Pages

Friday, November 29, 2013

190. Olde Hickory Bee Student Ale


I have more bombers than I have places to put them!  The racks to hold my various wine and beers are overflowing.  That said, I needed to reduce my inventory, starting with some beers I'd have no problem consuming sooner rather than later.  In this case, I was pining for a decent ale, nothing too complex, and thought that this would be the one to do the trick.  It says it is an ale brewed with honey; Beer Advocate has it labeled as a rye beer.  This is a first for me, outside of the Rye IPAs.

I don't know what was up with this one.  It was poured into a snifter glass and I got four fingers of frothy, off-white head that had long retention and left rings and a whole bunch of splotches on the side of the glass.  I don't know what happened with this one, but it reminded me of a shook up soda can.  I just know I didn't shake it up, it just seemed to be active from the get go.  When the head settled, I realized that I had a light copper, orange sunset colored brew that was pretty clear, for the most part.  I could detect light aromas of honey to go with some pine, grapefruit, and rye bread.

The taste was a little more hop forward than I had anticipated.  The grapefruit and pine flavors come to the forefront.  There's a touch of sweetness towards the end from the honey, along with some spicy, peppery notes that come from the rye.  There's a bitter finish that lingers for just a little bit.  Medium bodied with moderate carbonation, there's a certain type of refreshment that it brings.  

Overall, it's a decent beer, but it didn't strike me as anything impressive.  With the hop forward punch, I could almost see this as some sort of rye pale ale.  I probably won't find this around to give it another try, but I look forward to trying other beers to see how other styles stack up.  If you've tried this beer and you don't like what I have to say about it, or if you totally agree with me, just let me know!

Grade: C-
Price Paid: $3.99 (22 oz bomber) 

No comments:

Post a Comment