It's one of those things. I've gotten myself really involved with life and its challenges in the last few years and as a result I haven't brewed any beer. All the grain and ingredients are there in the deep freezer, but time does not allow it. The family minded members might understand, the younger folks may ask me to check my head. Worry not, I'm alive and well.
As events of life turn out, I find I don't have the time to brew as much as I would like. It's times like these that I find I do have the opportunity to try out some newer offerings.
Recently, I was exploring my local brew-shop for a wine to use in cooking a nice pizziola with capers when I came across a beer made by Pabst called Old Tankard. My immediate response was that it was just another mass-distributor trying to get on the craft bandwagon. Still, my curiosity forced me to purchase a 4-pack for the sake of proving my own knowledge and expectations of what the product would be. I didn't expect much. After all, I was thinking of what a disaster New Castle's Ale was years before. Even worse, the offerings from Bud-Abev. (and what about there push to make us think Budweiser is American...now that it isn't) But I digress.
Old Tankard really blew me away. It wasn't just good, it was good enough.
Ok, to be fair, that was in jest. A little bit. But seriously, it's good. The blend of hops, malts, and mouthfeel, it's about as good as you can hope for any ale. Nothing is offending. Nothing taste cheap. Nothing is out of balance. It's all there. It's a very good and well rounded ale with an almost session viability about it. Who could ask for more than that from an easily available beer?
Perhaps price. Yes, the price is the elephant in the room. I paid $8 bucks for a 4-pack of this stuff. If Pabst could lower that a tad bit, they would have a winner. As it stands, it is a really good beer. But not quite worth $8 a 4-pack. I could see $8 a six-pack all day for this beer. But cutting it back to barleywine prices is a marketing mistake in my opinion. While it is tasty, it isn't that rich or tasty.
Still, it is good to see that classic American breweries are not afraid to offer something worthwhile to their customers. I do have more faith in Pabst than I do in Budweiser for their sincerity. After all, how many truly American breweries are left? Not many. Kudos to Pabst for making a glorious effort.
As events of life turn out, I find I don't have the time to brew as much as I would like. It's times like these that I find I do have the opportunity to try out some newer offerings.
Recently, I was exploring my local brew-shop for a wine to use in cooking a nice pizziola with capers when I came across a beer made by Pabst called Old Tankard. My immediate response was that it was just another mass-distributor trying to get on the craft bandwagon. Still, my curiosity forced me to purchase a 4-pack for the sake of proving my own knowledge and expectations of what the product would be. I didn't expect much. After all, I was thinking of what a disaster New Castle's Ale was years before. Even worse, the offerings from Bud-Abev. (and what about there push to make us think Budweiser is American...now that it isn't) But I digress.
Old Tankard really blew me away. It wasn't just good, it was good enough.
Ok, to be fair, that was in jest. A little bit. But seriously, it's good. The blend of hops, malts, and mouthfeel, it's about as good as you can hope for any ale. Nothing is offending. Nothing taste cheap. Nothing is out of balance. It's all there. It's a very good and well rounded ale with an almost session viability about it. Who could ask for more than that from an easily available beer?
Perhaps price. Yes, the price is the elephant in the room. I paid $8 bucks for a 4-pack of this stuff. If Pabst could lower that a tad bit, they would have a winner. As it stands, it is a really good beer. But not quite worth $8 a 4-pack. I could see $8 a six-pack all day for this beer. But cutting it back to barleywine prices is a marketing mistake in my opinion. While it is tasty, it isn't that rich or tasty.
Still, it is good to see that classic American breweries are not afraid to offer something worthwhile to their customers. I do have more faith in Pabst than I do in Budweiser for their sincerity. After all, how many truly American breweries are left? Not many. Kudos to Pabst for making a glorious effort.
