Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/12827
ALUMINUM CANS PREVENT LIGHT DAMAGE, REDUCE SHIPPING COSTS, ARE EASILY RECYCLABLE AND ARE Sixpack Gadd’s Oskar Blues Old Chub Scotch Ale Pop the tab on this canned Colorado-brewed American beer, from the brewery that started the nouveau canned beer revolution, and pre- pare to enter the world of kilts and heather. An 8.0-percent Scottish-style ale that would make Clan McGillicuddy proud, it’s round and malty from the get-go, slathering the palate with rich, subtly modulated flavors that include damp earth and peat, Scots courage and bitter regret, wet sheep’s fleece, dusky chocolate and a tinge of smoky Islay malt (Bowmore?). OK, guys, fess up: How do you do this . . . in Colorado?? Heineken This iconically green Netherlands import has almost as many aluminum formats as Amsterdam has canals. Choose the fist-sized 12-ounce shorties, the tallboy 16-ouncers or, for those times when you need lots o’ lager on tap in your fridge, the mother of all cans: the five-liter draught keg. A personal pick is Heineken’s thirst-slaking 24-ounce keg can (pictured) that’s as portly as a Dutch housewife and twice the fun. For those with girth concerns, Heineken Light also comes in a slim-profile 12-ounce can. HEINEKEN USA Morland Old Speckled Hen From England’s Greene King comes the canned, widgeted version of this delight- fully “fowl” ale, first brewed to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the paint-splattered MG factory car (dubbed “The Old Speckled ‘Un”) in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, where the Morland brewery was once located. Although the Brits call it a “strong ale,” the Hen pecks with a modest 5.2 percent abv., making it ever-so- quaffable. TOTAL BEVERAGE SOLUTION 46 / the tasting panel / july 2010 Big Sky Moose Drool Brown Ale Evidently, this is by far the best-selling beer brewed in Montana. It could be the name, which certainly draws the gun-rack-in-the- pickup crowd. But my guess is it also has something to do with the beer itself; once you get over the salivary suggestions, it's actually as delicious as any beer I’ve tasted named after a ruminant. Rocky and Bullwinkle reruns, anyone? 21st Amendment Monk’s Blood Who needs dessert when you have this Belgian-style dark ale brewed with cinnamon, vanilla, oak chips and dried figs? Its richness is held at bay by generous bittering that never allows it to become cloying. Although 21st Amendment is based in San Francisco, their distributed beers are brewed (by co-owner Shaun O’Sullivan) at a partner facility in Cold Spring, MN. At 8.3 percent abv, this sucka will get medieval on your ass. Maui Brewing CoCoNut Porter From Hawaii, land of aloha, comes this seductive coconut teaser of a beer, brewed with hand-roasted coconut. Industrious owner Garrett Marrero not only brews the beer but answers the phones (and isn’t averse to sweeping the floors) at this Maui outfit, which epitomizes craft beer in an age when the term has been co-opted as a corporate sound bite. Superbly unique stuff that smells of surf, sand, sun-screen and sex on the beach. Correction In my last column, the image of Lindeman’s Framboise showed the European packaging. This is the packaging for the American market. EVEN ALLOWED ON MANY BEACHES—ALL THE MORE REASON TO REACH FOR cANNED BEERS