canyonwalker: A toast with 2 glasses of beer. Cheers! (beer tasting)
Would you buy a beer that's basically labeled "Beer"? And is a store brand beer? Well, what if I told you the store brand is Kirkland, the label used by Costco?

It's well known among Costco members that Costco branded products, those solder under the Kirkland store-brand name, compare favorably with leading name-brand products. Often they're actually made by one of the name-brand manufacturers. Usually it's a mystery who that is, and often it's the subject of speculation. In the alcohol department, for example, it's long been rumored that Kirkland French Vodka is made alongside France's highly regarded Grey Goose. It turns out that's not true, though it is true that the two vodkas taste very similar. Now enter a beer, Costco Lager. Except there's no mystery or pseudonym for the maker. It says right on the box: Deschutes.

Kirkland Lager, made by Deschutes (Jan 2025)

I'm not normally a fan of Helles Lager, or light lager, this style of beer. But knowing that it's made by Deschutes Brewery, a well respected Oregon microbrewery whose products I've generally enjoyed, made it interesting. And the Costco pricing, almost half off what it costs to buy Deschutes under its own name, made it worth a leap.

So, after that lead-up, how does it taste? Sigh. If only the pitch matched the wind-up.

Light lager is basically the style that all American piss-water macrobrews are. Y'know, the beers that smell vaguely like day-old puke... and only taste slightly better. See also: I Drank Shit Beer and I Liked It. Kinda. 😂

Let me be clear, though: Kirkland Lager is not shit beer. It does not smell like puke, day-old or fresh. It doesn't taste like piss. It smells and tastes like... nothing, actually. It's kind of like DAB Export Lager, except where DAB tasted like "beige" or maybe "off-white", if Kirkland-by-Deschutes were a paint color it would be clear-coat. 😳

This beer just isn't enjoyable. It doesn't taste like anything. I'd rather relax with a Caffeine-free Coke Zero.

canyonwalker: A toast with 2 glasses of beer. Cheers! (beer tasting)
Recently I picked up a beer I wasn't expecting. When I went beer-shopping last week I had a number of items on my list. One of them was Sudwerk Amber Ale, which I wrote about yesterday. Finally the store had it after being sold out on numerous visits! But this time there were other items on my list they didn't have in stock. As I was scanning the shelves I spotted DAB (Dortmunder Actien Brauerei) German lager. It was in a package similar to another DAB variety I like but it was even cheaper: $6 for a 4-pack of 500mL cans. That made it practically the cheapest beer in the whole store! I figured I'd try it.

DAB German lager (Oct 2024)Ordinarily the designation "the cheapest beer in the store" would scare me off. Except this is a German beer. Germany has strict laws regulating brewing. There are definitely German beers I don't particularly care for, but none of them are objectively bad. I mean, not unless you let them get skunked or something. Fresh from the tap or can they're going to be at least okay. Thus I was willing to take a flyer on this beer, even as is it's in a style (German lager) I don't particularly care for. I figured for $1.50 per half-liter can it was worth a try. 😅

A Little DAB'll Do Ya?

DAB lager is very much a beer that's... a beer. It pours in a light gold color, just like a classic lager beer. It has a light, beer-scented aroma. And it has a light, beer-y flavor. It's just a smidge bready, a smidge sour, a smidge sweet, and very... beer-y.

Imagine there's a beer that does nothing wrong. The color's not weird. It's neither too dark nor too light. Nothing's offensive or off-putting in the aroma. Nothing's surprising in the flavors. It's not too strong, it's not too light. There's no surprising flavor element to it. No fruit flavor, no spice, no sweetness. It tastes just like... generic beer.

Now, that's not a very interesting beer, is it? I mean, while there's nothing wrong with it, there's also nothing that recommends it, no notable characteristic that differentiates it from the rest. In matters of taste, a thing has to do more than do nothing wrong to be appealing.

So that's what DAB lager is: probably the most boring beer I've had. If it were a color it'd be beige. Or maybe off-white.

canyonwalker: A toast with 2 glasses of beer. Cheers! (beer tasting)
First off, Yes, I'm still working on my beer tasting project that I began just over 2½ years ago. I haven't written on the topic in a while... though that's not because I haven't been trying new beers. I 've tried a few in the past month or so. I'm just backlogged in blogging (not unusual).

The subject of this blog entry is Sudwerk Brewing's Amber Lager. It's a Märzen, a German lager style whose name literally means "March", as in the month. Though the beer is brewed in Davis, California, it's got a umlaut in it, so you know it's German... -ic.

Sudwerk Märzen Amber Lager (Oct 2024)Traditionally, Märzen beers were brewed in March and enjoyed at Oktoberfest... which is actually in September. Thus it's not surprising that Sudwerk tastes similar to some Oktoberfest brews... though it's in the style that was enjoyed at Oktoberfest c. 100 years ago. "Oktoberfest" isn't a specific style of beer, per se, but whatever style the big breweries that drive the celebration choose. In modern times they've shifted from amber lager to a classic light lager style.

As an amber lager, Sudwerk pours with a delicious looking reddish-brown color. The beer makes a decent head and exudes a nice, rich malty aroma. The taste is pretty much what the look and smell prepare you for as you lift the glass to your mouth. It's malty, bready, and sweet, with notes of caramel.

If anything, Sudwerk is just a tad too sweet on its own. As I drank a few sips before dinner I thought to myself, "This seems more like it should be my dessert." But the slightly over-sweet character disappears once paired with food.

