This fine Sunday W.L. Wittstruck brings us a review of a beer I’ve never seen or heard of before. Interesting little beer with the giant red ABV tag and all. Seems a little tacky to me, screaming “HEY ALCHY…COME BUY ME AND GET TRASHED!”. That said, the bottle makes up for it with a bad-ass picture of a werewolf. If you didn’t catch Mr. Wittstruck’s review of Lagunitas Maximus or Elysian The Immortal IPA, I recommend you take a peek. I’ll stop babbling now. Let’s do this. *hooooooowwwwwlllll*
While on a recent beer run to Gravity Beer Market, our local beer specialty shop, I found myself face to face with the Werewolf. With a red tag boasting 8.2% alcohol by volume, I was intrigued and decided to stray from my usual IPA fixation and give it a try. I was very curious to see how the higher than normal alcohol content would impact the taste and drinkability. In past brewing experiences as a home brewer, I’d occasionally had a batch turn out with a much higher alcohol content than planned and it wasn’t always for the better.
I opened the bottle and was immediately greeted with a very sweet, malty aroma. After giving it a second to breath, I poured it into my glass and watched as a moderate head of 1-2 fingers formed on top of the amber colored body. While there was a decent amount of carbonation it was definitely not a “sparkly beer.”
The first sip was interestingly sweet with a strong hint of alcohol. The sweetness was familiar, but not quite recognizable. For such a strong brew it was actually pretty smooth although it was obvious from the first taste this would be a sipping beer. There was a slightly fruity sweetness to it, but I wasn’t able to identify it as much as I tried.
Each subsequent sip was as enjoyable as the previous and eventually a sweet hop flavor with a hint of soapiness began to emerge. Lightly carbonated, the Werewolf didn’t leave much brewer’s lace as I worked my way through the glass, but it was an interesting flavor to say the least. The strong alcohol presence eventually crept up on me as I neared the end of the glass – again reminding me this was a sipper.
While it didn’t quite have me howling at the moon, it’s something I wouldn’t mind having on occasion.
Homebrew Academy
That giant tag is hilarious I have never seen anything like it. Do you live near a fraternity house or something? lol. Looking forward to tomorrow!
BreworFerment:
Just as a heads-up, I stayed home sick today. Dunno what tomorrow will bring. I will keep you updated. If my nose is NOT stuffed, we could still do the review as scheduled.
-Lost
I tried this brew recently. I was impressed. I liked the Bottle size .5 liter. I was intrigued that it was made in Lithuania, land of my ancestors.
I enjoyed the mouth feel and the lightly sweet flavor. I think there was also a somewhat mysterious quality that I couldn't identify.
I will definetly try it again.