Dundee IPA

Dundee’s IPA

While the other Dundee offerings have cartoon mascots, this one’s is a model ship in a bottle, sitting on a book whose spine gives the title “S. S. Dundee”. And as usual, no info on the packaging other than a catchphrase: “Bold And Bitter”. Well, let’s just see about that.

Color is a darker shade of pale and a slowly drawn noseful picks out some hoppy characteristics in the aroma, not overpowering but not flat either. With a taste, there’s no surprise that this is $8.50 a twelve-pack. Beer body is flaccid and flabby with no exertion, not sure if this is all barley or if we have some rice let in through the back door.

There’s a bitter that’s not hops, it’s the beer body’s desperation at having to get out of bed and go to work again. The hops side of this IPA is not too bad, however. Not crazy hoppy, and there’s no fruit or floral dimensions, but it does do the job of drying out the weak ale.

Whatever that additive is, it tastes like it’s trying to give the hops a helping hand, but it’s got a somewhat leaden taste, like coal. Separate that from the true hop elements, and they’re not bad. But the complete taste profile is gritty rather than grand. As with all Dundee’s: this is a sweet beer. Good idea with the Honey Brown or the other ales, but with an India pale ale, sweetness is not a friend.

I just can’t recommend buying a lot of this, but you could probably drink two of them before the tar-like bitter taste becomes annoying. Price is good, but let’s just say that while there are some great bargains in IPA Land, the universal rule still does apply: you get what you pay for. This rates a 3.6 but then again, it would’ve been much lower if this sampler-12 had been a few dollars more dear.

Genesee Oktoberfest

Genesee Oktoberfest
Genesee’s Oktoberfest

Genny has always done the Bock once a year, and it’s the best thing they do. Now suddenly, in 2016 they apparently decided to leverage that success with another annual varietal, an Oktoberfest beer, which started showing up in stores in late July. A festy design with a white-blue checked pattern of lozenges, with a half-gone German guy hoisting a stein over the logo.

And this beer has the G-Bock’s same subtitle: “Special Edition” at the bottom, but the similarity ends there. Color is paler than Bock but darker than the other Gennys. Does taste a little heartier than a regular Genesee, but there’s no relation here to any German beer. Instead, this is beer candy.

Silly sweet it is, nearly to the point of being sickly-sweet, which is the same reason i can’t do more than 1 in a row of Genny’s sub-branded JW Dundee Honey Brown. After one Honey Brown, you feel like you’ve just eaten a whole head-sized wad of cotton candy, and while that was enjoyable, the idea of eating a second head-sized wad of cotton candy makes you a tad queasy.

Same thing here. The sweetness might come from unfermented malts or, since this is $9 for a 12-pack, they might just have dropped some hi-fuct corn syrup and dye into a few runs of finished Genny. Who knows? Genny’s beers have always been low-information on the cans and cartons.

The point is that where a German oktoberfest brew has a bite of bitter over a slightly more sweet body than usual, this has sweet body smothering a slight more bitter than a real Genny. College girls may like this, but it’s not for me. Accordingly, the proper rating is 3.6 in my scheme.

Trouble Red Flag Amber

Trouble's RedFlag Amber Ale
Trouble’s RedFlag Amber Ale

More Trouble from the sampler 12, and remember how i called out the Much Info appearing on some beer packaging lately? Well this ain’t that. There isn’t a website, nor an address, not even a lousy phone number on this Pack Of Troubles, nor on the cans. This one is 4.5% alk, and it’s an amber ale, and that’s all we need to know.

Errr, no. We also need to know that this is brewed with honey, which was a fad about 20 years ago, but ran its course about 15 years ago. Not a fan of honey beer here, so this is not recommended for human consumption.

Rating it at 3.3 and enough said.