In the past couple of years, I have seen a few flavored beers hitting the shelves from the two major brewery’s in the United States. Miller Chill, Bud lite Lime, etc.  Personally, I think flavoring beer with a fruit is the big two’s (Anheuser Busch and MillerCoors) way of trying to get more women as customers. Come on, really, how many men do you know go on a beer run during half time of the big game and return with a twelve pack of Michelob Ultra Pomegranite Raspberry Pilsner? Anything less than Coors light and you’ll lose your man card for a week, not to mention that you will be laughed at for months, maybe years. “Hey remember when Bob went on that beer run twelve years ago and came back with that Pomegranite Orange crap?” “Yeah he stopped by Bath and Body works on the way back and that’s why he missed the third quarter.” (NOTE: Bob’s name used to be “Slayer” but he lost rights to it too, now he’s simply known as “Bob, the guy that botched the beer run”) These flavored brews are targeting the female gender and that’s fine for their place in the business and kudos to their marketing teams for having more than a little success at this. Heck, if this is what it takes to get a new customer, then more power to them. Besides, if more women drank beer, our dinner bills will be cheaper. A flavored beer has to cost less than a daquari.

But lately I have seen something in the beer world that has grabbed my attention, an influx of “specialty” beers. Anheuser Busch, through their Michelob line, has introduced some brews that until now have only been available through micro-brewery’s. Pale Ale, Porter, Marzen, Dunkel Weissen etc. They even have seasonal brews, Beach Bum blonde ale for the summer, Jacks Pumpkin spice ale for the fall and Winter Bourbon Cask Ale for the winter. They also have a yet to be announced brew coming this spring, I can oly assume it will be an ale. (yawn)

I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that the big two are now owned by foreign company’s and they are trying to keep the allegiance of the American beer drinker. This would be a pretty transparent, albeit logical, reason for the sudden release of so many different brews in such a small time frame. I have tried a few of these brews and will be posting my reviews soon. I promise I’ll  keep an open mind when writing my notes and forming my opinions. I will give it my all to be as objective as possible. But please keep in mind that the big two have lots of money and resources that micro-brewery’s just don’t have.

Of the ones I’ve seen and tried, the labels are fairly attractive and the commercials are pretty cool for the novice beer drinker. The more experienced beer drinkers, however,  are not fooled by catchy phrases and clever ads. For example, in one of the Michelob ads it shows someone, supposedly an employee of the brewery, explaining how they are looking for a thick head and “lacing” down the glass. I find this remarkably similar to the Samuel Adams commercials. Besides, aren’t all thicker, darker beers supposed to have this lacing? My opinion is that this will only steer most beer drinkers to their product once, then they will come back to their favorite brews. Yeah, the big two have the money and resources to give out a marketing campaign that will certainly steer some beer drinkers away from their favorite micro-brews for a time. After all, most experienced beer drinkers will try anything once.

My fear is that because of the aforementioned marketing campaigns, it might put a squeeze on some of the smaller micro-brewery’s in the United States. I, for one, would hate to see a small entreprenuer be put out of business because of the greed of another huge corporation. I had a conversation with a very good friend of mine the other night and he is of the opinion that  the big two might be doing the American beer drinker somewhat of a service. He says they would be making different types of brews available to the entire population. Think about it, if you tasted a Bock beer while on vacation in Texas, and you really liked it, but you live in Idaho and had no way of ever getting it again unless you go back to Texas, what do you do? The big two have the money and resources to make that type of brew available to you. This is a good thing, and it make sense.

Now, the other side of the story. If you had a bock beer in Texas, who’s to say that MillerCoors Bock is as good as the micro-brew you had in Texas? Oh, sure, you’ll try it once, but you will always yearn for the bock you had while in the micro-brewery’s back yard.

Now, these specialty beers that are being produced by the big two might catch on for a small period of time, I really don’t think they will ever take a considerable amount of business away from other brew crafters. In fact, in time I think they will serve as gateway beers and turn more people on to the wonderful world of micro-brews. Once you’ve had an ale from a name you trust (ie. Budweiser American Ale), you will be less apprehensive to try a Stone Brewery Pale Ale. I must admit, at first I thought that this situation may prove detrimental to the American micro-brewery, but in retrospect I think it may turn out to be a good thing for them. Time will tell.

Posted by Mr. Porch

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I was reading the September issue of Market Watch magazineand came across several items I found interesting and might be worth posting.

I saw an ad for Corona Light - in a can. Corona is known to go with a slice of lime, but in a can what are you supposed to do? I guess you can crack the can open, and shove it in but isn’t eye appeal part of the drinking experience? I can’t imagine Corona in a can.

