Labor Day Beer Fights

Now that school is in, I have decided to revive the beer fights in earnest. After a summer in which the St. Louis temperature was over 100 seemingly every day (and too hot to sit outside and drink), I made a Friday trip to Friar Tuck's and loaded up on new beer to enjoy and blog about. I figured a perfect way to honor the workforce on Labor Day would be to sit in my dining room/ front porch, try a new beer, and tell everyone about it.

So, without further fluff to start this off, here we go.



All the way from England, we have a heavy hitter in the beverage business:

Samuel Smith's India Ale. Sam is facing off against a beer from a brewer I haven't heard of: Joker IPA.

First the Samuel Smith. I believe, as hard as it is to imagine, this is the first time I have drank Samuel Smith beer of any kind. Unless I have forgotten in a drunken haze, I'm pretty sure this is the maiden voyage for me. What a nice trip it is!

Brewer: Samuel Smith, England
Beer: India Ale
Beer Style: India Pale Ale
Price: $3.99 for a 20 oz bottle.

Appearance: Looks like a pale ale. Medium brown in color, clear, nice lacing, good head on it but that disappeared quickly.

Mouthfeel: Traditional ale; slightly watery but definitely beer in your mouth.

Smeel: Sweet, hoppy goodness. It makes me want to drink it. Very appealing. Not overpowering.

Taste: Outstanding. Simply, the best IPA I've tried yet. It is not as hoppy as some but the hops are the defining feature with a the malt coming in as the secondary taste. This is a very drinkable beer by anyone as it is not nearly as overpowering as the majority of IPA's out there. This is a full flavored beer that I could drink all evening with no problem at all. I'm 3/4 through the 20 oz and it's better then when I began. An outstanding beer. You need to try this if you want to try IPA's at all.

Overall rating. 5.0. I am going to load the fridge the next time I go to Friar Tuck's. Perfect in my book. What a way to start the new drinking season off. My first perfect rating.



Brewer: Williams Bros. Brewing, Scotland
Beer: Scottish Joker India Pale Ale
Beer Style: India Pale Ale
Price: $3.99/ 20 oz bottle.

Appearance: Slightly darker then the Samuel Smith- looks like a dark pale ale.

Mouthfeel: Similar to a pale ale- beer but not very thick; slightly watery.

Smell: Not overpowering but definitely more hoppy then the Sam Smith.

Taste: Up until the point where I tasted it, I thought I was going to have issues as it seemed pretty similar to the Sam Smith. Once I tried it, I realized this fight ended with a TKO. It is much more hoppy which isn't necessarily bad by any means; these hops don't enhance the flavor- they overpower it. It is a harsh hoppy taste with no malt flavoring at all. It is a very unbalanced flavor which didn't impress on the first drink or the last. Skip this one for sure.

Overall rating: 2.0. Not missing anything here unless you like hops for the sake of hops.

God Save the Queen and the Samuel Smith beer and have a Scottish tea party when they bring a boatload of the Joker in. Next up will be a battle of Rouge Brewery flavored beers for the summer/ fall. Looking forward to this one. Tune in in a few days for the final results.