The Full Bar - all my pages

Monday, August 25, 2008

Cricket Hill Jersey Summer Breakfast Ale

"Breakfast ale" makes some people think of oatmeal stout, chocolate beers, fruit beers. I did a wheat beer brunch at the Grey Lodge for Philly Beer Week (and we’re doing it again in March 2009; mark your calendars), and that’s what we’ve got here…I think.

I know nothing at all about Cricket Hill Jersey Summer Breakfast Ale except that it’s from Cricket Hill, it’s orangey in color and a little cloudy, and…it tastes kind of like a witbier, only a little bit heavier and more bitter. Like all the Cricket Hill beers I’ve had, it’s more in the session beer range, quaffable, and definitely not mainstream lager. Don’t know how much longer this will be around, but if you like witbier – Allagash, Celis, Hoegaarden, Blue Moon – you ought to try this to see if it hits you in your favored range on that spectrum. Me, it’s not making it. Kind of okay, but not okay enough.

1 comment:

JessKidden said...

I posted my similar observations about this beer over on BeerAdvocate when I first saw it in a store. "Breakfast" to me implied the possibility of a coffee flavored dark ale. "Summer" in a beer label can often mean flavored with spices or citrus. Now, I'm not a "style Nazi" and love it when brewers "step outside the box" or put a twist on a traditional style (or, in this case, "modern styles") but just let me know about it before I buy it.

In the case of CHJSBA, I *didn't* buy it the first time I saw it. Sealed in a generic "seasonal beer" closed 12 pack case, with only the label (which gave no hint as to the beer's style or ingredients) pasted on it to ID it, I had no idea WHAT I was buying. I just don't understand what goes on in some brewers' heads sometimes when it comes to "marketing".