Zing

During my first ever visit to D's Six Pack and Dog's in Regent Square at some point last year I came into contact with my first ginger beer. It was Atlantic's Island Ginger. The friend I was with (the always mentioned Beer Snob Sr.) added a bottle of it to his mix and match six pack. I got a rash of text messages a few days later about how great it was.

I hadn't ever had a ginger beer before. I eventually got myself a bottle of the Island Ginger and was fairly pleased with it. It was intriguingly different. My next experience with ginger beer wasn't until last night at Hough's in Greenfield.

Crabbie's Alcoholic Ginger Beer is the UK's top-selling ginger beer and is quite new to the states. It only made it ashore within the last calendar year and has only been native to the Pennsylvania market for approximately six months. I was invited to a tasting party at Hough's and indulged into the world of ginger beer once more.

Tradition has it that the Crabbie's concoction is served on ice with a slice of lemon or lime. As a traditionalist in most respects, I made sure the first drink of this stuff I had was the traditional way of having it. I must admit that it was a refreshing end to the mini heat wave we had here in Pittsburgh over the past three or so days. It has smooth honey taste with some punchy zest from the ginger on the back. It left me with an interesting peppery sensation on the aftertaste.

Hough's also featured some cocktails and a few food dishes to pair with the ginger beer. As a big rum fan, I chose to go with the Dark and Stormy, a Crabbie's with a shot of dark rum. It's amazing how a drink can change with just a minor altercation. The food selections included the likes of wings with a ginger sauce and a pulled pork BBQ with ginger. I chose the pulled pork. I'm also new to attending beer pairing events, but the zing in both the ginger beer and the BBQ sauce combined well.

Keep a sharp eye. I sure will.

Beer Review: Atlantic Mount Desert Island Ginger

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 5.2 percent

Appearance: If there was ever a beer that resembled iced tea, Atlantic's Island Ginger would be it. The body's color was somewhere between an orange and an amber. I felt that saying it looked like tea was a fine compromise. The tea-colored body has a strong haze to it as well. The head of this brew is thin throughout most of the drink, even the initial pour. Carbonation also seems to be lacking.

Smell: If you had to guess one scent that's found in this beer it'd be ginger, right? That's exactly what I got. Aside from that, the only other thing my nose picked up is a sweet, wheat-like malt presence. That wasn't too strong, though.

Taste: On the front, I got plenty of the previously mentioned ginger. There was also a sweet, syrupy presence at the very same point on each sip of the brew. The wheat backbone just touched my tongue on the back, but I had to think twice to see if I really experienced it. Once again the wheat was kind of weak.

Overall Rating: 

This beer was highly recommended to me. If I could classify this beer in one word it would have to be "odd." I've never had a ginger beer before. So, that probably played against me in some facets of drinking this. One glaring hole in this beer is the lack of hop character. You hop heads out there know I'm not a proponent of very hoppy beers, but I do enjoy a decent hop presence in some styles. I would have enjoyed it in this beer.

Beer Review: New Holland Beerhive Tripel

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 8.47 percent

Appearance: New Holland Beerhive Tripel pours a vivid shade of amber. It can even be classified as a copper if you so prefer it. The body is dark enough so that you can't see anything through it, which is a plus. The head and the apparent lack of carbonation was a bit disappointing, though. The head was white, but fairly weak and didn't leave any retention at all down the inside of the glass.

Smell: This beer initially smells spicy. Thankfully, it's not overwhelming. Some mellow hints of both honey and ginger also dance around in your nose. The honey gives off an essence of sugar and sweetness while the ginger provides just an ounce of warmth! Very inviting!

Taste: The honey and ginger do the same as they do in the aroma department by giving a sweet and spicy essence. There was a yeast character to this beer that added some extra zing to the taste and made this an enjoyable drink. My tongue had a tingling sensation after each sip and something tells me it just wasn't from the higher ABV.

Overall Rating: 

I really enjoyed this drink, as I usually do enjoy beers that have honey incorporated into them somehow. I feel that honey just belongs in some beer styles as it is a true natural ingredient. I don't hunt down a ton of brews with higher ABV's, but this one was well-balanced due to the sweet and spicy factor. The only downside with this one for me was the lack of texture I noticed once I poured it.