Big League IPA: 6.5 – There’s that ‘haze’ or ‘hazy’ tag again, and it might be there is a way aside from Cream IPA’s to make a an IPA style that isn’t bad. The beer her is juicy, got some hops but there’s other spice there too and most importantly it isn’t a bitter mess of nonsense. The only real downside is how short the taste actually is, in a blink and you miss it sort of manner.
Price Average: $16.50 for mixed 12 pack cans
Website: https://www.harpoonbrewery.com/
Typically the concept of Islay single malt and sixteen dollars are not grouped into the same category. While there’s not an age on this bottle which makes the affair a tad more sensical, from the first crack of the bottle it’s certain you’re 16 buckaroos has given you a bit of Islay. However as for how the first sip treats you for you bargain purchase – well – it could be worse.
Camp Wannamango Pale Ale: 3.5 – This tastes like mango if it was mixed with cereal. If that sounds sort of odd, not really great – well that’s because it is. It’s not an overall bad pale ale, but there’s really a missing component here of some bitterness or maybe a bit of lemon to add a nice sharpness to the flavor instead of having it seem sort of – soggy.
Price Average: $16.50 for mixed 12 pack cans
Website:https://www.harpoonbrewery.com/
Another day, another French vodka. This time the outing is a bit all over the place scoring wise due to the fact that we once again can prove that simply distilling something multiple times has almost no bearing on quality. Things can be distilled twice, 3 times, or 6 or more like this – but as our resident chemist has said ‘distillation columns are not all the same’ and because of that the result is just as much a crapshoot as what you put in, and how you filter it out.
Harpoon IPA: 4.0 – Ahh to be trapped once again in the IPAs of a sampler pack. This starts off a bit nice, slightly closer to an irish red ale (which boy it’s been a while since we’ve seen one of those). The lingering aftertaste is quite nice, but like a shit sandwich, while the initial and lingering tastes is nice – there is still that overly hopped and very bitter middle which seals the deal for being just another boring and disgusting IPA.
Price Average: $16.50 for mixed 12 pack cans
Website: https://www.harpoonbrewery.com/
Of course, not 2 weeks ago we had a bourbon that was well liked, and recommendable. So by the laws given of the universe we must balance with something from the lower shelves. And yes we pride ourselves on being the ones able to find the gold coin at the bottom of the wishing well, but let’s be honest – it’s mostly pennies. (We don’t actually do that because it’s morally wrong to take wishes, but the metaphor is strong).
312 Urban Wheat Ale: 4.0 – Don’t worry this is the final Goose Island, and this time it’s finally not an IPA. The lemon here is light, but welcome. Overall it’s basically a nothing beer. You taste a basic wheaty ale for like a second and then nothing. Now we bought this ‘5 beer’ sampler pack because it came with a shandy, but color us surprised that our favorite is an IPA (they did have 3 tries at it though)
Price Average: $11 for 6 Pack 12oz
Website: https://www.gooseisland.com
It’s been almost a season since we last did a tequila, but luckily much like how well received Casa Noble was – this too is pretty dang good. If there’s a real complaint it’s how it fares with a bit of ice, or just a tad too much burn, or a little high on sweetness – but these are ultimately nitpicks. (reviews notes) Ah right that’s sort of our whole deal, but considering most often the other part of that deal is wading through the shit to find the shine, well as the gold labeling will prove – this is shiny.
Next Coast IPA: 5.0 – We know, 3 IPAs in as many weeks – have we gone mad? Or did we just end up purchasing a sampler pack not realizing how many IPAs were in it (Vote now on your phones!). So we truly enjoyed the Hazy IPA, but were less pleased with the regular fare – how does this one match up? Well smack dab in the middle of the two. Now this is meant to be a bit more juicy and tropical, and it is. However it still has that bitterness from the normal IPA so the result is something that apparently require cinnamon to become better.
Price Average: $12 for 6 Pack 12oz cans
Website: https://www.gooseisland.com
