Cerise

Beer Name: Founders Cerise
Brewery: Founders Brewing Company
ABV: 6.5%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a tumbler
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Bottled 5/15/12

For those of you that don't speak Russian, "cerise" is French for cherry. As such, I am expecting this beer to be filled with cherry goodness.

Cerise is a deep ruby red beer, sort of the color of cranberry juice. It poured with just over a finger of fluffy pink head, which faded away pretty quickly but still left a good amount of lacing behind. There is a nice cherry aroma, but it's not overdone. There's also a grainy aroma to it, and the combination makes it seem like the beer will be nice and light.

This beer has a whole lot of cherry flavor. However, it's more of a tart cherry flavor than a sweet one, which keeps it from being like a soda or juice. That's not to say it isn't sweet, as it still has a sweetness to it. There's also enough of a malt presence to remind you that this is, in fact, a beer. The carbonation is somewhere in the low to moderate range, and I think the whole experience might improve slightly if there was just a bit more. The finish is sweet, and sticks around just a little too long.

Final thought - This beer is pretty good. As with many fruit beers, there's probably a low limit to the amount you'll be able to drink in a single session. There's just a point where things get too sweet or sticky and it's time for something else. My overall impression is that this is like a cherry #9, with just a bit more happening. And there's nothing wrong with that.

-Jon

Graduation Ale

Beer Name: Graduation Ale
Brewery: Northampton Brewery
ABV: 5.6% (I think...)
Serving method: 16-oz draft in a tumbler
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

A beer brewed with raspberries and strawberries? Sure, sign me up. From the name, I'm assuming this beer is brewed in late April or early May to coincide with college graduation.

Graduation Ale is an orange colored beer with a very thin head and almost no lacing. I find that to be par for the course for fruit beers, so I'm not going to stress about it. The raspberries and strawberries are both very noticeable in the aroma, which is very nice.

I think this is the first beer I've had that uses strawberries, and they are pleasantly surprising. The beer is very drinkable, with just enough carbonation to keep it from seeming like a juice and fruit flavors that are present but not overly sweet or sticky. There's also just a little bit of a bitterness in each sip that works as a nice balance. Very easy drinking from the first sip until the last.

Final thought - This was a good beer, and it is one I'll have to keep in mind in future trips to the Northampton Brewery. At least future trips that occur in the spring.

-Jon

Raspberry Ale

Beer Name: Raspberry Ale
Brewery: Thirsty Dog Brewing Company
ABV: 3.9%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

This brewery is not new, but it's new to being distributed in this area. Or at least that's what the guy conducting the beer tasting said. I haven't seen it before, so I'll take his word for it.

Thirsty Dog's Raspberry Ale is a light golden colored beer. Since it's a fruit beer, it had a little bit of head when it poured, but it was gone almost immediately. The aroma is, as you would probably expect, raspberries mostly. It also has some light malt aromas, and nothing in the hops department. Everything is pointing to a sweet tasting beer.

The beer's flavor is dominated by raspberries. It tastes like actual raspberries though, and not like raspberry candy, so it's not sickeningly sweet. There's also some light malt flavors, but they're much fainter than the raspberry. The beer has a light carbonation, and just a little too much of a sweet aftertaste. It finishes with a nice raspberry flavor, but then it hangs around on the front of the tongue slightly too long. I can live with it though.

Final thought - For a raspberry beer, this is fantastic. It tastes more like real raspberries than artificial fruit flavors like a lot of fruit beers do. It's also low in alcohol. If this stuff is around this summer and is a reasonable price, I am going to be spending a lot of time with these and the hammock.

-Jon

Grateful Harvest

Beer Name: Grateful Harvest Cranberry Ale
Brewery: Harpoon Brewery
ABV: 5.9%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Best by 2/15/12

It has cranberries. I would be willing to bet anything that it is going to be better than that simply awful Cranberry Lambic beer.

Grateful Harvest is an amber colored beer that pours with a very light head that does not last very long. There is a faint aroma of cranberries here, but if you're expecting something like the blueberry aromas in all those blueberry beers or the pumpkins in the pumpkin ones, it's not there. There is also a sweet aroma here, so this beer seems like it's going to be a malty one.

Well, there is a tartness that seems like it's coming from the cranberries, but there isn't really much of a cranberry flavor. It ends up just seeming like a sweet & sour beer, and it doesn't really work for me. There is a nice amount of maltiness, so there's that if you're into malty beers. Lightly carbonated, the beer has a nice mouthfeel, which is one of the only things it has going for it.

Final thought - It was nice to give it a try, but I doubt I'll ever have it again.

-Jon

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

Apricot Wheat

Beer Name: Apricot Wheat
Brewery: Sea Dog Brewing Company
ABV: 4.6%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Best by... I forget. Sometime a long time from now.

I grabbed a Sea Dog mix-pack and a Magic Hat mix-pack to complement my chili, because nothing goes with chili like beer. Except for maybe beer and football. You know, if there is actually football next season. I believe I've covered most of the Magic Hat pack already, so the honor of being featured as the next new beer goes to Sea Dog's Apricot Wheat.

Since I drank this one straight from the bottle (my Mom's house as a disturbing lack of appropriate beer glassware), I couldn't get a great look at the beer's coloring. It seemed to be fairly light colored beer, but I can't be sure because of the brown bottle. The aroma was very strongly apricot, to the point of seeming a bit artificial. There was also a little bit of graininess in the background, but it wasn't very noticeable.

I can tell that beer snobs aren't going to like this beer. It has an apricot flavor to a ridiculous degree. Where #9 has a fairly subtle hint of apricots in the background, Apricot Wheat is all about it. I would guess that the apricot flavor is not from natural apricots. This beer is very sweet, and it doesn't have much carbonation. They could probably pass it off as an apricot soda.

