Hell or High Watermelon

Beer Name: Hell or High Watermelon
Brewery: 21st Amendment Brewery
ABV: 4.9%
Serving method: 12-oz can
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

I think that watermelon beers have been hit or miss in the past, as most fruit beers tend to be. This is a seasonal beer, specifically for the beer season of summer, which apparently runs from April to September. If only the actual summer was as long...

Hell or High Watermelon is another canned beer, so, much like its brother Brew Free! or Die, I don't have a whole lot of information for you about its appearance. I would be willing to bet that it's a very pale colored beer based on it being a wheat beer. The aroma is grains and watermelon, so the watermelon flavor should be pretty noticeable.

Well, it definitely is. Not upfront, but this beer finishes with a very strong watermelon flavor. This tastes like a normal summery beer with a nice watermelon surprise. It's sweet without being overdone, and it doesn't taste fake like some fruit beers do. There's a pretty high carbonation here, but it seems to work well with the watermelon.

Final thought - This beer is a good summer beer. It's light and crisp, and it's not too strong. Price might be an issue though, as I think it was a bit steep. Give it a try sometime, and invite me over for it.

-Jon

Brew Free! or Die IPA

Beer Name: Brew Free! or Die IPA
Brewery: 21st Amendment Brewery
ABV: 7%
Serving method: 12-oz can
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

Yup, that is not a typo. Somehow, a beer in a can has cracked the formerly impenetrable wall that was my bias against beer served in an aluminum tube. I am not sure how this happened. Actually, I am. When Bill and I returned the bottles from the last few months, the total return came to $22, so I bought some crazy beer that was being sold in a box of 6 cans. I figured if a company was brave enough to package their beer like crap beer, there has to be something important going on there.

Brew Free! or Die IPA is a beer with a cool name and a stupid punctuation mark in it. It also made me thing that this beer was brewed in New Hampshire even though it's apparently from California. Since the can was pretty opaque, I have no idea what kind of appearance this beer has or whether or not it leaves a cool lacing pattern. However, I will say that it had a nice aroma of citrus hops mixed with a strong malty presence.

This is a nicely balanced IPA, and it even was palatable to Kate! Not that she liked it, but she didn't make a face and even rated it as "not bad," which is the highest rating she's ever given to an IPA. There's a nice hoppy flavor here, but the beer finishes with a nice maltiness and no bitter aftertaste. There's a good amount of carbonation here, and the flavor doesn't really hint at the 7% ABV. Nicely enjoyable for an afternoon or evening of beer consumption.

Final thought - Aside from the fact that it took me 3 cans of this beer to finally get past the mental obstacle that came from drinking a beer from a can, this beer was very good. I find it a little strange that my brain added a metallic taste to the beer for the first and second beer just because I knew it was coming from a can. If you can get past that, this is a delightful brew.

-Jon