Free Beer Friday: MGD Light and Samuel Adams

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Filed under: Brews, Etc. , Brews, Etc.

After surviving the trauma that was last week's Thunderbird tasting (the bottle is still in my office, half full), we decided to take a break from the candy–colored flasks that are found in what I like to refer to as "the aisle of shame" section of the liquor store. We decided to sample three beers that had been recently sent to my office: Miller Genuine Draft, Sam Adams Blackberry Witbier, and Sam Adams Coffee Stout.

We started with the Samuel Adams beers. These two brews aren't currently available in stores, City Pages staff were invited to be part of a taste test between the two unusual varieties. The company is currently tabulating votes from food critics around the country, and the winner between the two flavors will be added to the Samuel Adams Brewmaster's Collection in January 2009.

The first beer we sampled was the Blackberry Witbier, a wheat beer brewed with coriander, orange peel, and blackberries.

Ben Palosaari: It's not horrible. It tastes like fake blackberry.

Ward Rubrecht: It almost smells like a wine. A really shitty wine.

Nate Patrin: I can't really pinpoint the blueberry–ness of it.

BP: That's because it's blackberry.

NP: See, there's the problem.

Mike Kooiman: I think the people that are into this sort of stuff (berry beer) would really like this.

Jessica Armbrutster: Hmmm. It's got a blackberry nose and a very yeasty aftertaste. Wheat beers sometimes have a heavy Wonderbread taste. This would be one of those beers.

Bradley Campbell: It tastes like beer consumed from a dirty glass where blackberry lip gloss was leftover on the rim.

NP: Sam Adams: The Backwash Line.

Next we cracked open the Coffee Stout, which gets its flavor from Rwandan coffee beans.

BP: Not bad, but the smell is terrible.

WR: The smell is bad, but the taste is great. And I don't normally like coffee.

JA: This tastes like good beer with black coffee.

Matt Snyders: This is ideal for the type of person that drinks beer and coffee while writing.

JA: Not that you have ever done that.

(there's a pause while we finish our sample)

NP: Do you need a rag?

BP: Why?

NP: 'Cause you're a snot.

JA: You guys should have to have a dance off.

(Extremely lame dance moves ensue, the room clears out somewhat)

Finally, we finished things with Miller Genuine Draft Light, a light beer that boasts 64 calories and2.4 carbs.

JA: This tastes like seltzer water. Or it taste like beer that had ice in it, but the ice melted. Regardless of how it tastes, the drunkorexics are really going to love this. 64 calories is crazy–low.

BC: It's a beer for ballerinas.

BP: I think this would be a good beer to give to a child, if you want to give a child a beer.

NP: This is the least remarkable beer I have ever had.

MS: And that, makes it remarkable.