Genesee Ruby Red Kolsch

I bought Genesee's Ruby Red Kolsch initially out of respect for my hometown's legendary brewery. While Genesee is making some incredible beer right now, this fruited offering did not initially appeal to me. Fruited summer ales like shandies/radlers for example, are something I typically avoid drinking. I understand why people like them, they just have not clicked for me. I can actually only think of two summer radler/shandies I have enjoyed over the years. One was a Peach Radler from Niagara Brewing Company just across the Canadian Border. The other was Boulevard's Lemon Ginger Radler. While I may enjoy these beers, the tap list would have to be bare bones for me to actually order them.

I find that the fruited radler/shandy is just too much of a departure from what I want in a beer. Sure, they are easy to drink but the fruit flavoring usually tastes a bit too artificial and drowns out the part of the beer I want to taste the most, the actual beer! This is why this beer surprised me so much. Genesee's Ruby Red Kolsch definitely reminds me more of the shandy style than a kolsch ale. The strong grapefruit presence does take over the beer but in this case it worked for me. For a style like this I would normally complain about the grapefruit flavor. However, the grapefruit does not taste artificial, it's delicious actually. Then again, with the beer Genesee has been making and I should not have been so surprised.

As I work through my second 12-pack(which is priced under 10 dollars) of Ruby Red Kolsch, I feel fairly certain I have found a beer that I will drink regularly over the coming months. The grapefruit is the star of the show here and its presence works beautifully in both the aroma and in the taste. The flavor in particular reminds of eating a juicy grapefruit with a touch of sugar sprinkled on it. Basically I equate that flavor to a semi-healthy breakfast. Now, I am not saying you should have this beer for breakfast, I am just saying that I personally will not be able to eat grapefruit again without thinking of it. I also got a touch of bread, honey sweetness, cereal grains and grassy hops in the flavor as well.

Ruby Red Kolsch is not a complex beer, it is a simple summer crusher meant for refreshment on a hot day. The kolsch ale does take a back seat to the grapefruit, but there is just the right amount of it here. The end result is a light, easy to drink, super affordable and extremely refreshing beer. Try it and see for yourself!


Overall rating: 3.75/5



Rating Scale:
1. Repugnant and undrinkable
2. Acceptable but forgettable
3. Good, worth a purchase
4. Excellent, a step above the norm
5. Truly Exceptional. Drop everything, BUY IT NOW!

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Thanks for reading. Sláinte!

Drinking on a Budget at Trader Joe's

For some reason the amount of money I spend on craft beer never seems to bother me. I know it should, but somehow I can justify a basket full of beer I want to try as a necessary expense. I mean, I do write this beer blog. Sometimes though, I feel I need to dial it back. Those moments usually come when I am bringing a large quantity of beer home and my wife is watching. “How much did you spend on beer?” she will ask. Deflecting, I will hold up a bottle of beer I purchased for her and say “look what I got you!” That has about a 10% success rate of getting me off the hook, but it is my most successful solution so far. The truth is, sometimes cutting back on the amount of money spent on beer is a good thing. The question is, where do you start when you are looking to cut back? For this blog, I decided to take a look at some of Trader Joe's exclusive beers to see if there is something good to drink when you are looking to save money.

The criteria of this blog will not be to assign a numbered review to any of these beers. The only criteria is whether or not one of these less expensive options is drinkable or not. While most beers in this price range lack imagination and diversity in style, these beers do not. The most expensive beer here is under $1.20 per bottle. Even more surprising is that these beers are actually brewed out of some national breweries. For example, the Mission Street IPA is brewed out of Uinta Brewing, which makes the fantastic Hop Nosh IPA. So instead of the price lowering my expectations to sample these beers, I was hopeful that I wound find a fantastic value with at least one of these beers.

