Sunday, July 20, 2008

Saturday(ish) Beer Review: Kennebunkport Ales

Last week, The Common Man reviewed beer some Midwest brews, and came away less than totally pleased. This week, The Common Man will venture far to the great Northeast in search of brews yet undiscovered. Namely, The Common Man will seek out the beers of that great unexplored wilderness and colony of Massachusetts, Maine.

It is in this vein that, while shopping at Trader Joe's this week, The Common Man happened across Kennebunkport Brewing Company's Wheat Ale and Blueberry Wheat Ale. Since it's hot as Satan's SUV in the mall parking lot these days around here, The Common Man thought a couple of lighter beers would hit the spot. As it turns out, he was largely right.


Kennebunkport Brewing Company operates out of Portland, ME and appears to be affiliated with Federal Jack's, a brew pub in Kennebunk who also makes Shipyard and Old Thumper (two Maine standards). The company's website has no real information about the KBC brand of beers it brews, so The Common Man will just skip to the results.

The KBC Wheat Ale presents as a dark gold color, but has a light and crisp taste that is clean and refreshing. It finishes with a hint of hops, to give it a small bitterness on the back end. It is, most assuredly, a pretty good beer, especially on a hot day. That said, it was also largely forgettable. So while a good experience, it isn't necessarily a distinct one.

The Blueberry Wheat Ale has a lot more character to it. Its blueberries dominate the flavor of the beer, but not with the obnoxiousness of the Berryweiss. It still, if you look hard enough, tastes like beer underneath the blueberry. As an added bonus, between the berries and the wheat, it's basically like drinking a blueberry muffin. While that may throw off some drinkers, it makes this particular beer memorable and, since The Common Man loves him some blueberry muffins, endearing. This is another beer to beat the heat, one that your friends will remember if you bring a sixer of it to their next party.

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