With food, especially savory or rich or sloppy food, the beer really comes into its own. In this sense it was much like Gordon Biersch Märzen. "Is that pizza you're eating? Mm-mmm, I love pairing with pizza. Burgers? Heck, yeah! Barbecue chicken? Don't forget to mop up the sauce and wash it down with one last swig."

I'd had some trouble finding Sudwerk in stock. Though it's brewed in Davis, California, which is only about 100 miles away, and local stores do stock it, it seems like they're always down to their last unit or sold out. I could see making this one of my regular picks... if I could find it regularly. But before I do that I'll be curious to compare it against a few other Märzen lagers I've got in my cellar right now.


canyonwalker: A toast with 2 glasses of beer. Cheers! (beer tasting)
As I planned, this has been a taking-it-easy weekend. I started (kinda) with a soak in the hot tub Friday afternoon before finishing up work for the day. And I finished it up Sunday (kinda) with another soak in the hot tub.

Kona Big Wave pale ale and an afternoon in the hot tub (Sep 2024)

Lest you think all I did this weekend was visit the hot tub, know that I also ran a few errands... including shopping for beer! 😂 Yes, I've been wanting to try Kona Big Wave, the beer shown in the hot tub photo above, for quite some time now. It's the third beer in the Summer Beer Showdown I started writing about almost two months ago. Yeah, I don't shop for booze as often as I used to.

How was Kona Big Wave compared to the other summer-style beers I tried? Possibly my least favorite of the three. Understand that some of that is down to beer style. Big Wave is an American Pale Ale. I tend not to like Pale Ales, especially the India Pale Ale (IPA) style that's been all the rage the past several years. It's too tart. Imagine feeling a pucker factor like eating a lemon. Except instead of lemon flavor it's Pine Sol. 🤢 Well, APAs are less of that than IPAs, but they still fall somewhere short of refreshing.

I made the mistake of buying a whole case (24) of this beer, though, so I figured I should give it a second chance. BTW, why buy a whole case? Because it's economical! The best way to save money is to buy MORE beer at the same time! Seriously, a 6-pack prices out to almost $2 a can or bottle, while this 24-pack came in at just $1.

The second chance I gave this beer was with dinner. I had a light dinner, a roast beef cold-cut sandwich, and figured this otherwise lightly flavored beer would go well with it. It did! The piney flavor of the APA drops quickly into the background when paired with food. I gave it not just a second chance but a third chance, too (i.e., I opened a third can 😅), when I had a bit of dessert after dinner. Surprisingly this beer goes well with small, sweet desserts.

Would I buy Kona Big Wave again? Uh... no. From my previous taste test I like Maui Bikini Blonde Lager way better. But at least this one's good enough that I'm no longer considering pouring it out.

canyonwalker: A toast with 2 glasses of beer. Cheers! (beer tasting)
Recently I decided to try some summer beer. What makes a beer summer-y? There's no specific definition, but generally it's a beer with lighter flavor that's meant to go well being quaffed outside on a warm day. We're having plenty of warm days this summer, so I figured I'd branch out and try something different from the stronger, darker beers I generally prefer.

So off to Total Wine I went, intending to buy a particular brew I read good things about... and they were sold out. (Yes, I checked their app before going. The app said they had some left. The app was wrong.) Not to be deterred, I found two other summer beers to try instead. Why two? Why not! TW had a sale of $2 off on up to four 4- or 6-packs, so I bought two summer 6-packs along with two other beers I've been curious two try.

Anderson Valley Summer Solstice beer (Jul 2024)

The first of the summer brews I tried is Anderson Valley Brewing Company Summer Solstice. Yes, just the name is a mouthful. And the beer is a mouthful, too. AVBC is best known for richly flavored beers such as its Boont Amber Ale. Total Wine describes Summer Solstice as a cream ale. It comes in a darker color (as you can see in the photo above) that doesn't exactly scream "light beer!" but the taste is relatively light... for an ale. Because it's an ale it's got what wine drinkers would call "structure". Meaning a stronger basic flavor. And it's got gentle flavors of baking spices, a bit like a hefeweizen... or even a winter ale. On the whole this beer isn't so much a "Sip it outside on a warm summer day" beer as it is a "Sip it inside on a cold winter night while thinking about summer" beer. 🤣

Next up was Maui Brewing Company's Bikini Blonde Lager.

Maui Brewing Bikini Blonde Lager (Jul 2024)

MBC Bikini Blonde at least looks like what you'd expect of a summer beer. It fills the glass with a pale gold, almost straw color. (It looks darker in the photo above because of what you can see through the glass.) It also tastes much lighter, with gentler lager hops and pleasant, mild malt sweetness. Curiously TotalWine calls it an ale. I mean, it says lager right in its name! And it's also described as a Helles, which is a type of lager. And it's got a relatively light taste, right in line with what one would expect from a lager.

That said, this is not a "light" beer. It's no sex-in-a-canoe beer. It's got a mid-range ABV of 4.8% and definite flavor. While it's mild enough to enjoy sipping outdoors on a warm afternoon it also stands up well to enjoy with summer-y foods like a freshly grilled cheeseburger.

Between these two beers, I wouldn't pour either out in the sink, but Maui Brewing's Bikini Blonde is the clear winner. I'll buy more of it next time I go beer shopping... and I'll match it against another summer beer I've been wanting to try!

canyonwalker: A toast with 2 glasses of beer. Cheers! (beer tasting)
Recently I got to try two Mexican dark beers head-to-head. Modelo Negra has been one of my mainstays for years and is widely distributed in the US. The challenger this round, Bohemia Oscura, is, well, pretty obscure in the US. Its more common sister, Bohemia Original, is available in most stores though not as widely in restaurants as Modelo. I have a few bottles of Bohemia Oscura that I bought in Mexico a few weeks ago and hand-carried home via Phoenix Let's see how they compare!

