DAMN YOU SEASONAL BEERS!    Normally I don’t care for autumny seasonal ales, they tend to be a bit overly roasted for me.   But when the resident beer mistress (Wife) and I were beer shopping yesterday at Zupans, the Late Harvest Autumn Ale from Red Hook looked good, especially since it was only $6.99/6-pack.    This was the last one on the shelf, so either it had been cheap for a while or it was good.   I decided it was worth the risk and I didn’t feel like paying $8-$10 for a six pack of some other questionable offering.

Last night for dinner we made “Thai Coconut-Chili Clams” for dinner with some local bread we picked up at the Beaverton Farmer’s Market.   I was worried this beer was going to be one of those roasty, harsh, burnt tasting amber-y winter/cold weather beers, so I was sampling with some trepidation.   I was truly surprised with my first sip when it was only slightly roasty, yummily malty, and a tiny bit hoppy in a good way.    It went perfectly with the almost buttery, rich manilla clams.    This is just a good beer!

I couldn’t have been happier.   Even better is that I get to post more than one positive Frosty review in a row.  =)

I say “Damn you Seasonal Beers” because I know this stuff won’t be around long and I hate not being able to re-find stuff I enjoy swilling.    According to the info I could find online, it may already be out of production.   Sigh.   At least I’ve still got five more to swill before they’re all gone.

Cheers and swill on!

You know how when you taste a particular nasty flavor, it just sort of sticks with you? You may have only had it once, but you instantly recognize it when you taste it again. I can say the same about beers like Coors and Budweiser. Brewed heavily with rice, they have this kind of “crappy beer” twangy aftertaste that screams wifebeaters and mullets.

Unfortunately, the same can be said for Red Hook’s SunRye. The packaging is top notch (cool bottle shape even), and the promise of a yummy summer beer is inviting. But once you have that first light sip… I’d swear this was a Coors in a fancy wrapper. I wanted to like it, I really did, but damn that aftertaste.

It almost meets the criteria for a 3, but my total disappointment, and the fact I don’t want to drink the 4 remaining bottles in my fridge smack it down to a sad 2. If they could kill the post sip twang, this would be some good stuff. But until then, I don’t want to feel like I’m back in high school, drinking Bud or Natural Light in my buddy’s garage while his parents are out of town. Blech.