Memorial Day Quick Take: Butternuts Mix Pack
So you've got a decision this weekend, what do you bring to your Memorial Day BBQ? Sure there's one of the five beers from our Memorial Day beer and cheese pairing, but maybe you want something a little simpler, a little more drinkable...a little more...canned. Sure you could pick up one of many mass produced light beers, and it wouldn't even really be a terrible choice for a hot day of BBQ. You can do better though. This is where the Butternuts Mix Pack comes in. The greatness of this mix pack is really in it's simplicity, none of the beers are overcomplicated.
The pack contains Porkslap Pale Ale, Snapperhead IPA, Heinneweisee Weissebier and Moo Thunder Stout. The two real highlights of this mix pack are the Heinneweisee Weissebier and the Moo Thunder Stout. The Heinneweisee is a crisp weisse with just the right amount of sweetness, the stout is as good as an example of a session stout as it gets, light but still with nice malt bitterness. So if you're looking for something a little different this weekend pick one of these up.
Oh yeah, and the names of the beer are hilarious, which is always good for some conversation.
Quick Take: Dogfish Head Festina Peche
Appearance: Cloudy straw color. White head that dissipates very quickly.
Smell: Tart peach
Taste: Tart. Light sweet/sour after taste. Dry...really really dry, the opposite of cloying. A hint of peach. A touch of malt at the very very very end.
All in all, a very different and delicious summer offering! This beer doesn't have the regular Dogfish Head house taste. Probably because it's dry, not overly sweet. This is Jeff's favorite summer beer... He'll probably drink it all summer. At $8 per 4-pack it might be a little expensive, but given increased beer prices, this is actually a pretty good deal!
Additional note from Devon: I normally don't like any fruit beers, not because I think I'm some super tough guy or anything they just aren't my cup of tea...errr or glass of beer in this case. I have to call this an exception though, there's no overwhelming sweetness and it really is a nice alternative for a summer beer.
Quick Take: Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Fresh Hop Harvest Ale
Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Fresh Hop Harvest AleAppearance: Clear red/amber. Pretty big head that cuts to 1/2 an inch fairly quick.
Smell: Hoppy, but not overwhelming. You can definitely smell the malt.
Taste: This beer begs to be on cask (Do you hear that Sierra Nevada? BEGS to be on cask! In Boston.). First taste is hop bitterness, quickly followed by massive hop taste. It's like grapefruit spice. WOW! Feels less carbonated than a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Light carbonation helps in drinkability, especially as it makes the hops less aggressive and more flavorful. This beer made us burp hops, by the way...we like that. This beer may be even better than their regular Fresh Hop ale!
After thought: super dank hops! yeah that's right we said dank, what of it?
Quick Take: Flying Dog Kerberos Tripel
Flying Dog Kerberos Tripel8.5% abv
Appearance: Cloudy copper. White head, goes away quickly.
Smell: Belgiany... you know, a little spice... It smells like Belgian yeast. Also, there's some nice fruit in there. A sort of sweet fruit taste like mango we taste a tropicalish fruit flavor rather than traditional citrus notes.
Taste: Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiny bubbles. This beer will make Don Ho happy... Ya know, because of the tiny bubbles... Just Google it if you don't get it. It's sweet and effervesent. It's good, we like it. A bit of heat from alcohol. A great example of an American Tripel.
Devon thinks it's very refreshing. Jeff thinks it's a little sweet to be refreshing, but a great beer nonetheless. Normally this style will have a little bit more alcohol, but we're digging it this way. Well done Flying Dog!
