Booze Reviews: Wild Blue – Blueberry Lager
I know what you're thinking. "JEEZE! Could you DRINK anymore fruity beer?" Yes, sir. I believe I could....I think it all goes back to my mother, really. Who, though she loves a nice beer, is afraid of the family curse and so avoids it - except in moments of weakness or celebration. So, my first impressions of beer told me that it was something to be both fearer and savored. As it is with any forbidden thing you imagine that the "THING" must be so very amazing that (insert deity/authority-figure here) MUST be keeping it for themself! As you might imagine, my first taste (as soon as nobody was looking) left me just a tad bit disappointed...
Something like this but with booze.
There was only one conclusions to be drawn: Beer must be made from soap. Like coffee, beer must just be one of those crazy things adults call "acquired tastes." Which has always seems like a misnomer to me because nobody "acquires" a taste for the truly good things in life: Twinkies, Oreos, Cheetos, heroin, doughtnuts, pizza, and cheeseburgers. You don't have to LEARN to like these things because they're already AWESOME. Beer, for me, is not one of those already awesome things. I'm learning to enjoy it's subtleties and the different varieties, but until I acquire that taste you're going to have to bare with me.
Which brings us to this crazy bull-dog-labeled blueberry brew. What I can say is, if you're a fan of things like Berry Weiss you're probably going to like this. It's ACTUALLY purple. I'm sure that's not a selling point for everyone but I thought it was a nice touch. The taste is more of a vague fruitiness than a full on blueberry, which is kind of a let down. But over all it was an enjoyable drink. It's not something that asks too much investment from you and it's happy to play second fiddle to whatever you eat with it. I like that in a beer. Like I said, I'm a BIT disappointed that this didn't include more straightforward blueberry flavor, but I'd still drink it again...you know, when nobody's looking.
Rating: *** (Recommended) Price: $7.50 for a 6-pack.
Booze Reviews: Leinenkugel’s Berry Weiss
I know what you're thinking. "Berry-beer? Just how 'berry' are we talking here?" Very berry, my friend. Very berry indeed. Don't be scared...it'll be ok.
Leinenkugel's makes one of my favorite wheat beers (Sunset Wheat) which we reviewed here not to long ago on the site. I've seen a lot of mixed reviews about Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat because, when you get right down to it, it tastes an awful lot like Fruit Loops. I'll be honest with you: I'm not really in to dark beers (I know...I need to broaden my beer-horizons) so the fruit loopy thing is right up my alley. Well, if you didn't like that one you won't like this because it takes the fruitiness up another notch.
The Fruitiness goes to eleven...
Ok, maybe it doesn't literally go to 11. But if you don't like sweeter, lighter, wheat beers then you're going to hate this stuff with a passion. Your beer belly might even reject you entirely and waddle its fat self out the door in disgust. But if you're open minded...and maybe a little fruity yourself. his is actually a decent, albeit very sweet, expression of wheat beer.
When I said 'lighter' before I meant color because this is certainly not a sugar-free beer nor is it easy on the calories at 207 per serving. I suppose you could classify this as "dessert beer" if you really wanted to because its really more of a treat than it is something you might sit down with at a meal. The blurb on Leinenkugel's website says that it's brewed with Logan, Elder and Blackberry flavors but the label says it's made with real blackberry juice. The truth is you're going to taste that blackberry more than anything.
It's not quite soda-pop but if you're used to drinking Guinness you just might mistake it for one. On the other hand if you're new to the beer-game or trying to introduce someone there are worse places to start.
Rating: *** (Recommended) Price: $7.50
HEY YOU! I really would like to learn to appreciate the darker varieties of beer; so leave me a comment on where I should start...just be gentle.
Booze Reviews: Leinenkugel’s Sunset Wheat
You know wheat beer is hot when Budweiser decides to get in on it. But it's not who does it first, it's who does it best and the best wheat beer I've so far is Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat. You might have noticed that the boozebloggers just aren't that into the dark beers. But we're still trying to develop a taste for it, so bare with us. I really just don't like the idea of coffee in my beer. Now coffee with alcohol, that I can get behind. But for me I'm really just more comfortable with something I don't have to try to like. That's Leinenkugel's in a nut-shell.
So what does it taste like. I can state confidently that this beer bares an uncanny resemblance...to fruitloops. That's right. The sugary childhood cereal we all loved now comes in beer form! It's actually not that sweet, just sweet enough really. What I can't get over though is the drinkability. It's smooth and goes down easy but its not like your average corporate light-beer without any kind of distinctive flavor.
You see, when you're marketing a beer all across the country you have to try to formulate it so that it makes everyone happy. But the thing is, regardless of what you were told in school, not everyone's opinion matters. We all know some very, very stupid people who should not have a say in how beer tastes. This is the downfall of the big three brands: Budweiser, Coors, and Miller. They have to make everyone happy so they have to make their beer taste like nothing. As a consequence the most distinctive flavor you're going to get out of a Bud-light is a just a hint of "bar-o-soap." That's fine if your aim in drinking beer is to get drunk at a frat party. Personally though I like to enjoy my beer.
When out-n-about I'm usually a hard-liquor guy. I scan the bar for the whisk(e)y's I haven't tried yet and order the oldest one they've got. As a result I'm more focused on my $10-a-shot booze, plus I tend to get buzzed faster than my friends. I just don't have a great fondness for beer. But with Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat I feel like I've got something worth ordering. So support the little guys - even if it costs a little more. Otherwise all we'll have left to drink is Bud-Lite-Soap-Weiser.
A - $8 - six pack
Booze Reviews: Tsingtao Beer
Tsingtao has been around. It's the best selling beer in China and has been brewed there for something like 107 years. Well...I think it needs more work. I wouldn't go so far as to describe it as skunky ass-water but some have. I don't taste the ass per se but that may be my under-developed palate or because this beer is so fucking bitter that nothing else is able to sneak past. To be fair I've heard this beer tastes better on tap.....if you're in China.
Maybe it used to be better. According to wikipedia, after the People's Republic of China was installed, the Tsingtao brewery was no longer able to use imported ingredients or the the kick-ass water from the Laoshin mountains. The new government "encouraged" the peasants to take over the task of gathering those raw materials. Probably by putting a gun in their mouths and saying "Chairman Mao wants his beer and it's the people's work, bitch." This may be why Tsingtao tastes faintly of the tears of small children.
Please observe this commercial about how Tsingtao can get you hot American babes. That is, if you happen to be a murderous dictator......named Mao Tse Tung... and you're packing... but not in the good (penis) way.
So, yeah, if you want to support communism then, by all means, buy Tsingtao.
Overall Score: D+
-ryan was later attacked by what appeared to be a ninja but would like you all to know that he'd still rather be dead than red.