May Tasting

For May, in honor of Spring, we decided to sample some fruit beers. Fruit beers are really popular right now, with more varieties seeming to appear stocked on the shelves by the day. It's been fun to watch, and surprising to taste. For reference sake, we bought all of these beers at the Kroger on Brambleton Ave. in Roanoke. This Kroger is locally known as both "the old Harris Teeter" and "the good Kroger."


To start the tasting we tried Orange Blossom Cream Ale. It says it is brewed by Buffalo Brewing Company, but on the side it also says it comes from Pyramid. Here are our thoughts:
~Justin - orange aroma up front. Good but not worth $8.50 or $9 a six-pack
~Carrie - first scent, it smells like cheap beer, orange aroma comes out as it warms up. Very smooth taste, decent. Agree on price.


Up next was Wild Blueberry, a blueberry lager, from Blue Dawg Brewing. (Into alliteration are they?). Here are our thoughts on this one:
~Justin - lots of blueberry aroma. taste is too overpowering, like drinking alcoholic blueberry juice, too much juice used - wouldn't call it beer, but I'll drink it because it is 8% alcohol
~Carrie - aroma reminds me of blueberry muffins. Very sweet, very "dessert-y". No "beer" taste - would be good with dessert, but definitely can't drink more than one in a row ("lacks drinkability")
~ Now, I must note something here. This beer reminded us both of alcohol without the alcohol taste. Like Zima or something. We let Carrie's mother and step-father try it. Both like it, particularly Carrie's mom. She also used to drink Zima. If you're into that, you'd probably really like this. All of us shared the comment about it tasting more like blueberry juice than beer.


Our last beer was Aprihop from Dogfish Head. Here were our thoughts on it:
~Justin - good, a little tart
~Carrie - nice floral aroma, nice flavor
Anyone who knows us, or who has been reading this blog for any amount of time, knows our love for Dogfish. We weren't sure if we didn't have a lot to say because of the following reasons: a slight buzz from the Wild Blueberry, watching a movie (HellBoy 2 for those curious), eating some extremely yummy Roasted Garlic and Parmesan chips, or just not being terribly blown away by this brew. We do agree it warrants a second-round of tasting when all other factors are not into play. We will always give Dogfish that courtesy!
HOWEVER .. this one can NOT go without being noted.


UGH!!! Playboy may have been smooth in the 60's & 70's, but no more! This made me want to smack the carton, or at least smack whoever thought of it upside the head. Playboy today is "Sleeze" NOT "Smooth"!!! While I realize the beer isn't calling Playboy smooth here it is instead Playboy calling the beer "smooth" - well, it is still just wrong. Dogfish is leagues above Playboy. Couldn't they have quoted Frank Sinatra instead?? (yes, I know he is dead .. it's a joke) bah.

SOOO --- What type of beers are you wanting to drink when Spring rolls around?? Do you like the fruit beers? Whaddya think .. we wanna know!