First, the Not So Awesome Brew…

Every month, a Not So Awesome Brew is featured as a baseline. After all, what is an Awesome Brew? Awesome compared to what? Compared to something like this:

Hudepohl-Schoenling Brewing Company’s Little Kings Cream Ale, 5.5% ABV

Crappy, cheap beers.  Normally, the problem with these is it’s hard to get them in anything but a bulk-pack, which is good since it takes about twelve to twenty-four to get you blitheringly smashed.   Sometimes, the unexpected happens and beers get smaller though, like in the case here.  I picked up an 8-pack of Little Kings, and with a bit of math, an 8-pack filled with 7 oz bottles yields a mere 56 oz of fluid – or just shy of your 7-Eleven Big Gulp.  Little Kings are a typical ghetto beer in these parts, and once again, I had to go to the ghetto to ghet some.  Thus, once again, I found myself down at McBills over on Cleveland’s E185th, and while I didn’t see DeAndre again, I asked to see if he was alright and not another statistic of gang violence.

Little Kings has its legacy in one of the last great pre-prohibition brewery to come out of Cincinnati Ohio.  Hudepohl was founded in 1885 as a result of the waves of German immigrants to hit our nation in the mid 1800’s, and like most breweries back then, found success in brewing German lagers, dark beers and bocks.  Before national prohibition, Cincinnati was home to dozens of such hometown breweries, but when laws changed, they all dried up with one exception and Hudepohl lived through that dark time making “near-beers” and soda pops.  In 1933 when the United States returned to its senses and all the religious prohibitionist nut-jobs were lying beaten and bloodied in the streets, Hudepohl immediately went back to brewing beer, having never surrendered their yeast cultures or supply-chain contacts and once again, became a powerhouse in the Cincinnati region.  They never had their eyes set nationally, and when the big, national brands such as Schlitz, Pabst, Blatz, and Budweiser started pushing the market, Hudepohl was late to the game and found themselves hurting by their 100th anniversary on 1985, and a year later, was sold to Schoenling, a rival from across town who was founded in 1933.  It was Schoenling that owned the Little Kings brand, and why it’s their logo on the bottles to this day.  In the late 80’s and through the 90’s, Schoenling-Huderpohl was tossed around a bit, including being sold to Boston Beer Company/Samual Adams, and then to Crooked River/Snyder International near the turn of the millennium.  In 2006 though, it was brought back home to Cincinnati where it operates to this day.

The Little Kings line was started in 1958, and is one of the original American cream-ales.  While having a reputation as ghetto beer, you can certainly do a lot worse than these little darlings.  I would place these things as Awesome brews if I could actually get a bottle that didn’t taste slightly skunked.  Once again, the hell of light colored bottles becomes apparent and these were ones I was hoping to find in a can.  Regardless, the beer is pale and creamy but not quite as glorious as Genesee Cream Ale.  It drinks smooth and at only 7oz, you’re not sitting around hanging over a half-finished bottle.  I actually had two for my review session, which is why you see two bottles in the image to the left.  The taste is fairly crisp for a cream ale, a bit on the harsher side, and as I mentioned before, slightly skunky.    While it’s not hard to do worse, it’s a lot easier to do better.  It makes me wonder how much moving to brown bottles would help the flavor.  Serve cold with Cincinnati style chili and the TV tuned to a local sports event.

And Now, the Awesome Brews…

Magic Hat’s Mother Lager, 5.0% ABV

I had no idea this would turn into a Vermont special edition of Awesome Brews, because it certainly wasn’t planned that way.  I picked up the two Awesome Brews this month in completely different locations.  Space Fuel below, I purchased at Red, Wine and Brew where I get most of my stock from, but I was running low in my beer fridge, so while out at the Heinens grocery store building dinner for me and my wife at their epic salad bar, I stopped by their beer aisle (which is certainly not too shabby for being a grocery store) and found six-packs of this stuff prominently displayed.  Normally, I’m not that big into Magic Hat, as prominent as they are around these parts.  They seem to focus on IPAs and other heavy bitter beers which seem to be the mainstay of hipster beer snobs, but things I need to be in the mood to enjoy.

Mother Lager is a heavy, east-European style pale lager.  It poured a clear amber with a lacy, fizzy head that didn’t dissipate too quickly.  True to Magic Hat’s typical lineup, it was high on the bitterness factor.  The taste was bold and strong.  It hits you hard like a Russian Bear with flavors of grain and malt and a hint of hops. I really don’t have too much to say about this one because it wasn’t a beer that agreed with me.  It’s a really good lager with a lot of flavor and it certainly puts the common light-beer swill we normally drink in this country to shame, but it just didn’t win any awards with my tastebuds.  Regardless, if you like strong, bitter lagers, it might be for you.  Serve cold with something equally hearty like beef stew and a copy of Hunt for the Red October.

Long Trail Brewing Company’s Space Juice, 8.7% ABV

So when I got the can of this stuff, I couldn’t help but to think of Oddysee’s Star Citizen roots and how important and vital a role, our late officer Apple Joe said fuel and the Starfarer would play in our operations.  I doubted him at the time, but seeing how v3.0 is shaping up, I’m beginning to think he may have been on to something.  It’s something for Lord Corwin to ponder over, because as head of the combat division, the only logistics I’m planning to be worried about is how to get more Space Juice in my beer fridge.  Once again, it was the can-art that got my attention.  What beer-drinking sci-fi geek could pass up a Flash Gorden style rocket emblazoned on a red-white-black and silver highlighted can labeled Space Juice after all.

This is the first Long Trail Brewing Company beer I’ve reviewed and quite possibly the first I’ve ever enjoyed.  Also located in Vermont, Long Trail is one of the new microbrew powerhouses to come out of the state in recent history.  Founded in 1989 when the people who really enjoyed their beer were feeling a bit pushed aside in the tidal wave of national super-breweries who only seemed to have mastered the making of cheap corn-fueled adjunct lagers and nothing else, Long Trail has steadily grown their operation and product line and has become an important player in the craft brew world.  Comparing them to another craft brew company, I’d imagine the closest match would be to Mikkeller because of their wide range of selection from hearty double-IPAs like this one, to things like raspberry gose and Belgian Wit.  They’re not afraid to experiment, learn and master all styles of ales.

Despite the name, Space Juice contains no juice.  A fact that is printed by FDA requirement on the can.  What it does contain though, is a highly complex double-IPA with more flavor than I’ve tasted in a very long time.  Normally, I’m not a huge fan of IPAs, but I’m glad the can caught my attention on this one, because it was simply marvelous.  It poured with a massive, creamy head and was bright orange in color – far lighter than I was expecting from a double-IPA.  It had a heavy flavor, that was rich and complex with the tastes of passionfruit, hops and citrus.  It had a mild bitterness which was offset by some much sweeter tones like the stuff was barrel aged.  I’m pretty sure this stuff could fuel your quantum drive, and after drinking my review can, picked up a four-pack the week after.  Unfortunately, this stuff is marked as limited run.  How limited, I’m not sure, but if you see it on the shelves of your local brew-store and like beer with more flavor than it knows what to do with, this is your stuff.  Serve with something interesting and complex like Pad Thai or beef bourguignon while watching all the latest goodness that’s happening over in CIG and Star Citizen.

Some of the pictures taken for Awesome Brews were done by Diane Schuler of Schuler Photography