My backlog of beer reviews is growing due to “work” and “family” stuff (I know, I know… I need to get my priorities straight). I’ve been trying lots of new brews as I’ve traveled around for my job. I had a Belgian Wheat from Blue Moon ($1 at Tsunami in Charleston, SC) with an orange wedge garnish that was cheap if not pleasing. I also had a Palmetto Pale Ale in while at Slightly North of Broad (or S.N.O.B.) as it is known) which wasn’t bad but may have been good because of the insanely good shrimp & grits I was having. While in Virginia, I went to the Icehouse Bar & Grill in Herndon. I had their New York Strip & Crab Cakes special with their own Ice House IPA. It wasn’t bad, not up to NW standards but it was good to see those East Coast boys trying.

A lot of people (especially those from the East Coast) get offended when you say something like, “The East Coast doesn’t know what real beer is.” They bring up something about Sam Adams “inventing” micro-brewing. Whatever. I’ll give you Sam Adams but that is pretty much the only contribution worth mentioning. They may have started it, but we Northwesters have taken it to the next level. Thats right, and I’ll kick the crap out of anyone who says otherwise.

Anywhoo, my last trip to NYC led me to believe that the other coast was completely devoid of good beer. I’ve heard that DC has some good beers too. Who knows, maybe 20 years from now some East Coast dude will be hatin’ on Northwest beer like its old news.

We had another one of those impromptu bbq’s at work today. Fortune, or possibly misfortune, was smiling upon me as I noticed another Sam Adams Cherry Wheat was in the beer bin. I arrived to the bbq early, so the beer hadn’t had long to steep in the ice.

Now I see where some other people people got wildly different experiences from the Cherry Wheat than I did after my first taste of it. My first taste of the stuff was when it was VERY cold and it tasted wonderful. Today, it was just slightly cold and tasted of “cough syrup cherry flavoring”.

I was disappointed that the mere change in temp could affect this beer so drastically. I finished the beer, but the experience knocked a few points off of my previous rating.

I am thankful I wasn’t able to find this stuff sold by the case and didn’t end up saddled with lots of warmish beer flavored cough syrup.

Moral of the story: drink this shtuff cold or don’t drink it at all!

**edit - I’m sorry to say that I’ve had to lower my ranking on this beer to a three.   See above for the reasons for this beer’s fall from grace.

The company I work for had a BBQ on site last week. As usual with company bbq functions, they coughed up some beer for us. Yippeee!!! When digging through the bucket o’ goodness, I found some Sam Adams Cherry Wheat. Figuring that it would taste OK, I popped one open and took a swig.

THIS STUFF IS UNBELIEVABLY YUMMY!! It’s not overly fruity but it definitely tastes of cherry. It’s a mild wheat bear that’s incredibly well balanced and not too sweet. These guys know their way around a beer!