Budweiser Select

Dead Soldier

Where to Dig Up More About This Beer

Budweiser Select
Anheuser-Busch, Inc.
St. Louis, Missouri USA
Est. 1852
www.budselect.com

Brain Damage Quotient = 4.3 % ABV
Fluid Oz. = 12.0 

Postmortem Brew Review
Light straw color.
Unremarkable in hops, malt or aroma.
Highly carbonated.
Head foams up, then evaporates in 3...2...1 seconds.
Light bodied.

Grim Reaper's Eulogy
Not too heavy so it won't weigh you down. Actually not a bad tasting beer...just not remarkable. Does not taste as funky as light beers. It's "do-able" on a hot day or if you just want refreshment. Maybe you might need a tonic for an upset tummy...it's a bit 'gassy' for a beer. High carbonation, that is! It doesn't say light, but that's what it is.

Michelob - Winter's Bourbon Cask Ale

Melting Snowman

Where to Dig Up More About This Beer

Michelob - Winter's Bourbon Cask Ale
Michelob Brewing Company
Anheuser-Busch, Inc.
St. Louis, Missouri USA
Est. 1852
www.michelob.com

Brain Damage Quotient = 6.0% ABV
Fluid Oz. = 12.0 

Postmortem Brew Review
Soft amber orange, tawny color.
Sweet vanilla smell and taste up front.
Robust, smokey bourbon after finish.
Smooth foaming head from the pour with good lacing.
Medium bodied mouth feel.

Grim Reaper's Eulogy
Distinctive and different. An ale for the winter. Interesting flavor being aged in oak casks used at one time for bourbon. And as if that's not enough, they drop whole Madagascar vanilla beans in the batch! Yummy! Oh yeah, that's not even the best part; here's to a mass produced American beer with an alcohol content of 6%. There is so much more flavor in higher alcohol content beers. The Europeans know this the best! This will become a Christmas tradition!

Michelob has been a sort of Jekyll and Hyde brand for AB. In the 50's & 60's "Mick" was for cool ultra hipsters being they were way too cool for Budman and his sophomoric antics. Its sexy signature 'teardrop' bottle proved it was more for adult "after-hours" types.

Then came the lean 70's thru 80's where the audience shifted to adult urbanites, again making the cool scene. The last 15 years or so, Michelob has been a brand adrift in light, ultralight, low carb, low taste gimmicky beers...but still aimed at the hip movers and shakers that don't want to get into the Bud rut. I thought it would become the dot-com of beers during that age and die a death, but no!

About ten years ago something started to metamorphize. AB set its sights square on whatever Sam Adams was up to in the micro-taste part of the industry. Michelob now sports a variety of seasonal beers aimed at...you guessed it...hip beer drinkers looking for something a little different in their brew. The familiar 'teardrop' bottle is just a memory now, but they definitely have my attention. Here's to reincarnation; something the Reaper can certainly get behind!

Kirin Ichiban

Dead Kamikaze

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Kirin Ichiban
Shinkawa 2-chome, Chuo-ku
Tokyo, Japan
Est. ????
www.kirin.com

Brain Damage Quotient=4.95% ABV
Fluid Oz. = 12.0 

Postmortem Brew Review
Soft golden yellow in color.
Crisp malt, rice and corn with lots of carbonation.
Decent head with soft clumpy rings in the lacing.
Medium bodied mouth feel. 

Grim Reaper's Eulogy
Well after reviewing so many domestic and European brews, we've finally gone east. To the Far East, that is, only to find out Anheuser Busch has their mitts in this one...so before you go putting on a kimono and serving up some sushi, listen up.

Kirin is a very good beer with a distinct taste. Hmmm....I just can't put my bony finger on it....perhaps it's the rice? Yes, that would explain why the Budman's interested in this import. After all, Bud is blended with rice in it's recipe, so that would seem to explain their involvement. And we all know the rocking-est place in the world is Bud-o-kan, which is Japanese for, Budweiser-in-a-can. If you don't believe me, you can go, "...wax off Daniel-san!"

One more interesting note.....this is the first beer I've rated with two numbers to the right of the decimal point. I guess the Japanese brew masters are as precise as their engineers!

