really looking for a lager and love them, you can probably find one that is much better than this. By the same token, if you are looking for a New Glarus brew, you can definitely find ones that are much better. When all is said and done I just don't find this to be something I would ever have a reason to drink.

Cheers,

Hurls