Aug
31
2011
Comments Off on Weird Beers.

So, in my quest to drink all sorts of randomesque beers, there have certainly been a few that involved interesting ingredients. Earlier this evening I had a beer that had Argyll seaweed added into the mash, well I reached into my magical beer drawer in the fridge, and low and behold out comes another beer with intriguing ingredients. This beer, “Alba” stems from ancient Vikings who would use pine in the brewing process. Now, I am skeptical. You can learn a lot from a beer by looking at a label. Believe it or not, you really can. How much time and effort was used to create the label? is it one that will stand the test of time (Cue the Ram on Shiner Bock, 102 years strong… just saying) this beer has a simple, olden looking label. One wraparound piece, a Scotish tartan on the front, with the word “Alba” in a centered, vertical position. A lower banner reads “Scots Pine Ale” in a script similar to gaelic. The beer itself is a amber color, similar to a Marzen color, but it is in fact a triple style ale, brewed in a throwback to the Vikings. The bottle lists it as a “tawny style” which to be honest, I know tawny is a type of Messina Hof Port wine, but that is about it. (If you have insight comment, email me Blake@beerwithblake.com). The flavor is one that is intriguing, it is a sweet ale (probably due to the tawny partition?) a little too sweet for me to drink more than one at a sitting. The flavor is not as strong as I was anticipating. I am not going to lie, I almost expected to walk into a ginesque flavor that reminded me of pine-sol. Instead I was met with a sweet ale, and an ample amount of pine. Not overpowering however. I would compare it to a top down drive through the last ten miles of highway 21 in central Texas as you go through the lost pines. If you are unfamiliar with that stretch of road, imagine walking along the outer skirts of a pine forest. You are not overcome by pine, but it is definitely in your presence. Overall, a mediocre beer, I can’t say that I would buy a six-pack of this brew, but it is certainly one to try at least once… maybe if you don’t have a good Marzen sitting in your fridge.

So, with that out of the way, I want to talk about weird / different beers. What is the weirdest beer that you have personally had? I have had the above mentioned and some other beers that were intriguing. Naturally I have had a couple of different Chocolate beers (Youngs Double Chocolate Stout, Choc 1919, etc) a couple of coffee porters (Real Ales Coffee Porter, different Kona beers, etc) a pair of pecan porters (Lazy Magnolia, 512 Brewing), Oatmeal Stouts (Samuel Smith, Independence Brewing) and so on. These oddball brews are always a hit or miss. I’ve had a Blueberry beer that was absolutely terrible, but I have had a couple of Apricot beers that were phenomenal (Here is to you Dogfish Head, and Pyramid). As a general rule, I try to stray away from “fruit” beers, especially Abita’s Strawberry. I have yet to find an Abita that did not compel me to gargle gasoline, I have serious reservations about trying one of their fruit beers for that very reason. However, on the other hand, beers brewed with coffee, chocolate, even espresso (Big Shot) have left me (as a general rule) pleased with my purchase. I once tried a Bards, this is a “gluten-free” beer, brewed with Sorghum… Definitely one of the worst beers that I have ever tasted. It made me yearn for a Natural Light, yeah, it was THAT bad. But not all gluten free beers are like that, Redbridge puts out a decent product that, while I won’t buy it, if I was to choose between that or no beer, I would certainly choose them.

Scots Pine Ale

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