Honey Brown and the Wheat Sisters

Summertime seems to bring with it a raft of fruity, wheat beers and in general I’m not a huge fan, but I’ll admit that they can be refreshing, especially if you live in the land of the perpetual sunburn. So, here I’ve tried an old standby along with a couple of the fruited up wheat beers.

Dundee Honey Brown is common fare in some parts, or so I’m told. I recall having tried it some time back and when I stumbled across a six-pack at the local store recently I figured I’d give it another go. It smells a bit sour in the bottle but gives off a distinct honey scent in the class, pouring a dark bronze color with high carbonation and a thick head that quickly vanishes. There is no knock-you-down honey in the taste of this except in the finish, which is nice and it continues to maintain a nice honey smell even after the head is gone. I used a splash or two of Dundee Honey Brown over a piece of salmon on the grill and it turned out nicely. I’ll be having this one again I believe – it’s a honey.

I spied a bottle of Kennebunkport Apricot Wheat in the singles rack at Trader Joe’s. I snagged it along with five other beer orphans in need of a good home. This apricot wheat beer smells very strongly of apricot both in the bottle and in the glass. It pours slightly thick but with no obvious sediment and has a medicinal taste that hints at cough syrup. This beer is all about the apricot and despite the medicine taste, I like it quite a bit; it’s very good and very refreshing. Perhaps something to be had in moderation.

The Leinenkugel’s Sunset Wheat is something I’d first heard about during a visit to the Yardhouse down the road. Our waitress explained that this one tastes like Fruity Pebbles cereal. I didn’t try it that day, but made a mental note that cereal-flavored beer has got to be on my to-do list. So, more recently I had the kids grab a six-pack of Sunset Wheat at the Total Wine store in Glendale. (I’ve sung the praises of Total Wine in the past and I still love their selection and their prices but I must state for the record that their face-to-face customer service is completely lacking. Perhaps one day when they push me too far, I’ll post a more detailed explanation but suffice it to say: Total Wine? Love your store. Your staff? Not so much.)

This one has a definite citrus smell in the bottle – it’s almost medicinal, but it becomes more pleasant once poured. Pours yellow-gold and cloudy and certainly does have a Fruity Pebble taste, though I’ll admit I’m probably not perceptive enough to have made that connection without the tip from our friendly Yardhouse waitress friend. There’s a bit more citrus taste when an orange slice is added – of course. Late in the sampling the medicinal hints return but isn’t too off-putting. Leinenkugel’s Sunset Wheat is a nice enough novelty beer for the summer, but I doubt I’ll seek it out again before the summer season is ended.

What others had to say about Honey Brown and the Wheat sisters...

Honey Brown
If you’re going to New York City and want to find Dundee’s Honey Brown, the folks at Beer Menus can help you. (Personally, I try to do most of my drinking at home, but what the heck.)

Here’s a little post concerning the declining honey bee population and Dundee’s efforts to help: Sustainable is good.

Apricot Wheat
The bloggers at Just Beer recently posted a useful review of Kennebunkport Apricot Wheat. (“Beer info. from normal dudes…” I like that.)

The judging panel at Beer Advocate has not been kind to Kennebunkport Apricot Wheat.

Sunset Wheat
Here’s the dope on Sunset Wheat from Beer Advocate.

The Roughneck at Lagerheads waxes eloquent about his experience with Sunset Wheat back in 2006.

(Mr. Beer brewing update: We convened a meeting of the bathtub brewing council and decided to let the red ale percolate in the Mr. Beer keg for a few more days - perhaps up to the three week mark, which will be next Sunday. I've not checked in on the little project in the last day or two, but a sample taste tonight is probably in order.)

Mac’s Blackwatch Cream Porter

Blackwatch is the name given to a Scottish military regiment with a long history. I suspect that while this seems to be an easy drinking beer, one might feel a kick in the seat if you hang with Mac for too many rounds and thus, I think this beer lives up to the motto of the Blackwatch Regiment: Nemo Me Impune Lacessit. (No one provokes me with impunity.)

This is a dandy, dark porter with a robust, noticeable taste that makes me glad I picked up a whole six-pack and sad that I didn’t pick up two six-packs! Once again, thank heaven for Trader Joe’s! Even with the weather here in the desert southwest hovering near 100 degrees, I had no hesitation in pouring the last of my Mac’s Blackwatch into a glass this evening – it’s just not too heavy even for a porter. I hoisted this last of the six-pack in honor of the anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 1944, which where I’m sitting hasn’t yet come, but in the UK the fateful anniversary has arrived. (We’ll never know what they endured, or what they sacrificed and we should thank God for them every day we have the luxury of living in freedom.)

The Tasting

A beautiful pour with dark beer and tan head. Smells a bit of wine in the bottle. Smells of roasted nuts and maybe a bit fruity in the glass. This one’s a keeper and seems to be readily available at Trader Joe’s.

Here’s a link to the brewer’s website:
http://www.macsbeer.com/

Here’s the Roughneck’s Take on Mac’s Blackwatch Cream Porter (I like the analogy/metaphor, whatever.)
http://lagerheads.blogspot.com/2006/07/mactarnahans-black-watch-cream-porter.html

The hooligan’s over at Beer Advocate had nice things to say about Mac’s in general:
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/127/1130
(Though I rate it higher than a B- myself.)

Here’s a nice Wikipedia entry for the Blackwatch Regiment:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Watch

Black Toad Brewing Dark Ale

Beer Ghosts, Me'thinks.

What is it with some of the beers I buy at Trader Joe's; you can’t seem to pin down any information on the brewers. Case in point: Black Toad Brewing’s Dark Ale. This is a dandy, dark beer that hints of dark wheat bread and nuts in the bottle and tastes vaguely of coffee and licorice, then finishes off with a pretty strong taste of licorice. In the glass, it’s as dark and mysterious as Black Toad Brewing with a thin, whispy tan colored head.

As for this illusive Black toad Brewing, well the label says they’re in Saint Paul, Minnesota. My buddy over at Loggerhead's: A Roughneck’s Take On Beer, tried this beer back in 2007 and their product was from Chicago. Hmmmm.

Here’s another spooky part of this mysterious puzzle: I took some fairly detailed photos of a glass of Black Toad’s Dark Ale sitting beside the empty bottle with the six pack carton as a nifty backdrop. Downloaded them and went in later to retrieve the images and…nothing. Gone. The file was still in the computer but the images were gone. Weird.

Here’s Wortwursts post at Loggerhead's:
http://lagerheads.blogspot.com/2007/01/black-toad-dark-ale.html

The Beer Advocate crowd rates this one high:
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2250/5729
I’d say this is another home run for Trader Joe's. Even if they aren’t exactly up front as to where their beers are made or by whom, I still figure they are tops for providing access to offbeat beers at a really reasonable price. More bang for the beer buck, I say. On the other hand, there seems to be some serious joo-joo working with this stuff and I’d be careful with it.