What even is a beer? In my previous #beersaturday post, I discussed some very heavy beers, one was even 20% ABV! These beers really begin to test and question the borders of can count as a beer. What even is a beer? Is the standard and local commercial lager even comparable to the three to five year barrel aged 20% ABV beer? Of these two, what is a beer?
And here, I present 4 flavoured beers, and my mind asks this question even harder: what even is a beer?
Wicked Cherry flavoured beer; Pressed Lemon flavoured beer; a Hazelnut flavored brown ale; Cherry Ale... Are these even beers? Again, what is a beer? I am lost in this quest for what a beer is, because in my quest to drink every craft beer in South Africa, I have come across some really interesting beers.
These four beers again test this rigid border of what we count as a beer. Because some of them just straight taste like a fruit juice was added to a lager beer. The pressed lemon flavoured beer from Mad Giant literally tastes like what my father always called a Beershandy, half beer half lemon flavoured lemonade.
What even is a beer. What even is a beer? What even is a beer...
Can we ever really be sure about our concepts and ideas? I mean, just try and compare an NEIPA with a DIPA and then compare these to a Lager. Where do we draw the line of what counts as a beer? Overly hopped beers? High ABV? IBUs that numb your tongue? Or a sweet flavoured beer?
Cherry nut!
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I had this beer almost two years ago, and it was interesting to say the least. It hits different notes all at once. The first smell is exactly like nutella or Ferrero Rocher sweets. But the taste is similar; it is so strong hazelnut up front.
It is also kind of bitter but with some residual sweetness. It had a brown ale taste, but it also reminded me of a red ale. It tastes like other red ales for me personally. Beneath the hazelnut you can taste the yeast, the balance between bitter and malt. It is not full-bodied and the taste quickly dissipates.
Cherry "Ale"
They call this a cherry ale... But this is so far from a beer... It is so sweet, and I don't think that they fermented the cherry with the beer. Otherwise it would have been a lot more dry and not as sweet.
On the nose, this supposed al is so sweet. It had a cherry fizzpop smell, if you are familiar with this sweet. It was almost overpowering sweet.
But this sweetness carried over onto my palate. I don't necessarily get the beer in this supposed beer. It is way too sweet and the cherry infusion is way too strong for my taste. It is definitely not for the bitter beer lover but as a summer drink extremely smooth. My fiance enjoyed this more than I did.
Wicked Cherry Flavored Beer
Mad Giant Brewery has made some incredible beers. I went to the brewery recently, and wow, their beers are awesome! They also have these neat returnable bottles. You even get a nice discount on the next beer if you return the bottle; more breweries should do this!
But their two flavoured beers... if you can call them beers... are something else. My fiance, again, loves them. Which I am glad about, but for me... they are not really beer in the strong sense of the word?
The first smell of this cherry beer was incredibly strong of artificial an artificial cherry flavour. Something like a cherry cola, maybe? And no real beer smell to it at all.
This again pushes the idea of what a beer is.
The first taste is incredibly cherry upfront, very sweet and artificial flavours. It has a nice mouth feel, but it is so overpoweringly sweet though, and again no real beer characteristics. It reminds me of Liefmans as well.
Pressed Lemon Flavored Beer
This was by far my fiance's favorite one of them all. I even bought her one last week! She loved it. It reminded me way too much of the drink my father always made with the half beer half lemonade. My grandmother also loved it, and always had some when we drank beer.
The first smell was a bit of beer with undertones of lemon peel. It is incredible what they achieved though, so give credit where credit is due.
The first taste was also sweetish and a literal hit of lemon. My fiance says it tastes like pure summer. The lemon peel flavour came through so strong, it is almost incredible. If it was not so sweet, I would have drank this.
After all four beers, I am again left with the question: Are these even really beers? They are so sweet, I cannot get to the idea of beer while drinking these. Except for the Clarens goes nuts, these beers taste straight up sugar. Who was the target audience for these "beers"? I am not sure. Maybe my fiance? People who do not like the bitter side of life...
Alas, they are probably trying to get everyone to drink a beer, even if it does not come close to what I think a beer is and should be.
If you ferment this much sugar, the final beer will always be dry. But these beers are so sweet, it leaves one wondering, how much sugar did they add afterwards?
For now, happy drinking, and keep well!
All of the musings and opinions are my drunken own. (Even though I could not even get drunk on these beers as their ABVs were so low...) The photographs are my own, taken with my Nikon D300 and with the help of my fiance!