Dos Cervezas Méxicanas, Bohemia Oscura y Modelo Negra (Mai 2024)

These two beers represent the same style. They are both dark lagers. The style is also known as Munich lager (based on where the style is popular) or Vienna lager (based on the one of the varieties of hops used in their brewing).

The beers look virtually identical in the glass. The Bohemia, on the left in the photo above, looks a touch lighter than the Modelo, but that's more an artifact of the lighting than the beers themselves.

The beers taste nearly the same, too. Tasting them forward and back without food, I was hard pressed to find a difference between them. They both have the rich, sweet taste, but not overpoweringly so, that's made Modelo Negra one of my go-tos for years. I'd say the Bohemia had a slightly sweeter flavor, but the difference was barely there. I'm not sure I could tell one from the other in a blind test.

Enjoying these beers with food, their similarity continued. It was hard to tell them apart. That also means it was hard to call one better than the other. As much as I've like Modelo Negra for many years, I think the Bohemia is a hair better because of its ever-so slightly sweeter taste. Though because they are so close I wouldn't go out of my way to find Bohemia Oscura when Modelo Negra is available. ...Which means I'll be sticking with Modelo once I finish my last few bottles of Bohemia Oscura because Oscura isn't sold anywhere around here.

canyonwalker: A toast with 2 glasses of beer. Cheers! (beer tasting)
I went shopping last weekend at the liquor store. Mostly I was buying wine; I had a coupon. And while I was there I picked up a six-pack of a beer I've been meaning to compare in my Beer Tasting 2022 project. (Yes, I'm very aware it's now 2024. I drink slowly, okay?)

The new challenger is Gordon Biersch Märzen. Gordon Biersch is a brewery that got started nearby, in San Jose. They did well enough with their brews that they gained regional distribution. Their original and classic beer is their Märzen, and old-fashioned Oktoberfest beer. Yes, Märzen is literally German for "March". And circa 100 years ago it's what Germans would drink during Oktoberfest. Which is actually in September.

The first beer I've paired it against is Abita Amber Lager.

Gordon Biersch Märzen takes on Abita Amber Lager (Mar 2024)

Why put a old-style Oktoberfest Märzen against an amber lager? Well, they're kind of the same thing. And indeed, tasting them side by side proved that. From the pour they had nearly identical color. Abita, though, had an exaggerated head, even as I poured it carefully into the glass.

The similarity continued to the flavor. Overall these beers are very similar in flavor. Thus it's surprising that Gordon Biersch is so hands-down the winner. I drank them one after the other, then in reverse order, both with and without food (pizza!). No matter how I varied it, GB always came out ahead. Abita just tasted kind of sweet yet anonymous. GB was pleasantly sweet but had an enjoyable richness to its flavor. Every sip of GB told me, "Hey, I'm a beer! I taste like beer. I'm rich and a little sweet but not overpowering. Hey, what's that, pizza? Mmm-mm, I love pizza."

Hometown Gordon Biersch wins its first match with a walk-off. Of course, that's not particularly surprising because Abita Amber Lager is not a strong contender. It'll be interesting to see how GB measures up to Märzen-style Oktoberfests.

canyonwalker: A toast with 2 glasses of beer. Cheers! (beer tasting)
I'm still working on my beer tasting project. Yes, this is the one I originally called my 2022 beer tasting project. I didn't think I'd be at it this long when I started. The 43 beers I've tasted spread across 40 blogs— 41 as of this entry— in addition to stretching 24 months across 3 years on the calendar. And this is the first time in 6 months I've posted on the topic.

Why so slow? Well, aside from being sick for several weeks and not really wanting to drink, I've gotten older. I'm not in my early 20s anymore. I remember my senior year in college I made an effort to try lots of beers. In just 9 months I think I'd tried about 43 beers at home. I remember that visually because I kept one bottle (empty and washed) from every variety I drank that year. I lined those bottles up on a shelf in my bedroom, sorted from left to right in order of preference. I looked at that shelf several times a day and generally added at least one bottle to it every week.

I can't do anything about not being 20 anymore, but at least now I'm over those darn colds— well, not over-over them, but feeling well enough to try a drink or two with dinner again. So, what's on the table this time? I decided to go "red" with red lager and a red ale, both newcomers to this competition.

Beer Tasting: Abita Amber Lager and Karl Strauss Red Trolley Ale (Mar 2024)

Abita Amber Lager comes from Abita Brewing in Louisiana. I've had several of their varieties before, dating back years to shortly after they first distributed out of state. I've actually had their amber lager before. It was on tap at various restaurants in New Orleans when I visited last spring. I figured I'd give it a try again here in the bottle.

Karl Strauss Red Trolley Ale is from a small, independent brewery in San Diego, California. I've been meaning to pick up a six pack of this one for years but never got around to it. There was always something else I was interested in more or was on sale. Similarly, I've wanted to visit their brewpub on my many trips to San Diego (10-20 years ago I was there at least once a month on business) but there was always something else to do instead. Finally the Red Trolley's time came.

Pouring them into glasses you can see there's a slight color difference. The amber lager looks... well, amber, while the red also is... red. 😂 The lager pours with more of a head. Neither of these make a difference to me, though I know some beer afficionados seem to put a lot of significance on them.