Final thought - If you go in expecting a big beer here, you're going to be disappointed. This is just a sweet beer for the summer with an absurd amount of apricots. Sadly, too many people are only concerned with having imperial beers or double/triple IPAs to enjoy anything that isn't in the category. Enjoy Apricot Wheat for what it is: an enjoyable, easy-to-drink beer that isn't overly alcoholic.

-Jon

Wacko

Beer Name: Wacko
Brewery: Magic Hat
ABV: 4.5%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Best by 7/31/11

Wacko is Magic Hat's summer beer, and has the distinction of being my new summer beer of choice. I realize that this is blasphemy coming from the person responsible for 3 consecutive Summer Ale Challenges, but it's true. I think the 800+ Summer Ales I drank in the past 3 years might have been just a few too many.

Wacko is a pinkish beer that is slightly opaque. Yup, that's right. Pinkish. That's due to the beet coloring and beet sugar used in its production. It pours with only a light head that fades practically instantly and doesn't leave much lacing behind. There is a sweet aroma here, possibly from the beet sugar. It smells a little bit like fruit.

There's nothing amazing about this beer, but it's easy to drink and has a low ABV, which is just perfect for a summer brew. No one wants to deal with some jerk who gets wasted at a cookout and knocks the grill over. There is a sweetness to the beer's flavor that tastes a little bit like cherries. This beer is not very carbonated and doesn't have much of an aftertaste. All in all, it's an enjoyable beer that doesn't try to do to much.

Final thought - Is this beer super flavorful? Not really. Does it have an especially memorable taste? Probably not. So what gives it the right to take the summer crown from Sam? I don't really know. What I do know is that I can drink a bunch of these without a problem, and the flavor never gets overwhelming. When I'm laying out in the hammock this summer with a couple of goofy looking pugs, that's all I'm looking for.

-Jon

Opa Opa Blueberry

Beer Name: Opa Blueberry Lager
Brewery: Opa-Opa Steakhouse & Brewery
ABV: Um... ?
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a fancy Sam Adams glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

Even though Opa-Opa is no longer on the approved restaurant list, I'll still try their beers from time to time if they're offered to me. It's pretty hit-or-miss with them in my experience. Let's see where this one lands.

Opa's Blueberry Lager is a very pale beer, sort of like the color of straw. It poured with a light head that vanished almost immediately. Since this is the first beer that I've rated that's been served in this particular style of glass, I am not sure if there's any correlation there. I doubt it though. Fruit beers tend to not produce much head. The aroma of this beer is dominated by blueberries to the extent that they almost smell artificial. There was no real lacing to speak of on the glass at the end.

The flavor of this beer is pretty much the same as any other blueberry beer that you've had. Think of Wachusett Blueberry or Sea Dog Blue Paw and you're on the right track. The beer has a light carbonation that works well with the flavor. No real aftertaste here.

Final thought - Probably not quite as good as a Blue Paw, the Opa Blueberry Lager is a perfectly serviceable beer for a summer day. There's not really anything that makes it stand out over other fruit beers though. It's definitely drinkable enough that you could enjoy a bunch on a hot day. Just try to find the ABV first, in case this beer is deceptively strong.

-Jon

#9

Beer Name: #9
Brewery: Magic Hat
ABV: 5.1%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

Someone told me that Magic Hat was recently purchased by InBev A-B or whatever that giant conglomerate is called, but I can't find anything that supports that claim. It was purchased by some group calling themselves "North American Breweries," but I don't think that's the same place. Basically what I'm saying here is, don't believe people.

#9 is a golden colored beer that might have some head if I had bothered to pour it into a glass. It has an aroma that is slightly sweet and has a fruity smell, probably apricots since that is what is in there. There's a pretty good chance that you are already familiar with this beer, so there's not really much to say.

Magic Hat calls #9 a "not quite pale ale," which is sort of confusing because I have no idea what style of beer they are actually going for. If I was expecting something that was like a pale ale but different, I would be completely wrong as there isn't anything pale ale about this. All you hop haters out there can rest easy knowing that this beer is ok for you. The beer has a light flavor of apricot and is easily drinkable since it's got a mild carbonation and pretty low alcohol content.

Final thought - Although it doesn't really feel like a winter beer, Magic Hat's #9 is still a great choice for an extended drinking session. It's not overpowering in any way, and is just a smooth drinking beer from some chill Vermontonians. I actually have no idea if they're chill or if "Vermontonian" is actually the name for people from Vermont, but this is my blog and I'll do what I want.

-Jon

Blackbeary Wheat

Beer Name: Blackbeary Wheat
Brewery: Long Trail Brewing Company
ABV: 4%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Bottled 11/01/10

Let's keep this thing going. Four beers in four days, even though I am secretly writing this a couple of days ago. It's like a time paradox!

Blackbeary Wheat is one of many fruit beers that I enjoy because I am secure in my masculinity. And because I can't call myself a beer connoisseur without being open to all beer varieties. This beer is a pale yellow color and sort of looks like one of those beers you would be drinking at a keg party. There is no noticeable head or lacing. The aroma of this beer is blackberry (obviously) and maybe some malt. Mostly it's berries though.

Much as expected, the dominant flavor here is blackberry. As a matter of fact, this beer would probably be terrible without it. There's also some grainy flavor, which is probably the "wheat" part of the name. It's a very light beer, with a little bit of carbonation and no real aftertaste. Combined with the low ABV, you could probably drink a dozen of these before you run into any problems.

Final thought - This beer is good at what it does, which is be refreshing. It's not a beer that I would be super excited about, but it does make a regular trip to the fridge during the warmer months. Overall, it's very average.

-Jon