BONE HAUS BREWING ENGLEMANN’S ELIXIR PRICKLY PEAR PALE ALE – A review.

 

By Daver

Alright, let’s get local again. Bone Haus Brewing, over in Fountain Hills, has the kind of décor a little nerd goblin like myself truly appreciates. The whole brewery is done up like a haunted mine, with coffins and skeletons and bone piles all over. Not just for Halloween, it’s year round! The beer list is worth sampling, the last time I was there. Now due to the emergency brakes getting thrown on the world for a whole year, the beer list has no doubt changed. I recalled there was a prickly pear sour some time ago, rich and tangy sweet and reddish if my memory serves. Unfortunately, I have no photos, nothing written, and a failed Google search, so maybe I imagined it. Nevertheless, I felt like a prickly pear ale was in order. I went to the nearest Total Wine and picked up this brew, Englemann’s Elixer Prickly Pear Pale Ale. Sounds like fairly easy drinking for a hot summer day, doesn’t it?

The can label has its own narrative for the origin of this brew: “Dusty has a talent for discovering opportunity wherever it may lie. When he learned of the powerful properties of the prickly pear fruit from the botantist (that’s their typo, not mine) Dr. Englemann, by sheer happenstance, he concocted a plan to fund our continuing search for my lost uncle. He learned how to turn this widespread fruit into an elixir, one he could sel to townsfolk for their clear benefit. The good doctor advised against it, but Dusty is… persuasive.” What did Dusty do? What happened next will surprise you!

And the surprise is, this is not like any pale ale that I’ve drank before. This tastes more like a lager, something mild and easy to drink. At first it feels like you’re drinking a domestic beer, light flavor, wheat-y, crisp in the beginning. What I don’t taste is hops. That's a relief, many pale ales I've found can be overly generous with the quantity of hop in their brewing. Then, you get the essence of prickly pear, only not to obnoxious extremes. Here's the thing about most prickly pear products you may encounter from Arizona tourist spots: they're heavily sweetened. But this ale is hardly sweet at all, not till it reaches the back of your tongue as you swallow. Same goes for the bouquet, you can detect prickly pear but it’s not overwhelming. It’s perfume-y, but not cloying.

It’s not a bad summertime beer. But there’s not much else I can say about it. The body’s a cloudy yellow, foamy at first pour, 5% ABV. It’s alright, Bone Haus produced another quality brew, no question. It’s also boring. It’s a safe, inoffensive beer. I don’t regret picking this up, but it doesn’t stand out.

CORONADO BREWING COMPANY BIGGER BOAT HAZY IPA - A Review

By Daver.

Look at that can, just look at it! I love sharks, JAWS is one of my favorite movies, read the book over and over, and I enjoy a lot of Coronado Brewing’s brews, so grabbing this beer was inevitable. The can describes this brew: “Hazy IPA brewed with raspberries, blueberries, vanilla and lactose.” Sounds like it’d be like a breakfast yogurt, doesn’t it? I like yogurt. I like creamy beers. 7% ABV, that’s appealing. Imagine a yogurt with 7% alcohol per volume. That’s a good morning! Here’s hoping I didn’t make a mistake out of fanboy enthusiasm by choosing this hazy IPA.


(drinks) 

Hope is stupid.

This IPA, it’s not creamy. It’s not creamy at all. It’s quite tangy, not just from hops but also the berries. The raspberries, blackberries, easy to taste like you picked them fresh from the vine. Only without any sweetness. You don’t detect any vanilla till the end. I’m not thrilled about the color of the body, it’s an unhealthy, thick, cloudy orange. That’s fitting, because it has an after taste like an orange rind. Not zest, the rind. You can smell a little citrus from this too, and the missing sweetness of the berries. Not gone, just redirected from gustatory to olfactory senses. Overall, it’s all just shy of bitter, thankfully. The foaminess is light, so pouring it won’t generally force you to pause and resume.


Funnily enough, letting it warm up a little mellows it out to an easier drinking 
beer. The rind becomes zest, and it gets much further from bitter. It feels creamier, even. The lactose and vanilla finally become more, I don’t know, visible? Upfront? Anyway, you get my meaning. Hell, it almost becomes a different beer that I’m drinking. Or the 7% ABV is kicking in. I’ll lean into the former, some beers just are better when warm.


As a rule, I prefer my beer to be cold. I pull these cans and bottles out of the fridge and pour them cold. And on a hot summer day, I desperately need my beer to be cold. I wish this beer were as good cold as it is warmed up some. Maybe that means it’s a good beer for the beach when the ice is low, or for the winter when you’re already cold everywhere else and would like something that’s not cold. Whatever you choose, as long as you drink responsibly while choosing.


OK, hope isn’t stupid.


I don’t regret picking up the shark beer. It’s not what I thought it would be, but it’s not so bad when that happens. Especially with 7% ABV!

WILD BARREL BREWING COMPANY – VICE BLACK CURRANT SOUR BERLINER WEISSE STYLE

 

A Review

By Daver!

Here’s the thing about sours for me. There’s an equal number of “hits” as there are “misses” when it comes to drinking a sour more than once. I’m always willing to try a sour, because the “hits” are amazing, refreshing and flavorful. Will this sour, from Wild Barrel Brewing Company, fill me with delicious sour ale or regret and misery? Let’s find out.  

 I had to try the Vice Black Currant Sour when I first saw it. I’ve never tasted black currant, and honestly I don’t think I’ve ever seen any food or beverage with black currant in its ingredients. Had never heard of Wild Barrel Brewing, they’re based out of San Marcos so I can’t say I’ve ever seen them in person. Their website shows they also have a location in Temecula, I’d say they’re doing fairly well. Check out their website, www.wildbarrelbrewing.com.

The first thing I thought on first pour of this sour was “oooh pretty!” The head is thick and resembles a strawberry sherbet. You’d almost want to dip your fingertip to get a taste. The body looks like wine, it’s a dark burgundy violet shade as rich as pie filling. Imagine making this into a pie. Imagine brewing this from a pie. Flavorwise, it’s absolutely on the “hit” side of my sour ale samplings. It’s got that tingle in the back of the tongue that you get from eating a good dill pickle, but it’s not overly sour. It’s more tangy. It’s not too sweet either; yes, there's sours that are sweeter than sour. I don’t like most beers that are like treacle on principle. 

There's a lot of flavor to this, more than just the one on the label. Blackberry, cherry, a little citrus zest, it's there as well with the black currant. It's hard not to notice, in fact. This really is like a pie without the crust, by my reckoning at least. It gets a little sweeter the longer it sits and warms up, and it also feels warmer down the throat like the harder liquors. Unlike the harder stuff, I don’t feel more than a mild buzz. It’s got an ABV of 5.6%, it wouldn’t have any stronger effect on me unless I drank it on an empty stomach. That’s no excuse to be irresponsible while drinking this sour, though.

Is it good? Hell yes, it’s a delicious sour ale going into summer, reasonably easy to drink while cold. Would I buy it regularly? Uh… no. I found this priced at about $7 a pint can, in my opinion that’s too rich for me to drink casually. Give it a shot if you have a special occasion, or want to impress a date, or if it’s on draft.