Tasting them alone, without food, the Abita drinks more easily than the Red Trolley. Abita Amber Lager has a rich flavor with an easy drinking character. That said, it's a touch too sweet. The Red Trolley has a rich, deep flavor, but it's almost buried under an overpowering strength. If Red Trolley were a wine I'd quip, "I can taste more wood than fruit." On the drinking-without-food test the Abita wins hands-down.

Tasting them with dinner I expected the Red Trolley Ale to fare better. Its strength could help it complement the food. Alas, Red Trolley was like a bull in a china shop. It strength is so overpowering I still couldn't find much flavor to it even with a light-to-medium meal of hot dogs. The Abita Amber worked well with this meal, losing none of its own flavor. It's still too sweet, so it's not the beer I'd pick given an adequately wide selection, but the Red Trolley seems like one of the last beers I'd want. It's just too overpowering. Maybe, like a red wine with very high tannins, it would go well with a big steak dinner, but for anything short of that: no, thanks.

canyonwalker: A toast with 2 glasses of beer. Cheers! (beer tasting)
A few weeks ago I saw a new beer at Costco: Früh Kölsch. Costco isn't a great place to go looking for new beers as they stock a narrow selection dominated by big brands. Narrow selection is part of their business model. Occasionally, though, they have something off the wall that probably they got a good price on. For example, last summer I found Erdinger Weißbier at Costco. Costco had it at a good price so I gave it a try; I liked it! I did the same recently with Früh Kölsch.

I saw Früh Kölsch for the first time recently at Costco and tried some (Aug 2023)

I've never heard of Früh before this. A glance at the fine print on the label gives me a hint why.... Früh has been brewing in Germany since 1904. 1904... 119 years... that's a new brewery by German standards! 😅 But you can tell it's German because there's an umlaut in the nametwo umlauts, in fact! 😂

Kölsch isn't one of my favorite types of beer overall. I mean, it's okay. But many Kölsch beers lean too heavily into fruity flavors. I was pleasantly surprised to find Früh Kölsch has a crisp, clean taste. I genuinely like it.


Another interesting thing about this beer vs. others of the type is that it stands up well to food. Früh Kölsch, like most of the type, has a light enough body that it drinks well on its own. But it also has just enough structure to remain enjoyable as an accompaniment to rich food.

I love that this beer is so flexible. It's great on it's own, it's fine with food; I could make it a regular beer in my pantry. Alas, when I shopped at Costco again today, 3 weeks after my last visit, it's completely gone. There isn't even a spot on the shelf where it used to be. That's part of Costco's business model, too. I don't know if I'll ever see it again at a cheap price.
canyonwalker: A toast with 2 glasses of beer. Cheers! (beer tasting)
I've fallen a bit behind on blogging about my Beer Tasting project. Yes, I'm still trying new beers to continue exploring the range of styles and variety within them. It's just that it's (a) not fast; I only drink beer a few times a week and a lot of the time it's one of my known go-tos. And (b) I've fallen a few weeks behind in writing about news beers I've tried.

This blog isn't about strictly new beers but rather a second opinion on two I've already tried. Well, one of them is mostly new. I'm still on my first six-pack of Four Sixes. Recently I put it head-to-head with Anchor Steam in a comparison that proved surprisingly on-point.

Beer Tasting: Anchor Steam and Four Sixes (Aug 2023)

Anchor Steam is a beer I tasted early in this beer tasting project after not having had it for probably umpteen years. It occupies an odd spot in beer varieties as being neither fish nor fowl, as it combines lager yeast with ale-style brewing. When I tried it over a year ago I dismissed it as fair but not good, let alone great. I tried it again recently because with news that Anchor Brewing is going out of business and being liquidated by its owner, I snapped up a few six-packs when I saw them at a local store. I figured it was time for a second opinion.

This head-to-head was also an opportunity for a second opinion on Four Sixes, a newcomer (to this area) I saw for the first time at a store a few weeks ago. I tried a can on its own and praised it as an amber lager, especially for reminding me of Killian's Irish Red, a college favorite I can't find in San Francisco or Los Angeles.

So I put these two together for second opinion, and something surprising happened. The Anchor Steam I'd previously damned with faint praise? It beat the Four Sixes I'd previously praised so effusively!

What happened in this second opinion? Well, Four Sixes still had all the rich taste I noted in my first opinion, but compared to Anchor Steam it tasted like it was just trying too hard. It's like the Four Sixes pumped it full of taste additives and went too far, making it taste artificially rich. Anchor Steam, meanwhile, was like, "Yo, here I am. I'm straight-up beer, same for over 100 years. No pretenses, no apologies."

Now I wish I'd snapped up more of Anchor Steam when I saw the last brewery run hit the store!

canyonwalker: A toast with 2 glasses of beer. Cheers! (beer tasting)
One thing about beer tasting, as with just-about-anything tasting, is that sometimes you try something just because it's there and you haven't see it before and you're curious. Oh, it's still got to pass minimum standards. It can't look or smell like shit. The label's got to offer some promise. Even better yet is if the person next to you or the bartender can vouch for it, or Internet randos on some drinking site have given it at least 3.5 stars. 🤣

So it was with Four Sixes Grit & Glory Amber Lager. I saw it in an end-cap display at the local Lucky supermarket ("Lucky, owned by Save-Mart"), it was on sale, and a skim of beer rating sites showed it was at least half decent.

