This week I bring you a tale of two cans born of the same brewery and vying for some attention.  Which can was better, you ask?  That depends on your taste buds, Avid Reader, and what you choose to wet your whistle with on a warm spring evening.  I am no stranger to the flagship brew from America’s oldest brewery and I was interested to get acquainted with its younger, slimmer brother.  To stop them from fighting I put them both in the fridge for a time out and then found my Yuengling pint glass waiting for me.

After plenty of time to chill out, I decided to take out the flagship lager to refresh my memory a bit and start things off right.  True to its nature, it was an amber lager with a crisp flavor, no bitter anything, and a kind of weak body.  All that aside, it was still refreshing and I downed it in record time.

Now it was time for the new kid on the block to make an appearance, so I poured and peered to find that it was a golden color and, much to my surprise, far less intruding than the original.  It requires a certain talent to be able to remove more from a weak lager and make it even lighter than it is; then again have you seen all those 64-calorie beers?  You may as well drink water.

To say the least, the Premium would appeal to those folks looking for a light beer that had some more calories to it than an MGD-something-or-other.  It had a light body, not a lot of flavor, and I finished it before I realized I opened the can.  The scary part is they make a Light Premium, which I can’t imagine is that much of a step up from Dasani.

This is not to discredit Yuengling by any means, they make a quality product that I can’t find north of New York, and I was lucky a friend brought some cans back for me.  If I did ever see this someplace, I would buy it for the novelty of having some nearby, but I would not drive too far out of my way.  Should you happen to see this on a trip, try one so you can taste what 180 years of brewing history is like — then find something a little younger to finish your evening.

White Water IPA – crisp and clean IPA with no real surprises here, and I enjoyed it.  I would suggest this for folks that are hesitant about an IPA beer and may want to test the waters.  If you wanted something with more kick, then you should search for the imperial IPA’s that Sam puts out.

Mighty Oak Ale -   this was a nice surprise.  A little sweet, yet plenty of that roasted malt flavor to give it some character.  Not quite a lager, but it has potential to be very good for warmer weather if you wanted more options.

Alpine Spring – if you seem to enjoy the Sam summer offering, then you will love this.  The best way to describe it would be to think of the summer brew minus the extra citrus flavor.  For me, I still love the previous spring ale, White Ale, and I do hope that comes back, but I’ll take this one for now.

Black Lager – this is nothing new and has been around for quite a while.  This is a good dark lager that has all the best qualities that Sam has to offer.

Irish Red – another old standby that I saved for St. Patty’s day; if you need an alternative to Killian’s then this will do in a pinch.  Malty and full of flavor as usual.

Boston Lager – do I need to bother?  If you are a craft brew drinker and you haven’t had a Boston Lager; why the hell are you reading this website?  This was my “gateway beer”, as it is for many converts each year, and it is always a good choice on someone else’s tab.

There you have it, kids, the first variety pack of 2012.  I have another one here that I’ll get to, but there are some local brews that I have to give some attention to first.  Until we meet again.

Despite what you might think, avid reader, the contents of that bottle do not resemble Red Stripe, and for that I say: hooray beer!  Try as I might, no part of me enjoys Red Stripe and I have given it many a fair chance to sway me.  Instead we have a well made black lager that is fine for a cool fall evening after a long day of work.

In the spring and summer months, a normal lager will always hit the spot and taste refreshing.  Then, in the fall and winter months, a black lager will lift your spirits and take some of the chill out of you, yet it will also be a heavy bodied beer that might put you to sleep.  It seems like the folks over at Full Sail got the combination right and made a black lager that is heavy on flavor and not in body.  I am no stranger to these folks, and you should make their acquaintance too.

Popping the top and pouring this one out it was jet black; or wicked dahk, and I noticed a faint smoky aroma.  There were some aspects of chocolate malt to give it some nice roasted aftertaste, and that was all.  This beer was smooth and enjoyable from sip one.

There are some black lagers that I have had, where if you were to drop a butter knife in your pint glass it would stand upright without any help.  What you have here is a dark beer that could pass as something a little lighter in body, yet taste like a heavy brew.  Crafty is the best way to describe this one, and that’s just my type.  If you happen to be in the mood for something a little different for the coming cold months, I suggest you find yourself a six pack of this brew and have a nice evening.

I picked up a Saranac variety pack a while ago and this was the only one I hadn’t tried.  I thought that since it was November and it is starting to get cold in New Hampshire, a darker beer would be on track.  I was right: a darker beer always tastes better in November.

Black Forest is a dark Bavarian style beer.  It is jet black and has a faint aroma that might be considered sweet to some noses.  I cracked it open, let it get warm and gave it a swirl or two.  Upon first taste I noticed the roasted flavor and found that it wasn’t bitter at all.  As the beer got warmer it became smoother and that was very inviting for me to keep on drinking.

