Kevin and I have been eyeing this beer since it first came out in October, but have been a little hesitant to try it for various reasons. I’m not crazy about a lot of different apple-flavored things, other than apples themselves or caramel apple lollipops, and Kevin is pretty stuck on his stouts and dark beers, and is leery of wheaty, paler brews.
On Saturday, Iowa City got hit with a mega icestorm, and we decided that if we were supposed to stay home to wait it out and possibly get iced in, we would have to pick up some things to entertain ourselves. We picked up some calzones from Sam’s Pizza, got Beerfest from That’s Rentertainment (better than Puddle Cruiser but not as funny as Supertroopers), made our weekly detour at Artifacts to see if they’d gotten any new goodies and to see if the bar we want was still there, and stopped at Dirty John’s to finally pick up a six pack of this beer. We decided that now was as good a time as any to try it, before it went out of season and we’d be left to wonder about it until next year.
As far as other Leinie’s beers go, we’re both big fans of Big Butt, which is another seasonal beer than only runs from January to March. It was actually one of the first beers we bonded over, having both tried it for the first time while together and loving it. I’m also partial to their Creamy Dark, although Kevin isn’t crazy about it.
On first pour, this doesn’t even smell like beer. Instead, it smells like regular apple cider. In fact, I was afraid that it was going to taste like Woodchuck Hard Cider or something of the sort, which is a drink so close to wine that I can’t stand it (no, I don’t like wine, either). The first sip of it was VERY apple-y, although the aftertaste wasn’t bad. It was fruity, but much much smoother than hard cider. I’d have to say that while I didn’t outright enjoy the beer at first, it wasn’t terrible, and I was willing to at least finish my glass. As the drink wore on, however, it began tasting more and more like Woodchuck, and eventually I had to wood-chuck it out. Not my cup of tea, although I understand how others would like it. Thankfully, we’re having a NYE party, so hopefully we’ll be able to pawn the rest of it off on our guests.
