COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
BREWERY: Anheuser-Busch
STYLE: Low-Alcohol Beer
ABV: Less than 0.5%
PURCHASE: Case of 24 12-oz. bottles, $25.47
SERVING: 12-oz. bottle, poured into pint glass. Pours like a light beer. Barely a half an inch of head with a normal pour, maybe 3/4" with a faster pour. Head retention is a joke.
APPEARANCE: Looks like a light beer. Very pale, very clear straw color with a run-of-the-mill white head. Steady bubbling. Absolutely no lacing.
BOUQUET: Surprisingly, this beer has some husk to it. A little grassy, too. Not much besides that, though.
PALATE: Goes down like a light beer. It's mildly carbonated with a fairly thin body. Straight-ahead palate from start to swallow: Mainly seltzer. Not much actual beer character until the aftertaste, which is dry and grainy but seems to end on an ever-so-barely-there hoppy note, all while retaining a seltzer feel.
MUSINGS AND METAPHORS: I remember the original tagline for O'Doul's back in the day: "It's what beer drinkers drink when they're not drinking beer." I'm a beer drinker. When I'm not drinking beer, I drink . . . whiskey.
That said, it's truthfully better than A-B's worst, and on a par with your standard American light beer. I rank it accordingly.
Is it possible to get drunk on O'Doul's without bursting your bladder? Just curious.
GRADE: D
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
BREWERY: Harpoon Brewery & Beer Hall
STYLE: IPA
ABV: 5.9%
PURCHASE: Draft (pint), $5.75
SERVING: Chilled pint glass. Usual head of roughly 3/4" to one full inch. Better than average retention.
APPEARANCE: Rusted copper body with the expected effervescent white head. Fairly see-through. Bubbling barely visible. Outstanding lacing around the glass.
BOUQUET: Not particularly hoppy for an IPA. A little grassy, a little malty, and a little citrusy, but tame in all three respects. The citrus notes in play seem to be lemon, maybe orange.
PALATE: Not particularly hoppy for an IPA. Comes off more as a pale ale than as an India pale ale. Not too heavy and ideally carbonated. Tempered all-around mouthfeel, with a malty backbone and citrusy finish--again, seemingly lemon and orange, not grapefruit-like as is the case with scores of IPAs these days. One of the least bitter IPAs I've personally ever tasted; actually seems more on the sweet side, particularly in the aftertaste. Very well balanced and extremely smooth.
MUSINGS AND METAPHORS: I've found Harpoon's beers to be hit-or-miss, but their flagship IPA is a winner. Great beer for an uncharacteristically 65-degree January day in Philly.
Hopheads might balk at it. Haven't they ever heard that great things come in moderation?
GRADE: A
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
BREWERY: Neshaminy Creek Brewing Company
STYLE: IPA
ABV: 6.6%
PURCHASE: Draft (pint), $5.75
SERVING: Chilled pint glass. Standard 3/4"-1" head from the tap. Decent retention.
APPEARANCE: Transparent rusty-caramel color with the expected sudsy white head. Barely any visible bubbling. Outstanding lacing.
BOUQUET: Hops are rounded out with nice caramel malt and subtle citrus aromas. A little bready.
PALATE: Moderately filling body. Perfectly carbonated. Hops set in immediately but don't attack you as with some IPAs; rather, entry is a bit malty with the hops blending in toward the finish. They yield to citrus essences of grapefruit and, to a lesser degree, lemon zest in the somewhat yeasty aftertaste. Makes for a pleasantly bittersweet end note.
MUSINGS AND METAPHORS: County Line IPA is the flagship IPA from Neshaminy Creek, named for the main roadway that divides Bucks and Montgomery Counties just outside Philadelphia. In fact, the brewery itself was almost named County Line, before settling upon Neshaminy Creek.
As for the beer, hopheads rejoice! Hops will always be the calling card of the IPA, and this one boasts five different varieties of them.
GRADE: B+
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Belgium
BREWERY: Brouwerij St. Bernardus NV
STYLE: Tripel
ABV: 8.0%
PURCHASE: 25.4-oz. bottle, $13.99
SERVING: Said bottle, poured into St. Bernardus branded snifter. In the snifter, not much head. Pours of varying speeds all resulted in less than an inch, with not much in the way of retention.*
APPEARANCE: Hazy, golden-orange body with a slightly off-white, sudsy head. Very, very faint bubbling. Visible flecks of "floating" yeast. No lacing.
BOUQUET: Malty, with a significant sucrose presence--likely a result of Belgian candy sugar. Pressed grains and slight citrus notes--namely orange and possibly a tinge of lemon--also evident. Not overly complex but extremely inviting.
PALATE: Significant carbonation that starts moderately enough, but can become sharp and biting if held even a tad too long, if the beer is consumed too cold. (As it warms, it gets better all around, but especially in this department.) Drinkability is still a breeze. Fairly simple front palate of malt and grain, somewhat sweet. A bit phenolic and yeasty in the finish with emerging citrus zest. Aftertaste is a bit hoppy with a renewed sweetness. Very well balanced; ultra-smooth mouthfeel.
MUSINGS AND METAPHORS: Arguably an elite beer like another St. Bernardus stalwart, the Abt. 12. What American tripels should aspire to be.
The key to drinking a lot--maybe even most--of these abbey beers is to pay attention to temperature. 45-50 degrees is what you want here, not 35-40 as you would, say, a Coors Light. I learned that lesson the hard way once upon a time. Don't get me wrong. Consuming this at too cold a temperature will not ruin the experience, but it will certainly compromise it.
Do it correctly, and you've got an All-Star here.
*What a difference temperature, in addition to a change in glassware, truly makes. I experimented over two nights with this. The photo at the top was my "official" review, in the St. Bernardus snifter. The following night, I consumed another bottle after taking it out of the refrigerator--located in my garage--and allowing it to sit in the January air for several hours while I was at work. I also used a Chimay chalice (pictured below) instead of the snifter. The result was more subdued carbonation, an even better balanced taste, and . . . head!
GRADE: A
