One of our local grocery stores started a "build your own six pack" service. They have some shelves with single bottles of a variety of single bottles of beer and ready-made six pack cartons nearby. You are free to select any six brews from the single bottles and create your custom six pack. Same price no matter what brews you choose, and they do run the gamut. I believe you end up paying more than you probably should. But it is a nice way to sample some different beers you may not have had without having to buy an entire six pack or twelve pack. I do get gun shy about buying a twelve pack of something I haven't had before, especially if I'm not familiar with the brewery.
Today's brew is one that I included in my inaugural make your own six pack. It is Star Island Single from Smuttynose Brewing. Curiosity always leads me to check out an offering from Smuttynose. I mean you have to love the name, right? And the brews I have had from that brewery have been pretty good. They are currently located in Portsmouth, NH, but are in the middle of building a new brewing facility in Hampton.
As you can tell Star Island is an unfiltered beer. It is an ale with spices added as the bottle so helpfully informs you. The first impression you get is a tingling, prickly feeling on the tip of your tongue so common to spiced brews. I found the body of the beer to be pretty light and the flavor subdued. The spiciness increased if you held the brew in your mouth and let it warm a bit. There was a spicy and almost lemony flavor in the aftertaste as you swallowed. And the taste did disappear pretty much with the swallow. The words that kept coming to mind as I drank this were "thin" and "weak".
Star Island Single is probably better suited to a warm spring or sultry summer day when you've tired of the summer brews that are either overly spiced, or the mass produced beers that require a lime to have anything interesting about them. Then I could see the light, yet clean, flavor being more appreciated. However in the dead of a long, hard winter, it was just too light and the flavor too weak.
I'm giving Star Island Single 6 mugs out of 10. I may revisit this in the summer and see if that changes my perception.
Today's brew is one that I included in my inaugural make your own six pack. It is Star Island Single from Smuttynose Brewing. Curiosity always leads me to check out an offering from Smuttynose. I mean you have to love the name, right? And the brews I have had from that brewery have been pretty good. They are currently located in Portsmouth, NH, but are in the middle of building a new brewing facility in Hampton.
As you can tell Star Island is an unfiltered beer. It is an ale with spices added as the bottle so helpfully informs you. The first impression you get is a tingling, prickly feeling on the tip of your tongue so common to spiced brews. I found the body of the beer to be pretty light and the flavor subdued. The spiciness increased if you held the brew in your mouth and let it warm a bit. There was a spicy and almost lemony flavor in the aftertaste as you swallowed. And the taste did disappear pretty much with the swallow. The words that kept coming to mind as I drank this were "thin" and "weak".
Star Island Single is probably better suited to a warm spring or sultry summer day when you've tired of the summer brews that are either overly spiced, or the mass produced beers that require a lime to have anything interesting about them. Then I could see the light, yet clean, flavor being more appreciated. However in the dead of a long, hard winter, it was just too light and the flavor too weak.
I'm giving Star Island Single 6 mugs out of 10. I may revisit this in the summer and see if that changes my perception.
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