St. Pauli Girl

Dead Fräulein 

Where to Dig Up More About This Beer

St. Pauli Girl Lager
St. Pauli Girl Brauerei
Bremen, Germany
Est. ???? (USA since 1965)
www.stpauligirl.com

Brain Damage Quotient = 4.9 % ABV
Fluid Oz. = 12.0 

Postmortem Brew Review
Pale yellow in color.
Non-complex in body and blend of ingredients.
Quick forming and disappearing head with virtually no lacing.
Watery mouth feel. 

Grim Reaper's Eulogy
Very unusual, this one...it says it's a Plisner on the website, but the front of the bottle says Lager!?! It's certainly not the ol' girl I knew in days of 'yore, when the likes of Lowenbrau & Beck's were the other big German beers on the block.

The website is great if you like some 'cheesecake' to go with your beer. But the two-fisted brau maiden with the frothy mugs, just doesn't seem to have that Reinheitsgebot. And at only $10.99 a 12 pack, it would seem she's gone from "high maintenance" to just another cheap date. It's like.....kissing your sister! Ugh.

Stella Artois

Dead Soldier

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Stella Artois
Brouwerijplein 1 (InBev)
Leuven, Belgium
Est.1366
www.stellaartois.com

Brain Damage Quotient = 5.0 % ABV
Fluid Oz. = 11.2 

Postmortem Brew Review
Sheer golden color.
Wonderful balance of hops and maltiness.
Creamy, frothy head with delicate spiderweb lacing.
Superb from start to finish. 

Grim Reaper's Eulogy
Like fine food, great artistry, avant garde movies and Champagne, you've got to hand it to the French for a truly great beer. Before they were known as "surrender monkeys", they took up shop in Belgium in the 14th century and created the original Belgian beer. So what if they can't fight a war worth a damn, save for the great Napoleon. This outstanding lager goes great with everything...um, except maybe frog's legs!

Leffe

Dead Soldier

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Leffe Belgian Abbey Ale - Blonde
Brouwerijplein 1 (InBev)
Leuven, Belgium
Est.1240
www.leffe.com

Brain Damage Quotient = 6.6 % ABV
Fluid Oz. = 11.2 

Postmortem Brew Review
Golden orange in color.
Fruity flavor in mouth.
Great mouthfeel; richness yet subtle and smooth.
Rich, frothy head with tremendous ringed lacing.
Full bodied with no bitter finish. 

Grim Reaper's Eulogy
"Savor the Mystery of the Ages" is printed on the back label. I don't know about you, but the Abbey style ales that I've sampled are always very very high in alcohol content. I guess when you have that much time on your hands, ahem, practicing celibacy, you can craft a great ale. Can you imagine if the church took beer and wine making away from these guys after already banning women??? Got to give them something to look forward to! A great delicate tasting ale that is not in the least bitter like some of the higher alcohol ales.

Check out their interactive website. It's like taking a beer SAT test!

Hoegaarden

Dead Soldier

Where to Dig Up More About This Beer

Hoegaarden Belgian White Wheat Beer
Brouwerij Hoegaarden (InBev)
Stoopkenstraat 46
Hoegaarden , Belgium
Est.1445
www.hoegaarden.com

Brain Damage Quotient = 4.9 % ABV
Fluid Oz. = 11.2 

Postmortem Brew Review
Cloudy yellow color as found in most wheat based beers.
Spice notes throughout.
Delicate, soapy head.
Light to medium bodied with good flavor and no bitter finish. 

Grim Reaper's Eulogy
This one claims to be the "original" Belgian wheat beer. Also states, "...brewed with spices...unfiltered, naturally cloudy..." on the label. All true statements of the drink I sampled. Typical of most wheat or wit-beers is that it uses the traditional ingredients of water, yeast, wheat, hops, coriander and dried Curaçao orange peel, also known as Laraha.

It is a wonderfully well balanced wheat beer and does not possess the 'wheatiness' of flavor found in other wit-beers. We've sampled the 'spade' in Spaten. Now we have the other tool from the shed; the Hoe! Can you dig it?