Why We Picked It: We wanted to include a sour, and always like to go local (ish).
What Antietam Says About It: Almost nothing. It was a challenge to find anything about it online. Apparently this was a limited release beer they released in August and describe as "our ale that is a rye version of a classic German Berliner Weiss."
ABV: 4.3%
IBU: N/A
Fun Facts: Located in Hagerstown, and proudly western Maryland’s first craft brewery, Antietam creates handcrafted in small batches using only the finest ingredients and freshest hops to ensure the highest quality and freshest beer available. Antietam Brewery is "dedicated to brewing consistently excellent, delicious and delightful beer that is selectively distributed to the finest establishments in our surrounding locales."
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Yes, I guess I'm one of those people that doesn't like sours, so I gave it a low rating.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite time of the year!!! A younger Bill would have found this awful since I found all sours awful. But they have grown on me and I like this. Pretty basic, but I guess basic means they didn't screw it up. Probably doesn't pair so well with 40 degrees and pouring rain, but better now than December 24th right? Great start. I highly commend whoever slaved for hours and drove to some odd traffic-circle covered place in the middle of nowhere to pick out and sort these beers.
ReplyDeleteTotally forgot to do my customized rating. Since Scott is denying me the option of rating a beer as average, I'll have to actually decide between my two star and three star beers. This one I like so I give it 1.5 out of 2 General Ambrose Sideburns (3 out of 4).
DeleteHappy Dec 1! I'm very happy to be a part of this again, thank you for inviting me back! I wasn't particularly looking forward to this first beer, but I am rather enjoying it, especially after 2 hours at the dreaded mall!
ReplyDeleteGuys, I think mine was skunked. It reminded me of college. It's the same taste of beer coming back-up after purging to drink more.
ReplyDeleteI think Sours came about when a bad batch of beer was brewed and the marketing guy convinced everyone it was intentional. DAMN MARKETING PEOPLE!!! ;-P
Sorry for the Unknown Status. I'll figure this out eventually. This is Theodore.
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DeleteFinally, December is here and we can enjoy are annual celebration of beer.
ReplyDeleteAs for beer No. 1, I am a sour guy, in general, but this was even better than most. Even though I like them, the tangy aftertaste can get annoying after a bit. I don't know if its rye versioning, but the finish felt a bit cleaner and did annoy me as some of the other sours sometime do. I give it 3 out of 4.
Howdy, like Shep, I claim membership in the sour tribe; however, unlike Shep, I was a bit disappointed by this beer. I like the fruit forward tastes but was left wanting more as it faded into the hefeweizen finish. I look forward to that tang, and I felt cheated of its absence. I imagine it's why there's so little marketing collateral on this brew--Antietam was probably happy to let to their little sour experiment fade from memory, which is what I'll do. Mind you, I'm happy to have tried it and nothing tasted off or offensive, but I wouldn't go out of my way to buy this again.
ReplyDeleteRegardless though, I'm so very excited to be on this journey with all of you :-) Thanks for the hard work putting this together.
Sorry I am late to the party. As a beer lover and soon to be father (due December 12), my excitement for the beer advent calendar is similar to telling a young child the story of Santa Claus.
ReplyDeleteSours have always been beers I have enjoyed when I am thirsty, best post run. I am not sure where I stand on sour ales though. It has that sour initial taste that kinda fades to a lager-like aftertaste. I'm not sure I like that part yet. 3.25 out of 5 for me with a Beer Mile Chugability of 4 out of 5.
It was a cold and dreary day as I walked the grounds of Antietam. I thought about what occurred at these fields so many years ago. I closed my eyes, and drew in a deep breath. And there it was - the smell of fear, the scent of death, the noxious odor that results from soft rain falling on top of wet muddy grounds.
ReplyDeleteWhen, just then, Scott Shepherd walked beside me and tapped me on the shoulder.
"I am sorry, Dan - but that stuff you said about what you smelled - and by the way, it was super weird to hear you say all of that out loud - well, that is not what you smell. You see, I just spilled my can of Berliner Roggen on the round, and well, if you tasted it, you can pretty much guess what it smells like when you spill it."
"Ah," I said. "I see. Or rather, I smell."
1 star. Or nose. Or something. Ugh.
In Berlin, by the wall
ReplyDeleteyou were five foot ten inches tall
It was very nice
candlelight and Roggen on ice
We were in a small cafe
you could hear the guitars play
It was very nice
it was paradise
I'm really happy to be doing this again this year! The pleasantries out of the way, this beer was really bad. I don't like sours but usually can appreciate them. I liked the tartness a little bit, but even that felt cheap. The problem that I had with it though is that there was a scent of urine and I couldn't get that out of my mind. Perhaps my taste buds were off and I should try it again sometime.
ReplyDeleteNot a big fan of Gose but I dont mind them. We've had some good sours in previous years here. This one though is decidedly different. What a fun way to start the 24DOB [- thanks again, Happy countdown!]. As I say, its a fun event and this one is indeed a very funny beer. How I love the memory of the smell and flavors of the cocktail that my youngest, at around 10, created at KFC by mixing a bunch of different fountain sodas. They were odd colors and odder flavors. This masterpiss of a brewers creation brings back those wonderful memories.
ReplyDeleteCouldnt quite figure out why the remote to amazon fire cube started spontaneoulsy misbeahving. Then I realized that I had spilled some of this strange sticky stuff on the remote and the carpet. HAd to order a new remote on amazon. And the carpet smells like a hobos pants
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