134. Modelo Especial

Alright, so I mentioned that I wasn't able to drink all of the beers that I brought on my trip, but that I had found some other beers to drink as a substitute.  This was one of them.  Yeah, I know, you'll say that I was better off drinking what I brought, since this could quantify as absolute crap, but the fact of the matter was that I have never had Modelo before, and I was a little limited with my selection.  I ended up dining at Vida Cantina.  They mainly tout their tequila bar, which has several different brands of tequila.  Their draught beers are all native to Mexico, so I could only choose from so much.  

So the beer was poured into your standard pint and served with a lime slice.  I drank two thirds of the beer without the slice, then added it in to see if I could discern a notable difference.  The beer was a nice golden yellow color with a half finger of head that dissipated quickly and left no real traces of lacing.  I could detect aromas of corn, grains, other light malts, and some of the lime from the wedge that was on the glass.  Not much there otherwise.

I didn't pick up a lot of tastes with this one.  Some corn, some malt, some light hop bitterness.  Light bodied, lightly carbonated, there wasn't any real complexity that stood out.  When I added the lime, it added a twist to it, which I did like a little more, but that doesn't say much when you need outside influences to make the beer taste better.  Still, it's better than a Bud Light, but not much better.  This is one of those beers I'll only buy again when the selection is limited.

Grade: D+

Price Paid: $3.00 (16 oz draught pint)

103. Red Stripe Jamaican Lager

Hooray beer!  I remember when I was younger, watching the Red Stripe commercials when I used to watch PTI religiously on ESPN.  Those were the good ol' days, when I was in college and I actually had time to be home at 5:30.  Class would be over by 3:30, I'd even have time to screw around and play videogames.  Nowadays, I'm lucky to be home by 5:30.  Red Stripe isn't exactly one of those beers that fits in my quest, but there come times where my selection is limited and I get one of the more prevalent brews that are out there.  In today's story, I was still at the beach for the weekend, but spent the night with some friends at the Emerald Club.  Sounds risque, but it's not.  Just your standard bar with a band playing..Heritage, which was actually pretty good.  Anyway, less about the night, more about the beer!

I got this baby in the stumpy brown bottle, no glass to pour it in.  Based on it's reputation, I figure this is the official beer of Jamaica, but I certainly could be wrong.  Couldn't get a whiff of the aroma..wasn't exactly in a place where I had the freedom or the capability to do so.  Color, lacing, anything of the sort?  Nope.  Nada.  I'm rating this baby purely on taste.

And how did it taste exactly?  Not bad at all.  You mean, you could taste something?  I could!  The lager taste is what you'd expect.  Mild taste of grains, but little to no hops or malt flavor to pull it in any one direction over the other..very neutral.  The key difference is the metallic taste that I get when drinking this.  I don't know what it is about that metallic taste, but it gets me in a good way.  It made the beer feel a little cleaner, gave it a little more character.  Light to moderate carbonation, light bodied.  A sessionable beer, definitely.  This actually isn't the first time I've had Red Stripe, but the first one came when this blog never existed, so I was glad to now add it to the list.  With little choice, I was glad to fork over the extra dough to get a Red Stripe over the likes of a Miller Lite.  Hooray beer!

Grade: C+

Price Paid: $4.00 (12 oz bottle)

13. Budweiser

Bud.  Weis.  Er.  Maybe you're old enough to remember the famous lizards that debuted during some Super Bowl in the 1990's.  Budweiser (http://www.budweiser.com) is known as the "Great American Lager".  The "King of Beers".  Maybe it was deserving of that moniker back in the day, can't say the same thing about it now.  

A Budweiser has a little more ABV than Bud Light, as expected (5.0% range).  The beer is also more full bodied and packs more flavor than its Light counterpart.  I could drink this more than a Bud Light, but that's not saying much since I'd drink almost anything over a Bud Light.  

I read an article that Budweiser doesn't use the same hops in an effort to cut costs, and that for the "Great American Lager", they're Bud Lighting it because it appeals better to their overseas counterparts.  Capitalism at its finest.  I haven't had a Budweiser in a while, but I'm also not interested in supporting InBev either (I might indirectly support them, just don't expect me to buy a Budweiser anytime soon).  Don't be cheap.  Bad, bad, bad!

Grade: C-

Price paid: Free (12 oz can)

7. Presidente Pilsner

And we take a break from our normal cider listing endeavor to take a detour and list something that's not a cider.  Presidente Pilsner! (http://www.presidente-pilsner.com) If you couldn't figure it out, Presidente is a product of Le Republica Dominica (That's the Dominican Republic for you non Spanish speakers).  I ended up getting a 6 pack of Presidente from the local Harris Teeter, prior to an exhibition futbol (soccer) match between Juventus and Chivas Guadalajara.  

First thing first..these bottlecaps do not twist off!  Nothing like trying to tailgate and realizing that you're missing a bottlecap remover.  My brother and I tried using a mash of tools to try and get the cap off.  Eventually, a nearby group felt sorry for us and loaned us theirs.  Hooray for fellow beer drinkers!

The beer itself was different..from my memory, it didn't taste very great.  I was drinking directly from the bottle, so I couldn't figure out what the head retention was like or anything like that.  I drank my half, but it wasn't the most pleasant of experiences.  Needless to say, this is one brand that I don't plan on ever drinking again...because of the gluttony of choices, not because it's terrible.  I'd still get this over a Coors Light.  Bad tasting or not, at least this beer has a little more character.

Grade: D+

Price paid: $1.33 ($8 for 6 pack)