I don’t consider myself a beer aficionado and I definitely don’t experiment to the extent Mike and Mike do. Yesterday, however, I found myself with the opportunity to try six previously untested beers. We had our holiday lunch at Tuscarora Mill, which stocks quite a few microbrews and offers flights of 3 for a reasonable price.
I opted for two rounds, but only five of the six are on their current menu so one is lost in anonymity. I’m somewhat picky when it comes to beer but I’ll try to offer whatever notes I can to help you decide what to ask Santa for. I should probably note that I like wheat beers and cream ales/stouts the most so keep that in mind.
Allagash White (Maine) – This was my second favorite of the group. I’m a big fan of wheats and this one is really clean and smooth. It has almost zero aftertaste, which I liked. This is what you should be drinking instead of light beer.
Aventinus Weizenbock (Germany) – This was the best of the bunch. It’s 8% ABV, isn’t the slightest bit heavy, has a touch of fruit and there’s neary a hit of hops. A winner in my book.
Bells Best Brown Ale (Michigan) – Dark malts with a slight bitterness. I wasn’t crazy about it.
Fullers London Pride (England) – Creamy with a just enough bitterness too offset it. Amazingly, I’d never tried Fullers despite numerous trips to England, including driving by the brewery once. I have Boddingtons in the home fridge and this is obviously is along those lines. It wasn’t the best when compared to the other ‘specialty beers’ but I could see this becoming a long time favorite of mine.
North Coast Red Seal (California) – Heavy on the hops and definitely not my style.
I’ll have to retry Allagash White. I don’t think I liked it the last time I had it. I’ve had London’s Pride here and there… What you had was likely not what you’ll have there. I’m not a fan of whatever they changed for the US market. It’s a pretty good pint over there.
I don’t doubt it about Fuller’s. I never even liked Guinness until I had it in Ireland because it’s fairly bitter here, I think. This was on tap so at least it was as good as it can get here.
The good news is I’ll be in London a week from Saturday so I can try it fresh. 🙂
Make time to get to Scotland and have Belhaven’s Best. I think that was my favorite brew from the trip…