Four Sixes Amber Lager (Jul 2023)

Four Sixes has suddenly appeared in my area with a few different varieties of beer. I picked the Grit & Glory amber lager because it's the one of their styles I tend to like most. In this beer tasting project I've sampled a lot of amber ale. Amber lager has some similar qualities, particularly a rich and mildly sweet flavor, but because it's a lager rather than an ale it has a softer taste profile.

I cracked open the first can of Grit & Glory in the early evening a few days ago and took it out to the balcony. I wasn't sure if this red lager would be a good "warm day in the back yard" sipper. It turned out it was. Also, the weather wasn't really that warm. The heat of the day had broken. The cooling air made the rich taste of the beer more enjoyable.

As I got halfway through the glass it struck me what this beer reminds me off: Killian's Irish Red. Except I haven't had a Killian's— I don't think I've even seen a Killian's— in at least 25 years. For whatever reason it's not distributed in San Francisco, San Jose, and Los Angeles, the areas I've lived for the past 25+ years. Which is (a) weird that it's excluded from these major metros and (b) sad because I really liked Killian's back when I was in college. It was the first beer I tried that I genuinely enjoyed. It was my favorite brand for a few years until I moved out to California, then... whoops, it disappeared. A quick search shows multiples stores out by Sacramento carry it, 120 miles away— including, ironically, the store I shopped in Friday night in Folsom. So until next time I'm buying beer in Sac I guess I'll have to hope Save-Mart's off brand Lucky keeps carrying Four Sixes.

canyonwalker: A toast with 2 glasses of beer. Cheers! (beer tasting)
When Anchor Brewing Company's overseas corporate parent announced the brewery's liquidation a few weeks ago, I thought that was it for Anchor Steam beer and other varieties they produce. Indeed the next day I took a quick look on the apps for two big liquor store chains, TotalWine and BevMo, and both listed it as sold out at all area locations. It even came up in an online discussion forum I follow that's totally not related to beer. People reported snapping up the last few six-packs they were lucky to find.

It was a surprise, then, that I found a whole pallet of Anchor beer at a local TotalWine when I stopped by last night.

I bought these from what might be the last run of Anchor Brewing, ever (Jul 2023)

I didn't buy the whole pallet, of course; just two six-packs. Though I did wonder if maybe I should buy more since this could well be the last production run, ever. (I heard in the news late last week that the factory had completed its last production run and loaded it onto trucks.) The problem is, one, beer doesn't last forever in bottles or cans, generally less than one year; and two, I don't even super-like Anchor Steam. It's just... okay. Though along with a six-pack of Steam I also bought a sixer of their porter. I haven't had it in a long time but I do remember enjoying it. Now I've got some for a future round of my Beer Tasting project!

canyonwalker: A toast with 2 glasses of beer. Cheers! (beer tasting)
It's time for my Beer Tasting 2022 project— yes, it's into its second year now— to go south of the border, to Mexico. I've had several rounds in this comparison evaluating various German beers. This is the first one that's all Mexico. Why? Well, at the start of the project I was more familiar with Mexican beers than German ones. The top 8-10 Mexican beers are easy to find in the US, both in bottles and on tap. I began the project already knowing my preferences among Mexican beers. (Most of them suck, unfortunately.)

This round started several weeks ago, actually, when I bought a six-pack of Dos Equis Ambar Especial. It's one of only two Mexican beers I've liked in bars/restaurants, and even in there it's a distant second on my list. My top pick among Mexican beers, in glass and on tap, is Modelo Negra. But rather than just compare the top two— I absolutely know which one wins that match— I found a dark horse challenger. It's Trader Joe's private label "Trader José" Dark, made in Mexico.

Beer Tasting: Dos Equis Ambar Lager and Trader Jose Dark (Jul 2023)

Trader José pours darker than Dos Equis. "Isn't that's supposed to be TJ's version of Negra Modelo?" a friend asked. It's not that close... unlike how North Coast Laguna Baja was a carbon copy of Negra Modelo. TJ Dark is slightly lighter than Negra Modelo, both in color and taste. It's heavier (in a good way) than Dos Equis Ambar.

Part of the reason this round of taste testing has taken me so long to blog about is that Dos Equis Ambar Especial is... frankly not very good. I don't know if I got a bad batch or what, but every bottle I've opened has had a nasty taste right up front. It's not skunky.... It's more like a taste of stale Wonder bread on the first sip. That nasty taste mostly disappears when drinking it with food, but still, it's a big negative. FWIW, I've never found that taste the handful of times I've had Dos Equis on tap. So again, I don't know if I got a bad batch or it just tastes like crap in a bottle.

Trader José Dark, meanwhile.... Well, it may sound like damning it with faint praise, but it doesn't taste gross like Dos Equis. Aside from that it's got a richer flavor that remains mild, not getting in the way of enjoying food. Again, it's not as dark or as rich as Negra Modelo. It's a perfectly fine alternative, though, for anyone who thinks Negra Modelo is too dark. I happen to like Negra Modelo. It's one of my top few beers overall and one I try to keep in stock in my house. Now I'd be happy to grab a six-pack of Trader José Dark instead on occasion, especially because Trader Joes sells it cheap.



canyonwalker: A toast with 2 glasses of beer. Cheers! (beer tasting)
"I should go back to ShaKa Brewing soon," I've been saying for a year now. "Maybe this Friday." Well, Friday finally came yesterday. I put a stake in the ground when I texted a friend, "I'm heading over around 4:45/5pm". Surprisingly he offered to meet me there! (Surprising because he has standing commitments on Friday evenings.) Once it was a date I couldn't back out of going by forgetting about the time, deciding I was too tired, etc... like I've procrastinated numerous times over the past year.

