Miller High Life!

Miller High Life, in a plastic cup, no less!

7/30, and I am at the Old Town Arcade, which is a kinda crapy arcade and a kinda crappy bar cramed together. Previously in the evening I shot at animated monsters. Yeah!

OK, call me crazy, but I kinda like High Life. It has almost an apple flavor. Ok, I'm going to do this totally backwards, and please realize that I understand exactly how ridiculous this is, but it reminds me of Boddingtons, but without the cream, or the quality.

Actually I'd be shocked if an American beer drinker had no idea what this beer was about.

Time for several brief assides: first, I loved this beer in college. Well, loved is really not the correct term. Instead perhaps "was deeply infatuated with" is more accurated, in that it was my cheap beer of choice. Actually I'll revise that to "fuck friends". I think that establishes my relationship to this beer acurately. I knew exactly what this beer was about, and when I was lazy, cheap, or unispired, I would drink it. It was never my first choice, but always a good choice. Good times, good times.

Secondly, Miller enlisted Wieden + Kennedy to do some amazing comercials. Truly excellent.

WDTB? "Whores, pimps, gamblers, and sons of bitches, by which he meant Everybody." (Stienbeck, Cannery Row)

WSDTB? "Saints and angels and martyrs and holy men". More importantly, who shouldn't? Anyone who thinks the first quote does not apply to them. Actually I will revise that. Those are exactly the people who should be drinkinging this beer. Would do them good. Which was Stienbeck's point, I'd wager. But I bet Doc drank something else. Oops, now I'm going to be obsessed with what beer Doc used in his beer milkshake for a long time.

Rating: 6.2/10

Butte Creek Organic IPA

Why drink organic? Save the world, save your body, and it tastes better!

I've enjoyed this beer for many years, so finally, the review of Butte Creek's Organic IPA.

This beer is pretty dark for an IPA, more amber in color. The start is fairly light, which moves to a nice full body with heavy hop overtones. The hops add a wonderful robust bitterness. The bitterness holds to the finish, but is not overpowering.

Overall the beer is a little back heavy in its flavor profile, and is not as sweet as might be expected for its dark color. The malt flavor is quite nice, very mellow, and plays a nice second fiddle to the hops. A good robust IPA.

This beer is brewed in Chico, CA, home to Chico state, the top party school on the west coast. So you know they drink a lot of beer there. Plus Northern Californians + Organic Beer = Love.

WDTB? Hippies, environmentalists, hopheads, and those who attend Chico State.

WSDTB? Anyone who likes an IPA, but wants a little more oomph to it.

Rating: 9.2/10

Spatzen Premium Lager

7/24 at the Shanghai Tunnel.

Still smokey as all hell in here. Kinda hot to, just the right weather for a Spatzen Premium Lager. Or something.

This is the quintesential lager, clean, crisp, bright with a hint of apple to it. Very clean.

Ok, we are having a bit of a debate here. I say apple. Others say pear. Pear, then revised to white grape. Chris says it smells like pear.

Not a lot else to this beer. It has a slight bite and a slightly sweet finish.

WDTB? Chermans

WSDTB? People who like an interesting fizzy yellow beer. It has enought character to keep it interesting, but its clean lager nature makes for excellent repeat drinking.

Rating: 8.6/10

Red Hook Sunrye Ale

Time to do another live one. I've got a bottle of Red Hook Sunrye here, which I unwisely let get a bit warm. This beer is slightly cloudy, with a slightly bright aroma. There is not much start, but the rye flavor comes out very quickly. Overall it is not very flavorful, but is tasty enough to keep you interested, and is, as advertised, quite refreshing. It is a little one dimensional, with the rye flavor the only thing really going for it, but that one thing is pretty nice. Repeat drinkability is quite high. Overall this would be an excellent picnic beer.

I have one major peeve with this beer, however. As I was drinking it I noticed that it was pretty cloudy, and guessed it might be unfiltered, so I started to read the label. The lable says it is "slightly unfiltered". What the hell does that mean? That is like saying you are slightly unmarried. I cam almost imagine the crack team of copy writers they gathered to design the label, just graduated from small liberal art schools with english, or other equally worthless degrees gathered around the table.
"This beer is lightly filtered, we should communicate that to the customer."
"Yeah, unfiltered is "in" in the beer industry these days. Unfiltered is a good buzz word. Let's make sure to say that it is unfiltered on the label."
"Well, that isn't exactly true. It is filtered, just not totally."
"So we call it slightly unfiltered."
"What! That doesn't make any sense, you can't do that!"
"My research shows that customers will not respond well to the term 'slightly filtered.' We need to use the word 'unfiltered'."
"He's right."
"Yeah."
"I can't believe I am hearing this! Did common sense just go out the window? Augh!" *leaves in a huff*
"So 'slightly unfiltered' it is?"

WDTB? I have no clue. The first time I saw this beer was when I purchased it.

WSDTB? Weekend warriors, people at the Red Hook brew pub, and thirsty people.

Rating: 8.2/10