Day Four - Good for Wheat Ales You

They say that good things come to those who wait and that is usually true more often than not. Right, honey? Today, however, was sort of a mixed bag for me beer-wise. I've had seven new beers just waiting to be sampled for about a week now, but have held off while I worked my way through "leftovers." Today, though, was the day I could begin sampling the new stuff.

Can I get a hallelujah?

First up was a wheat beer from Sam Adams called Coastal Wheat. Now, I am a big Sam Adams fan and this beer did not disappoint me...sort of. Don't get me wrong. It was a good wheat beer - fine color, nice aroma, smooth taste - and I would buy it again. It's just that it was made with lemons, which was, well, different. Not bad different, just not what I expected. It seemed more like a lager to me than a wheat beer because the citrus partly masked the wheat taste. Personally I like their Cherry Wheat better. So the beer was good, but my expectations were so high that it almost seemed like a disappointment.

The second beer did not disappoint in the least, though admittedly I've never had anything from Sierra Nevada, so I didn't have any expectations at all. Their Kellerweis Hefeweizen is a traditional unfiltered wheat beer made right here in the good ol' US of A and it was really good. Nice color with a taste that really appealed to my wheat-oriented palate, so it received my highest rating so far on Ratebeer.com.

So, things are looking up. A good wheat beer followed by a really good wheat beer...the next was going to be killer...right?

My final beer was Full Sail Amber Ale. The brewery is from the Pacific Northwest, which doesn't mean anything to me because I'm from Michigan. Never heard of Full Sail, though I'm sure many people from that area have never heard of Bell's, either. As with Sierra Nevada, I didn't know what to expect. The appearance, though, reminded me of Killian's - dark amber to red, which greatly appeals to me. Things are really looking up now!

Then...reality set in. The aroma seemed...subdued, shall we say? And the taste? Well, the taste was sort of...hoppy to me.

Beer, of course, is made with malted grains, which contain sugars, which causes fermentation in the presence of yeast, yada yada yada. Right? So brewers add hops, which are bitter, to offset the sweetness. That's good as long as there is a balance. Since our palates are all different, though, balance is in the taste buds of the beholder. Mine tends to be on the less bitter side, which explains why I like ales better than lagers. Ales tend to be sweeter than lagers.

This beer seemed kind of on the hoppy side to me, so I didn't care for it as much as the other two. Ratebeerians, however, liked it just fine. Which brings to the forefront the one nagging fear I've had ever since I decided to undertake this quest.

What if my palate is not discerning enough?

Allow me to give you an example of what I mean. I had the opportunity last year to sit in on a wine tasting contest. My opinion didn't count, but I was allowed to sample the entries and then compare my score with the three judges I was assigned to. I did okay with the whites, but I don't drink that much red wine, to be honest with you. Merlot is about as dry as I like. So when we got to the cabs and their ilk, I thought they all tasted like crap. My lips would pucker just from sniffing this...stuff. I'm looking at my score card to see if they have a category labeled 'horse pee.'

Of course the judges are praising the entries like they were ambrosia sent down from heaven! Double Gold!, they proclaimed of one paint thinner product. Are you fricking kidding me? I wouldn't give this...wine, I think they called it...to my worst enemy lest he shoot my dog in retaliation. Double Gold? Are you fricking kidding me? Let me cleanse my palate with a well-used urinal tablet to get the taste out of my mouth!

I'm exaggerating, of course...sort of. But my point is this...what if the same thing happens to me with beer? What if the experts love Horse Pee Lager and I hate it? What if I sample 524 beers and I only like 24 of them? This next year could be pretty long if that ended up being the case.

Take a look at Ratebeer.com. I'm sure other sites are similar, but there are people who have sampled thousands of beers. Thousands! In some cases, tens of thousands! I've sampled...I don't know, I've never kept track, but...fifty? More? Less? More or less? I've drunk enough beer to know that the BMC flagship brands aren't good, but have I drunk enough to know that Horse Pee Lager is supposed to be good? Maybe I drink Killian's and Shock Top because that is as sophisticated as my palate gets.

I have stated numerous times that I am no expert, that I am no beer connoisseur, but I have hinted that I am more than a novice. Will this quest expose me as a poseur? I hope not, but that is the risk I take, isn't it? I'm kind of putting myself out there with this quest.

I guess only time will tell, huh?

I decided to hedge my bets, however. I purchased a book called "Tasting Beer" by Randy Mosher. I'm hoping the education combined with the experience I'm gaining will help me with my quest. At least, help me avoid embarrassment on a large-scale. A small-scale would be good, too.

So, today, I had one good wheat beer, one really good wheat beer, and one...okay amber ale. I could drink the Full Sail Amber Ale again (unlike that cabernet sauvignon, which I think is French for "septic tank effluence"), but it would never be a regular brew for me. I'd take my Killian's over this any day, since the coloring was the same, but the Killian's is smoother and less bitter.

I have four more new beers to sample from now until Tuesday. I'm hoping tomorrow is a better day. Randy's book won't show up until mid-next week, so I'm just going to have to fake it for the time being.

Until then...salud!