Friday Evening Happy Hour at ShaKa Brewing in Sunnyvale (May 2022)

Since our first visit a year ago— which I realized was actually 14 months ago when I looked up this link— ShaKa has grown. Oh, they're still in the same light-industrial alley show in the photo above, but they've moved a few doors down the row. Their new space is nearly 4x the size of the old one. They have a bunch of casual seating inside, though with this week's warm weather the ideal place to sit was outside, in the shade, with a gentle breeze making the 80°-ish temperature more pleasant.

ShaKa has grown their portfolio of beers. Last time I enjoyed the Riley Red and Sunnyvale Lager. This time they had at least 4 others in addition. I started with a glass of Gemini, a summer ale with mild fruit flavors and a hint of sourness. It seemed like great choice for sipping outside on a warm afternoon.

Gemini Summer Ale, ShaKa BrewingCo-owner Shawn, the "Sha" of ShaKa Brewing, came by to chat with us. We asked him about what style of beer Gemini is. He explained that it's not a sour beer because they don't use any bacteria in it to produce the sour flavors. That's what distinguishes sours from other beers. He calls Gemini a "tart" rather than a sour because it gets its mildly sour, gently fruity flavors all from carefully chosen hops and yeast. He agreed that it was crafted specifically as a great sipper on a warm afternoon, much like certain styles of white wine— which is exactly what I was thinking about as I drank it.

For my second round I tried a glass of Gaia Scotch Ale. Gaia Scotch Ale, ShaKa BrewingGoing in this beer was my #1 choice as I like darker ales, but I tried the Gemini Summer Ale first because it's better to try lighter flavored drinks first. The heavier ones kind of crush the palate and make it harder to enjoy the lighter ones. And, oh boy, was Gaia heavy.

Gaia has all the flavors you expect in a Scotch Ale. It's dark, rich, and mildly sweet with notes of toffee. It's also higher strength, at 7.2% ABV. Overall it's just too much for me, kind of like the other Scotch Ale I've tried in my long-running beer tasting project, Kilt Lifter— except even more so. As I remarked to my companion, it's not a beer I'd kick out of bed, I just wouldn't order a second one.

Speaking of second one, two was enough for me on Friday afternoon. Both beers were on the high side of alcoholic content: Gemini at 6.2% and Gaia at a whopping 7.5%. If they were lighter, like around 4.5%, I might have sat to enjoy a third. Instead I grabbed a 4-pack of cans to take home to enjoy over the coming week. I bought 2 cans of Gemini, 1 each of the Riley Red and Sunnyvale Lager I liked last time, and none of the Gaia.

Update, Jul 27: ShaKa Brewing made the (local) news! Mountain View Voice article, 27 Jul 2023. The article talks about how the co-founders Shawn and Karl got together to create ShaKa Brewing, how they survived starting days before the Pandemic kicked in, and how they've grown recently.




canyonwalker: Y U No Listen? (Y U No Listen?)
A foreign beer conglomerate has ruined yet-another California craft brewery. On Wednesday Anchor Brewing Company announced it's shutting down. In business since 1895 (that's 127 years!) it's America's oldest craft brewer. It was bought by Sapporo in 2017 and has seen declining sales since then. Example news coverage: CNN article, 12 Jul 2023.

Anchor Steam Beer, Anchor Brewing CompanyA few weeks ago they announced they'd discontinue their Christmas ales that were loved by fans and narrow their distribution of other beers from US nationwide to just California. I was ready to write about just those changes as Sapporo running this history American brewery into the ground, but before I got a chance to write that blog they scooped me by completely running it into the ground. 🙄

This loss doesn't impact my own beer-drinking habits that much. As I explained when Anchor Steam was part of the first round of my Beer Tasting 2022 competition, it's mostly nostalgic. Anchor Steam was one of the first craft brews I found when I started drinking beer in the early 1990s. Back then very few microbrews had national distribution. Anchor Steam was one of them, and when I could find it at a bar on the East Coast it was waaaay preferable to the macro-brew pisswater that comprised most of the other options.

RIP Red Tail Ale (1983-2018)

Why do I say yet-another brewery has been ruined? I'm still sore about a foreign company buying a controlling stake in Mendocino Brewing Company and running it into the ground. MBC was best known for their flagship beer, Red Tail Ale. Red Tail Ale (Mendocino Brewing Company) — a long-time classic now goneNot only was the logo with great art of a red-tailed hawk something that both Hawk and I appreciated— we still have a set of 6 pint glasses we use daily even though the etched hawk art is mostly faded— but it was a craft beer that shot to the top of my favorite list early on and remained there for years.

Foreign owners forced changes in ingredients and processes, and not always for the better. The last time I had their beers, in 2014, I found that something had been lost in translation. They just weren't as good as years earlier. MBC folded up in January 2018.

Now that I think about it, it's precisely because Mendocino Brewing went downhill then folded up that I was left adrift for a few years in trying to answer the question, "What's my favorite beer?" that I started my Beer Tasting 2022 project— which is still ongoing, here in mid 2023.

Is Stone Next?

