birth of a beer obsession (part 2) Rolling Rock

birth of a beer obsession (part 1)

Rolling Rock was my original gateway beer--the one I hide in the closet.  When living in California, I would pick up a 22 oz bottle of RR and a Tombstone pepperoni pizza on the way home from speech or debate tournaments.  For the sake of self edification, I'm once again popping the top on the iconic green bottle to see what I was thinking.

Stark white head that's fluffy but falls to nearly nothing on top of a barely gold lager.  Poured beautifully into the glass as the effervescent bubbles created the head.  Unfortunately, that was the best part of the beer.  With a heavy swirl, I was able to pull the smell of mostly corn into the nose with extremely light floral and apple notes.  Watery mouthfeel that is mostly cream corn but a slight spice hidden underneath.

While this may have been my first regular beer (for several years), this is hopefully my last bottle of the Extra Pale.  Nothing really wrong with the beer if you're looking for a macro-adjunct American lager that's extremely light.  Rolling Rock is cleanly brewed with no imperfections.  It is exactly as advertised.

One thing that might've got me back in the day--the upscale pitch on the back of the bottle: "From the glass lined tanks of Old Latrobe we tender this premium beer for your enjoyment, as a tribute to your good taste.  It comes from the mountain springs to you"  "33".  I can be a bit of a sucker for context, a weakness that I always consider when drinking beer today.

birth of a beer obsession (part 3) Blue Moon

Collaboration #2-White IPA (Boulevard Smokestack, Boulevard Brewing, Kansas City, MO)

From the label, the beer is a combination of a Belgian wit and an IPA.  A new style of collaboration ale, Boulevard and Deschutes used a single recipe and brewed it separately at each location.  The Deschutes version is Conflux, which I didn't have the pleasure of drinking.  Regardless, the creativity of the beer community can produce a collaboration white IPA is worth the taste for me.

White head of big vacuous bubbles rush up when poured and nearly overflows.  Falls to a heavy lace on top of an extremely pale straw gold. Floral and spicy nose.  According to the label, the beer used coriander and orange peel of a traditional to wit, plus sage and lemongrass added.  Lemongrass is strongest, but they are all there-- blended with an assertive flowery and west coast citrusy hop that is light and pleasant.  Taste has more hop bite than expected from looking at the beer in the glass. Mouthfeel is light without being watery. The pepper in the description doesn't appear until it warms up and it adds a sharpness to the finish. Overall, my first white IPA is a good experience.  I've had this one in the fridge for a while, which may have been a mistake to let the hops mellow.  Well worth the price of admission, but I wouldn't track down another bottle.

Harvest Dance (Boulevard Brewing, Kansas City, MO)

Sunset orange beer with golden highlights around the edges. Fluffy white head lingers and bubbles nicely on top until a slow dissipation to just beer. Fresh wheat in the nose with spice and lots of soft fruit—orange peel, mango, pear. Clear, clean spice from the yeast that continues in the taste. Mouthfeel is a bit watery, but a nice twang from the wheat and spice, but the fruit lessens compared to the nose. Very nice beer. 9% is completely unapparent.