There are some darker beers I’ll drink during this time of year that are very coarse and you almost assume you were drinking an IPA, which means it is an imperial stout or something of Russian descent.  On the other hand, this Black Forest was very smooth and did well over the course of the evening.

Now that the chill has started to settle in and we have reached the point of no return, I need to restock in darker beers like stouts or reds.  I do like this time of year because many of my favorite beers are heavy; the only problem is that they are higher in alcohol and consuming more than two or three is hazardous.  Be warned my fellow beer drinkers: while dark beers are tasty drinking your normal amount may not be the best choice.  I still like to have a few lighter bodied beers hanging around but I break those open when the snow hits.  Until that time, I suggest you find variety pack with a few of these in it and have a warm, festive evening.

I’m still on my worldwide beer kick and this week I happened to sample a star from Barcelona.  Founded in 1876 the S. A. Damm Brewery has produced a few varieties of beer and I decided to give their flagship lager a try.

Right off the bat, there was a very nice gold color as I poured this in my big glass.  This beer was modeled after a pilsner style but has some lager characteristics.  I noticed a slight bitter taste that was full bodied at first and smoothed out over time.  I happened to be eating nachos with Spanish rice and found that the spice of the food did help the beer’s flavor.  I was impressed that this was not a run-of-the-mill import lager and really enjoyed the easy going taste.

Since I have not drunk many Spanish beers, I have nothing to compare it with. You should not put this is a category with Mexican beers.  I liked how this beer had the look of a pilsner with the taste and body of a lager.  As the beer got warmer I found that it lost a little flavor, so I would try to keep this chilled.

When it comes to imported beers, I know many people are hesitant to try them because they have no idea what they will taste like and that scares them off.  I say you should take the plunge and broaden your horizons.  Either the beer will taste like a Heineken or it will be unique in flavor and you can brag to friends that you enjoy imported ales.  That may not get you in the ranks of ‘The Most Interesting Man Alive,’ but I’m trying to help you out the best I can over here.

Sometimes the best things are the simple things.  I know that I talk about drinking beers with ‘complex flavors’ and ‘intense aromas’ but every once in a while it is nice to kick back with a lager and relax.  For such an occasion, Narragansett is selling their lager in 16 ounce tall boy cans, and trust me–16 ounce cans are the new 12 ounce cans.  I happened upon a six pack and put a few in the fridge waiting for the right amount of humidity to crack them open.

Marketing their lager as ‘the official beer of the Clam’, you might ask, what is the Clam?  Answer: a clambake, but like many New Englanders I have never been to a proper clambake.  Oh, I’ve watched Elvis Presley sing about them, but never created one on my own.  Thankfully, if you take one of these cans and turn it 180 degrees, you’ll see the recipe for a simple clambake you can recreate in your kitchen.

Looking through my fridge, I had none of these ingredients.  However, I did have some hot dogs and sauerkraut and had a feast of my own.  I took one can and split it between a fry pan and saucepan.  I put two dogs in the fry pan and let them boil and added the kraut to the saucepan.  As everything cooked, I opened another can and poured it in a glass.  Nothing like a cold pint from the fridge, this beer had an inviting golden color, a faint aroma and a little bitter taste.

Nothing says summer like beer-boiled hot dogs and sauerkraut.  Drinking one of the lagers while I ate helped bring out the flavor of this beer, which wasn’t overpowering and hit the spot on a humid day.  You may never actually attempt a clambake; instead you should consider making this the official beer of August.

(Narragansett Beer provided the lager for this review.)

A few weeks ago, I found myself in Nashua buying a few Bavarian beers.  Considering I’m not too familiar with beers from this region, I picked up a few bottles to help educate myself.  You learn something new everyday, right?  That’s what I was thinking.

I decided to start with the lager, since I enjoy lagers and just made my own. I find lagers to be an easy beer to drink any time of year.  I had this beer chilled in a big glass, and I was very happy with the golden color.  I had a healthy swig and found that it was smooth, not bitter at all.  To be honest, this beer wasn’t complicated at all.  The label reads: water, barley, hops.  Simple, and that is what I like most about this style of beer.  Lagers don’t have to be crazy, and the Bavarians have been making them before there was water.

If you have a friend that is a Bud drinker, you may be able to talk them into drinking one of these.  Remember: Bud was brought over by a Bavarian immigrant, and the beer has just been ‘Americanized’ over the course of time.  If you wanted to try and convert a Bud drinker, give them something they might recognize with a twist.  The twist is, the original beer with all the calories in tact.  If you are too worried about the calories in your beer, then you should just drink water.  There are other places in my diet I could lose calories, but I’m not going to compromise taste for a lousy beer.

I spoke with a fellow that spent his childhood in Germany before coming to America, and he told me that his hometown had nine breweries in it.  One thing is for sure, at that rate I won’t be able to sample every Bavarian beer; I’ll do my best, though.