It's not just these these two once-great breweries that foreign owners are mucking up, or have completely mucked up. Stone Brewing, another California craft brewery, started in 1996 near San Diego, is also owned by Sapporo now. They bought it in June 2022. In just over one year they've already made two big changes that are worrisome to people who like the actual beer. One, rather than using their international scale to broaden sales of Stone, they're using Stone's US facilities to produce Sapporo. Two, they're diversifying the Stone brand into coffee. Ugh. How much longer until Stone beer gets run into the ground?

canyonwalker: A toast with 2 glasses of beer. Cheers! (beer tasting)
As part of my beer buying binge two weeks ago I bought a six-pack of Alaskan Amber Ale. It's been almost a year since I last had that beer. As an amber ale it's in what's probably my main go-to category and it's a pretty good example of the set. A year ago in this now long-running beer tasting project it got edged out, though, in a surprise upset by Fat Tire Ale. Well, now it's time for a rematch.

Rematch: Fat Tire Ale vs. Alaskan Amber (Jun 2023)

Why a rematch? Fat Tire recently changed its recipe. I do like the new Fat Tire better than the old but sometimes these changes aren't strictly linear. Though I liked the old Fat Tire better than Alaskan, and the new Fat Tire better than the old, would I like the new Fat Tire better than Alaskan?

BTW, if this sounds like a logic brain teaser it's because you're accustomed to something called the commutative property in math and logic. If A > B and B > C, then A > C. But taste is subjective and nonlinear, so such logic may not hold there!

Okay, so how do they compare now?

Alaskan pours much darker than Fat Tire, as you can see in the photo above. For amber ales that darker color is generally a positive sign. Indeed Alaskan's taste fulfills what its color implies: it's a rich tasting beer completely typical of the amber ale category. It's a great example of why amber ale is one of my favorite categories, if not my overall favorite.

As much as Alaskan has going for it, Fat Tire beats it again. Despite its paler color, Fat Tire has an even richer flavor. It also has a stronger note of hops that shines through the sweetness and richness, giving the beer extra backbone. That makes it both more interesting to sip on its own and a better accompaniment to rich or spicy food.

The difference between new and old Fat Tire shows well in this rematch. Recall from the first match-up how I thought Fat Tire's slightly sour hops finish might be a minus. It turned out to be a palate-cleanser for drinking the beer with rich food. The new Fat Tire no longer has that slightly sour finish. Instead the hops flavor is better integrated into the beer so it's no longer a slight aftertaste. Yes, New Belgium Brewing made the beer better by changing it; no "New Coke" travesty here!

canyonwalker: A toast with 2 glasses of beer. Cheers! (beer tasting)
Ten days ago I went on a beer run at Bevmo. What was the occasion? Well, one, I was getting low on beer— actually I had nearly 50 bottles tucked away in the hobbit hole but only two varieties— and two, they gave me a $15-off-$75 coupon that was burning a hole in my pocket. Sometimes I'm easy to get going shopping... especially when the reward is tasty beer. 🛒ðŸºðŸ˜‚

I used the shopping trip to restock on some of my overall favorites from this beer tasting project, such as Estrella Reserva 1906, and new-old favorite beer I need to retry, like Fat Tire's new recipe. I also picked up some new-new beer, including Pizza Port Brewing's Honey Blonde Ale.

The latter I imagined as a great beer to enjoy on a warm afternoon outdoors on the patio. Just such an occasion arrived last weekend. Even better, I'd just done a bunch of housecleaning which was sure to make the beer extra enjoyable.

Enjoying Pizza Port's Honey Blonde Ale on a warm afternoon (Jun 2023)

Alas this honey blonde ale was not everything I hoped. That's on me, though, not the beer. This beer is everything I should have expected from its name.

It's a blonde ale, which means it's got the stronger backbone of an ale (versus, say, a wheat lager) with a mild taste. And it's got a bit of honey which adds sweetness without being at all overdone. This would be a great beer for enjoying with food on a warm day.

Key words: with food. Unfortunately I was drinking it as a sipping beer on a warm day, hoping it would be light and clean-drinking like North Coast Blue Star Wheat or even Erdinger Weissbier. Those beers are refreshing on a warm day. Indeed I opened a bottle of the Blue Star after this and it was everything I wanted. Next time I'll be sure I open a Pizza Port Blonde when I'm enjoying a meal outdoors.
canyonwalker: A toast with 2 glasses of beer. Cheers! (beer tasting)
Finally I got around to a beer showdown I've been waiting to make happen for a few months. It's a showdown of two beers in the Maibock category, also known as helles bock. BTW both terms are German and not terribly useful in literal translation: May (style) dark and light dark. Or more literally May (style) goat and light goat. Anyway, the two beers here are Estrella Reserva 1906 and Abita Mardi Gras.

Maibock showdown: Spanish Galicia vs. American Louisiana (Jun 2023)

Both of these beers have fared well in past taste tests. Both are delicious and are already on my short list. Moreover both have beaten all comers so far. But now it's like the finals: two undefeated competitors enter, only one leaves undefeated. Ding, ding!

First I appreciated the look of the beers. Both have great amber hues that are indistinguishable. 1906 has a lighter head. Mardi Gras looks foamier in the glass but that's partly because it's actually a larger pour of beer. The 1906, being produced in Spain, is the Euro standard 330 mL (11.2 oz) versus the Mardi Gras' US standard 12 oz. (355 mL).

Next I sipped the beers without food. 1906 was first and, wow, it reminded me, "This is what a good beer tastes like!" It's rich and malty and neither overly sweet nor tart. It's no wonder 1906 has defeated every comer so far. I'd have made it my house beer already except supply is spotty here in California and the price is bit elevated.

Mardi Gras comes from Abita brewery in Louisiana. My experience with their beers actually goes back 25+ years, though I only saw their Maibock variety a few months ago. That said, it came out swinging, hard, when I first tried it. In this comparison it brought the fight. It is very close to 1906, the difference between the two coming down to minor dimensions of taste. The 1906 has a more tart, malty flavor; while the Mardi Gras Bock is sweeter. I could go either way on which I prefer overall.

