Me and fruit beers are not friends. This week's selection: Sam Adam's Cherry Wheat and Woodchuck Cider. But I'll get to the final reviews later. When I finally decided on the beers for the week, I began questioning why drinking beer just did not appeal to my senses. Me v.s. beer has been a battle for a very long time now. I believe my first encounter with beer was when i was in elementary school. One thing you must know is that my dad is an avid beer drinker. My dad without beer is like a reality TV show without drama, it just doesn't happen. But the other important thing to note is that he isn't really a beer connisseur, because he only drinks light beers: Bud Light, Busch, Natural Light (ew), etc. Anyways, my whole life my dad has drank bee, constantly, and one day we were out running errands and he was drinking, yes in the car. He had his beer and I had my drink from McDonald's. Well, an hour later i'm sitting in the car, thirsty and he's pumping gas, so i go to drink out of my McDonald's cup and UGH! The most horrendous, bitter, gross taste flooded my mouth. It was beyond Awful, i even dry heaved afterwards, and to make matters worse my dad laughed because unbeknownst to me, he had stuck his beer can in my McDonald's cup:my first taste of beer...disgusting. I honestly believed I was traumatized. Even now, at least 15 years later, I have just begun to tolerate beer. Up until recently every time I saw my friends or my fiance drinking beer, i cringed, i mean who in their right mind could drink beer and say that it tastes good? But I'm slowly starting to see the light. I haven't found my "love" of beer yet but its ok. I like to compare it to my love of steak. It is very similar to the story about beer. My dad also loves steak, medium well steaks: GROSS. Whenever I thought about steaks, thoughts of chewy dry meat caused me to lost my appetite, then one day I had my very first mid rare filet mignon at cheesecake factory, and it was love at first bite! It was the most delicious piece of meat, EVER. I love steak, the only difference is I've now become one of those "gross" wierdos that loves RARE steaks lol. I mean pittsburgh rare. but that's another story. My focus now is on beer. Most specifically, this week, fruity beers.
Because I am the fruity drink loving girl that I am, I was sincerely hoping to enjoy the beers I tried this week, but they were just okay. I bought the six pack of Cherry Wheat at Publix, I've only drank half of one, and I had a draft Woodchuck Cider, at Jessie's, a local bar. Neither of them were bad, but just not my cup of tea. I read many reviews about the Sam Adam's Cherry Wheat, and they for the most part spoke of the strong cherry flavor and light wheat flavor, HA! I had the opposite experience. I tasted a strong wheat flavor and a light cherry aftertaste. As for the Woodchuck cider, I've had it before, because I frequent that bar quite often, and its one of their beers on tap. Its definitely a cider. STRONG apple taste weak beer taste. The funny part about that is, the weak beer taste is a big deal to me, because it indicates progress? What kind of progress? Well let me just say that the first time I drank the cider all I could think about was the beer flavor, and now, its a background taste. i would have to say that the cider is an excellent transition beer for the frou frou cosmo girls out there. The week overall was a success. Sure I didn't find a beer that I love yet, but I'm not giving up, and tonight while I was out watching the Superbowl (which sucked), I drank my usualy Mich Ultra, and the taste was different...hmmm perhaps its time to find a new usual for myself. Any Suggestions?
And the ratings are in!:
Sam Adam's Cherry Wheat
On Beer Advocate, it was rated a B- overall.
The Color is a yellowish almost reddish (agreed)
The aroma: cherry, yet almost cough syrupy(agreed)
The taste: pretty strong cherry taste with slight after thoughts of wheat ( not so much, to me it was vice versa.
drinkability: decent (agreed, was that great but the cherry aftertaste smoothed it out)
Their rating: B-, my rating a C
Woodchuck Cider
Overall Online rating B+
The color A fairly clear yellowish color(agreed)
The Aroma: light green apple scent(i think its a strong green apple scent)
the taste: crisp, tarte, sparkling(agreed, but I would even go as far to say it was pretty sweet to me)
drinkability: very good, similar to champagne (eh. It was definitly tasty but the carbonation was alittle heavy for my preferences, i'm trying to steer away from smirnoff ice lol.)
My rating: B-
a last note: last week I drank Mich Ultra pomegrante it is a light Lager, and it's BA (beer advocate rating) was a D. I didn't care for it much either. and then the Blue Moon, its full name is Blue Moon Belgien White, and it is a whitbier and its BA is a B-. Meh I would have given it a C-, I really didn't enjoy it either. Me and fruitbeers are not friends right now.
I also have had bad experiences with alcohol with my father but my dad chose the good 'ol Jack Daniels. I am not much of one for beer either and I choose to drink Sam Adams for the first time. I bought the variety pack and Cherry Wheat was one of the ones in the pack. Through my experiences of Sam Adams I felt that all of them were very similar. And I agree with you that it's not my cup of tea either. The taste was ok, not bad, but I would rather drink a Coke or a Lemonade. I can relate in your quest for beer that you find good. I still have not tried the Cherry Wheat and yes it is still in my fridge. Good Luck!
ReplyDeleteOh I am not a beer drinker either but I do like the Michelob honey wheat beer. Beer has never been my cup o tea either. I am a wine and martini girl. Yet my husband has opened his eyes to my wine so I try and experience his beer with him. I am like you I never make it threw a whole bottle. I usually take sips of his and we discuss what I experience from it compared to his. He always finds more character from the beer than I do. I will have to try the Cherry Wheat from Sam Adams.
ReplyDeleteAt first I hated beer with a passion. After a few years of giving it more and more chances, also joining a fraternity helps, it began to grow on me. Now I think most beer taste fairly good and I drink it when the time is appropriate. So keep at it and it will grow on you. Now, on to the beer. From my standpoint Woodchuck is a veery good tasting beer you just can’t drink more than a few of them or it will hurt the stomach and Sam Adams is always a good beer. How good of a beer depends on which season your in.
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