Brewed by the Rhinelander Brewing Company, the Boatswain line of beers yielded interesting results. I started things off with the 7% H.L.V.(Heavy Lift Vessel) Ale. It had a nice amount of caramel sweetness with a nice bitterness in the finish to provide balance. It was a bit watered down side and the alcohol was not hidden well at all. Still, it was surprisingly easy to drink and for the price(84 cents a can) works fairly well. Next up from Boatswain was Twin Screw Steamer Double IPA. The aroma pretty much smelled almost exactly the same as the H.L.V. Ale. However, it did taste a bit different, and by that I mean terrible. There was a little more fruitiness to this one but it did not help it at all. It tasted like the 84 cents I paid for it was way too much. If you are looking for something strong and cheap at 8.4%, it will certainly get you to your desired destination quickly. I just think regret will be the theme of your following day. Finally, from the Boatswain line of beers is their Chocolate Stout. This may have been the best of the bunch. Outside of a nice milk chocolate aroma, there was not really anything memorable here. It was thin, roasty, with a light chocolate sweetness. While it was a little on the bland side but it was by no means undrinkable. It worked flavor wise and could work as a gateway stout to someone who may think the style is too heavy. For under a dollar a can, you could do worse. Don't believe me? Try that Boatswain Double IPA.

Are these beers drinkable?

H.L.V. Ale: Sure, why not?
Double IPA:  I would not give it to my worst enemy
Chocolate Stout: Yes

Next up, we have Josephsbrau Radler. To make this short and sweet, I did not like this. It's basically a watered-down Radler with a muddled blend of malt sweetness and lemon flavor. There really is not much more than that going on here. The finish is particularly sweet and each time I took a sip, I wanted it to be a little tart. I think that could have made this significantly better, it just never happened. Even with drinking on a budget, this feels overpriced at 7 dollars a six pack. Admittedly, I am not the biggest Radler fan, but I can usually understand why people like them. I do not understand this one at all.

Is the Josephsbrau Radler drinkable?

Nope, easily worst Radler I have ever had.

The crown jewel of the beers I selected for this is Mission Street IPA. Brewed by Uinta Brewing, Mission Street IPA will not blow you away but it will give you a clean, easy drinking experience. Priced at 7 dollars a six pack, this beer has notes of grapefruit, pine and caramel malt sweetness. At 5.8%, it is borderline sessionable and because of that, I think it would work as a nice summer beer.

Is Mission St. IPA drinkable? Absolutely

There are a few beers here that will work if you are not looking to spend a lot of money. There are also a quite a few more beers at Trader Joe's I did not try. Perhaps, this blog merits a sequel.

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Thanks for reading. Sláinte!

Boulevard Ginger Lemon Radler

Over the past few years I have watched with a puzzled look on my face as the Shandy/Radler became a popular variety of summer beer. Just like any style of beer, I found myself trying different interpretations from various breweries. Each time I sampled a new one I was left wondering what all the fuss was about. As a beer cocktail, I understand the idea behind the Shandy/Radler. A homemade mixture of beer and a sparkling lemonade or fruit beverage sounds refreshing. But a canned or bottled mixture of a poorly made base beer with a lot of “natural” flavoring to drown it out is something I find completely undrinkable. So, as I purchased a can of Boulevard Ginger Lemon Radler my expectations could not have been any lower. To add to that, I began to wonder if anyone will take this review seriously after reading this introduction. But I put that thought in the back of my mind as I began to pour what I hoped would be the first Shandy/Radler I would enjoy.

Boulevard Brewing Company's Ginger Lemon Radler pours a cloudy light yellow with a white head that falls off very quickly. There is not a lot of complexity here so to go into very specific details of what is in the aroma seems unnecessary. To put it simply, this smelled like ginger ale with a light, tart lemon backbone. It tasted exactly as it smelled. There was almost zero distinguishable beer flavor. To reinforce that point, this is the first beer in 13 years of trying that my Mom actually liked. The weird thing was, I liked it too. I found it light, crisp and easy to drink. The ginger flavor tastes genuine and the lemon provides a nice, tart balance to keep it from being too sweet.

The main drawback of this particular beer is that the beer itself seems to be missing. I say that because I feel like this review almost comes off as more of a soda review than a beer review. In fact I would say if you handed me a can of this and told me it was a lemon ginger ale I would have believed you. The 4.1% ABV is almost completely hidden as well, making this a dangerously sessionable, easy to drink summer beverage. It also makes this the first Shandy/Radler I have had that merits a second purchase.

Overall I would rate Boulevard Brewing Company's Ginger Lemon Radlar a 3/5. It's more of an alcoholic soda than beer, but it works.


Rating Scale:
1 - Repugnant and undrinkable
2 - Acceptable but forgettable
3 - Good, worth a purchase
4 - Excellent, a step above the norm
5 - Truly exceptional　

To discuss this blog or all things beer follow me on Twitter & Untappd at @ACraftyLook

For more beer reviews go to: http://acraftylook.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading. Sláinte!