Next I tried the beers with food. I tried them both with a snack of lightly salted cashews and a meal of grilled steak. Here I thought the 1906's maltier flavor would excel, but to the contrary the Mardi Gras Bock pulled ahead. The 1906's flavor remained what it was opposite the food. It tasted like 1906 every sip. The Mardi Gras, by contrast, remained rich and enjoyable but melded better with the flavors of the food. It's like a talented pianist who accompanies a violin player beautifully in a duet versus one who tries to show them up. Again, though, this is a fine distinction. Both are great piani— I mean, Maibocks.

Bottom line, Mardi Gras Bock wins by a nose.

canyonwalker: A toast with 2 glasses of beer. Cheers! (beer tasting)
A few months ago New Belgium Brewing announced a change the packaging of its signature beer, Fat Tire— and changed the recipe, too. That caught my attention because in this Beer Tasting project I've been running for over a year now Fat Tire has steadily edged out the competition in amber ales, one of my go-to categories, rising to a position among my top few beers overall. Would this change make it better— or worse?

Worse is definitely a possibility. We older kids remember the New Coke debacle of the 1980s. Coca-Cola saw that it was losing some taste tests to Pepsi and thought it had to reformulate its main brand. The result was disastrous. Coke drinkers hated the new flavor despite a big-dollar advertising campaign with celebrities like Bill Cosby telling us how amazingly better it was. (Maybe the taste was better for disguising roofies.) Coke had to quickly backtrack and introduce "Coke Classic", which they restored to the original branding later when New Coke was put to quiet death.

Anyway, New Belgium announced this change a few months ago, but there must have been a lot of older product still in the sales channel as it wasn't until recently that I saw the newer packing in stores. I picked some up the other day, after having purposefully saved a few bottles of the older recipe, to give them a head-to-head taste test.

Fat Tire changes recipe and packaging... is this a 'New Coke' moment? (May 2023)

Right away I noticed that the new Fat Tire has a lighter hue. With the beers poured into glasses (photo above) you can see the new Fat Tire has a lighter yellow color, vs. the older recipe's more amber hue. The new formulation has a lighter colored head, too.

Taste differences are small but noticeable. The older Fat Tire recipe has a stronger flavor; the newer Fat Tire is just a touch sweeter and richer. Drinking them alone (without food) I definitely liked the new Fat Tire a little better. But would that preference hold up with food?

It turns out the taste differences hold up with food as well as without. I drank the beers with a pizza dinner. Rich food like a meaty pizza is what amber ales are meant for! I thought maybe the older recipe's slightly more sour hops would help it stand up better to the umami, fats, and salt of pizza, but the sweeter new recipe continued to hold its own. It tasted better with rich food because it maintained its sweetness as a gentle counterpoint to the food's flavors, enabling both the pizza and the beer to shine throughout the meal.

Winner: (new) Fat Tire!

canyonwalker: A toast with 2 glasses of beer. Cheers! (beer tasting)
New Orleans travelog #6
French Quarter - Sunday, 22 Apr 2023, 11pm

After carousing on Bourbon Street two nights in a row I've decided to party a bit more quietly back at the hotel, in "The Room of Seven Gables", as I call it. At the same time I've decided to keep working on my Beer Tasting 2022 project. Yes, even though it's 2023 now. I don't drink beer as fast as I used to when I was younger. (That's also why I don't feel like carousing on Bourbon Street 3 nights in a row.) Plus, there's such a wider variety available now. That's true even here in New Orleans, "The Big Easy", where drinking alcohol is literally a local pastime.

On this trip I've seen a variety of local brews in bars and stores that either didn't exist years ago or weren't widely distributed even here in their home territory. A few I've had and enjoyed back in California, particularly several varieties from Abita Brewing. Most of the bars have Abita Amber on tap and most of the stores have it in bottles. It's... is far from Abita's best, IMO. I've hunted around and found two other local beers in stores, buying a 6-pack of each for enjoying back at The Room of Seven Gables.

Two Louisiana beers: Abita Boot and Parish Canebreak (Apr 2023)

My two picks for enjoying back at the Room of Seven Gables on this trip are Abita Brewing's The Boot and Parish Brewing's Canebreak.

I chose to try The Boot because a) I've liked a number of other Abita beers I've had, particularly Turbodog (a brown ale) and Mardi Gras Ale (a Maibock) and b) it's a Louisiana exclusive— not distributed out of state. Canebreak I chose with no recommendation, just the labeling on the bottle that it's a wheat ale.

The Boot is a blend between Pilsener and Kolsch styles. Like a Pilsener it has gentle flavors, a light body, and overall a crisp, clean, refreshing character. The addition of Kolsch yeast gives it a bit more body than a traditional Pilsener but without the stronger, fruity flavor that typifies Kolsch. I like the way Abita has blended these two styles. The Boot has some spine but remains crisp and clean.

Canebreak is an actual wheat ale. I emphasize that because in the US the style hefeweizen has been popularized and almost everybody mislabels it "wheat beer". Hefeweizen actually means yeast-wheat and is a different style. It has strong flavors of banana and clove that Americans incorrectly think typifies wheat beer. Those are flavors from the yeast, not wheat. Wheat beers have a very clean flavor. I like Canebreak because it has a very clean, simple taste. It's much richer than The Boot... but that's to be expected as it's an ale rather than Pilsener.

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