Tag Archives: beer

#DrinkUpLinkUp — Batch19

Walking through the grocery store the other day, I wanted to try something different. I wandered to the beer cooler and found… nothing interesting. Nothing that caught my attention. But as I walked away, stacked up against a cooler nearby was:

 Batch19

 

Batch19, proclaiming to be a “Pre-Prohibition Style Lager” and boasting a 5.5% ABV, grabbed me with their unique bottle and, well, it seems all things prohibition-days are popular right now. (If anyone can get me a bottle of Chicken Cock Whiskey I’ll… I’ll… write your praises in this blog?) It jumped into the basket and came home with me.

From the Batch19 Facebook page:

Inspired by an authentic pre-Prohibition recipe, this bold, hoppy and balanced lager derives its bold taste by using a rare combination of hops including Hersbrucker and Strisslespalt. Hersbrucker hops provide herbal notes and Strisslespalt hops deliver notes of black currant. We are aware of no brewer in America who uses this combination today. Deep-gold in color, naturally filtered and unpasteurized, Batch 19 has 26 IBUs and an assertive 5.5% ABV.

Ok, we got all the technical stuff out of the way, lets move on to the more fun part. DRINKING IT.

 Batch19

I like Lagers… they might not be my first choice, but I rarely run into one that I don’t like. So I wasn’t surprised to like it, what surprised me was to like despite its hoppiness. I’m not a fan of hoppy beer, but this one… maybe it was the combination of the two types of hops. I don’t know, but I LIKED it.

The biggest surprise for me what its flavor lasted. I run into beers that are “pretty good” when good and cold. The cold making the hops palatable, but as soon as it warms up even a tiny bit I can’t finish it. I enjoyed Batch19 from the first cold, cold drink all the way down to the last not-as-cold one.

I’m glad I still have some bottles of this in the fridge to enjoy over the next few days. I’d buy it again!

 

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#DrinkUpLinkUp — Sam Adams Summer Ale

It snowed this week. So of course I had to have Sam Adams Summer Ale last night to pretend it wasn’t still stupid cold outside.

 Sam Adams Summer Ale

Let’s just get this over with… I didn’t love it, but I also didn’t hate it. It was pretty middle of the road to me.

I’m a total wheat beer girl. My top three beers are pretty much Shocktop, Blue Moon and Hoegaarden. So there you go. Sam Adam’s Summer Ale doesn’t quite reach those for me. Perhaps if I’d had a lemon wedge with it? I don’t know.

From Sam Adam’s site:

Crisp and tangy with refreshing lemon peel and a hint of pepper from rare Grains of Paradise. Golden, hazy, & thirst quenching, this American wheat ale balances bright citrus, Noble hops & spice for a lively brew that’s perfect on any summer day.

Its definitely a summer brew with strong citrus flavor, but its also (to me) a lot hoppier than its other wheat offerings. I think that’s where I jumped off the bandwagon. Some people love that, and I totally respect that fact!! Its just not my thing… so I’ll probably shy away from it going forward. But I’m glad I gave it a shot!!

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