I’ve seen a commercial for Budweiser’s new American Ale coming out. I haven’t tried it yet, nor have I seen it in the stores. There was an article introducing this beer. It sounds like a darker, hoppier version of the American Lager. Mr. Porch and I discussed this on a porch session earlier this week, and was also discussed in another article in the magazine. Over the last several years, the big brewers have been feeling the rise of the micro brews and I would expect for Budweiser to start rolling out more craft beers, maybe a Bud Pale Ale or a Bud Stout?

Warsteiner rolled out a light beer called Warsteiner Premium HiLight that is a Pilsner style lager that promises a refreshing taste with only 87 calories per bottle.

Posted by Sam

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My wife, the beautiful Mrs. Porch, came home from work the other day with a gift for me. But it wasn’t from her. It was from one of her coworkers, we’ll call her “Alice”. Alice has heard Mrs. Porch talk about this site and wanted to contribute. (and we will accept most contributions if any of you feel compelled to give us some beer or cigars. ) : )

The beer: Augustiner Premium Lager from the Iron City Brewing co. in Pittsburgh Pa. I have to admit, I’ve not had a lot of Iron City beers, this may be the first, so I really didn’t know what to expect. I poured it in my frosted mug and noticed that it was very dark for a lager. More of an Amber color than the normal yellow you get from other lagers. It’s head was thick and foamy white. The bubbles were so small it almost looked like ice cream. It had very little aroma, almost none. But then again what lager does? It simply smelled like beer. The taste was a bit heavier than a typical lager, but not much. Just a smooth rich lager beer. It had a clean and crisp finish with almost no aftertaste. My opinion is that this is a good year round beer, but would be ideal for one of those summer afternoons at an all day picnic/cookout.

Thanks for the contribution Alice. It was very thoughtful of you to add to our site.

P-O-R-C-H rating: C

Posted by Mr. Porch

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I found this beer by sheer accident. I went to the local convenient store to pick up some snacks for the coming evening, and checking out the beer section (as I always do) I noticed one I’ve never seen before, and it was from Germany.  So I had to get it. Now armed with a new beer and a bag of pretzels, I headed for the porch.

The package looked festive enough so it couldn’t be too bad. The bottles were as colorful as any beer bottle I’ve ever seen, I was excited about trying this one, so I got my mug and my note pad and poured away. The first thing I noticed was the color, very cloudy and almost a peach color. You could really tell this was a wheat brew. The head was a little off white and thick. So far, so good. The aroma was somewhat mild for an Oktoberfest. Next was the long anticipated taste. This is where I started to get a little disappointed. It was very creamy and had almost no aftertaste. Just another mild wheat beer that bores the palate with a lack of hops.

I don’t like giving bad reviews, but to be honest, this beer looks better than it tastes. It may be a good autumn beer for someone who doesn’t like the stronger flavor of the typical Oktoberfest beers. It packs a healthy 5.7 ABV but for $9.49 a six pack they can keep it in Germany.

P-O-R-C-H rating:   O 

Posted by Mr. Porch

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I did a little reading on this beer. It was created to celebrate the Mayan day of the dead for some place in Oregon. (Hence the name). It’s recipe includes four different kinds of malts (Northwest Harrington, Klages, Maier Munich and Carastan) and two different hops (Perle and Saaz). They call it a German Style Maibock. This really doesn’t mean a whole lot unless you are brewmaster or really into your beers, but these malts and hops are what give it the smooth and flavorful taste that I enjoyed.

This beer was provided to Sam and I by my nephew, JP. It had a somewhat cloudy copper color and a light tan head. It had a sweet candy aroma, almost smelled like jelly beans. It looked good but smelled somewhat questionable at first, but when I tasted it, my opinion quickly changed. It had a nice balance of hoppy bitterness and malty smoothness. I would say that this beer is a full flavor beer with very little aftertaste. (clean finish?) It carries a 6.6% ABV so you can’t sit down and pound these all night long, but it is a good social beer that won’t put you under the table after just two or three.

A good autumn or winter beer. Would be good with stuffed peppers and a green bean or broccoli cassarole. The name’s a little creepy but it is a good beer that I’ll get again.
P-O-R-C-H rating: C+

Posted by Mr. Porch

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I hate to see the summer almost over but I love autumn! Oktoberfest beers are my favorite. I picked this one up at the local “quicky mart” the other day and set aside a whole evening just for this beer. I’ve tried a lot of Oktoberfest beers but not this one until now.

First, the pour, a clear dark copper color with a slightly off white head. It had a nice thick aroma that made me think that I was in for a good Oktoberfest. This is one good looking and good smelling beer. All Oktoberfest beers have some spicy flavors, but this one was very spicy. I would describe it as “zesty” AND “spicy”. Very good. It had a somewhat dry finish but the slight aftertaste stayed with me a little while but not too long. So, not only does it look and smell good, most importantly, it tasted good.

If you like Oktoberfest beers, then this ones for you. If you don’t, then I wouldn’t waste your time buying it. I wil definately get this one again but not until I’ve tried the rest of them.

P-O-R-C-H rating: C+

Posted by Mr. Porch

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