It’s an early afternoon right after a Sunday lunch, and I’ve got the house to myself.  The air is full of early fall cricket and grasshopper song, and the gentle breeze is nice and warm.  I’m waiting for my laundry to finish drying, and am craving some jazz on the radio.

I pop the top of this "Deep Cover" Brown Ale from Left Hand Brewing.  It’s a good name.  Cool label.  Hats off to their marketing staff.

It smells a bit yeasty.  My nose picks up some sweet roast barley.  Not just a little sweet, either — it smells candy sweet.

The first sip is unimpressive, but still good.  It doesn’t blow my socks off but it does manage to send a signal directly to the pleasure center of my brain.

Still, this strikes me as a run of the mill brown ale.  It’s like they didn’t try very hard.  The barley malts are on the rough edge, tingling the tongue without any smoothness.  Also, it strikes me that the balance of the hops is off.  So while it’s good, it doesn’t inspire me to crave more.  Instead, it inspires me to crave something better.

To sum up:  Good but not quite groovy.

And with that, the drier is buzzing.  Time to go pull out the laundry!

No Comments »

"From the glass lined tanks of Old Latrobe," reads the can’s inscription, "we tender this premium beer for your enjoyment, as a tribute to your good taste."

Call me jaded, but this sounds like a marketing department trying to buffalo small minds into thinking that, not only is this beer something special, but they’d be stupid not to agree.  Kind of like peer pressure in written form.  On a can.

Makes sense.  Peer pressure is what made most of us into beer drinkers at one time or another.  But to me this raises a red flag and makes me think of that idiotic spiel you find on Budweiser cans.

I pop it open and take a sniff.  Yeasty with faint hoppy highlights.

First sip:  Light, hoppy, and very watery.

The overall taste is not that bad.  While the flavor is weak, what there is of it is good.  It’s watery malt with subtle hoppy overtones, delivered in an airy dilution of bubbles.

Conclusion:  it doesn’t completely suck, but its far removed from groovy.  Groovy isn’t even on the horizon.

No Comments »

This promising looking beer hails from New Ulm, Minnesota. I like the look of the bottle, and the brew inside is a gorgeous light mahogany. I pop the top with a happy sense of anticipation.

Raising it up, I take a sniff. There’s a weak scent of barley, and the ghost of hops. Not much else. I take it as a bad omen, but shrug it off — I’ve been pleasantly fooled before.

Raising it to my lips, I take that first sip. I am rewarded with a very weak taste. Watery. Slightly bitter.

No body.

Let’s not waste any more time on this one. It’s not repulsive but there is really nothing there. The expression that comes firmly to mind is, “Bleh.”

This beer is not groovy. Not in the least.

No Comments »

I have before me a bottle of Barons “Black Wattle Seed Superior” Wattle Seed Ale imported from — where else? — Australia.

I know nothing about wattle seeds save this little bit from a Monty Python sketch:

This is a wattle
The emblem of our land
You can stick it in a bottle
You can hold it in your hand

Apparently Aussie’s think it belongs in beer. We’ll see…

I pop the top and immediately note a distinctive bouquet.  It makes my nose itch, and smells less like beer and more like bread baked with weeds in it.

The first sip is delicious.  It’s a very complex flavor riding atop a solid foundation of toasted malt.  Maple notes mingle with molasses and biscuit.  The hops remain subdued until halfway through the bottle, where they suddenly emerge tasting a bit green.  Still, the hops never overpower the toasted malt, and I find this a pleasurable drinking experience even down to the very last drop in the bottle.

Would I drink it again?  Yes.

Would I want to drink one after another?  No.

It’s very good but it doesn’t leave me craving more.  And while I have no problem proclaiming it to be a groovy brew, I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s a contender for the Holy Beer.

No Comments »

I’m doing the happy dance because I’ve finally found a new source of imported and craft beer.

New reviews coming soon!

– posted via WordPress for iPhone

No Comments »

Announcing a new GroovyMojo Media feature!

I’ve been saying for over a year now that I should open up a third section of GroovyBrew.com for tea reviews, and so this weekend I went ahead and did it. GroovyBrew Tea is live.

All you tea lovers out there, check it out!

No Comments »