Brouwerij Palm - Palm Speciale

Please rock out to this while reading...

So Palm was a new beer on tap at my local bar, and I'm always a sucker for a beer that comes in the appropriate glass, so I went for it.

Palm is a Belgium beer and they brew in four different locations across Belgium. The website doesn't give much info on them at all, pretty secretive. I don't know what they are trying to hide, because this bad boy is pretty bland. I feel most Belgium's are more complex but I guess some sway from the norm.

The taste is a little flat, and a two finger head that fell immediately, but the visual is crystal clear amber. The smell is malty, grainy, and a little metallic, but ended with a skunky old attic smell. First taste was watery and not much flavor. Second taste was the same, and didn't change throughout.

They market this as "A great alternative to traditional pilsners and lagers for the beer drinker looking for something a little different". I say is tastes like a watered down Yuengling, with a bad smell.

All in all, I say pass this up, its only 5.4 ABV, so its not breaking any records, and $5 for a glass is a rip.

Drinkability: 4/10
Taste: 3/10
Value: 2/10
Curb Appeal: 3/10

Overall: 3/10

Red Dog Beer

A long, long time ago I was at the great Canfield Fair in Canfield, Ohio with my aunt and uncle. I may have been five or six or seven but I was probably five. I recall coming up victorious in one of the many carney games over there, yes that is right, I was single handily winning carny games at age five. WELL, anyways, for a prize I received a framed picture of the red dog off the Red Dog Beer label with "Red Dog Beer" in the background. I decided right there that when I grew up I would drink Red Dog. Then I grew up.

It took me too long to find this beer. Butala kind of sent me on an assignment back in May to review this stuff and I wanted it to be my return to the review game. I went up and down the Pennsylvania-Ohio border, to every state store with barred windows and fat dudes behind the counter, but no Red Dog to be found. I gave up until I moved back to my home away from home; Happy Valley, State College, Pennsylvania.

So, onto the beer I guess. At first sip I was definitely surprised at flavor of this beer. Instead of tasting like absolute garbage it actually didn't taste much like anything at all, but I liked it. I knew right then that I found a new party beer. "Uncommonly Smooth" is printed across the label and they weren't lyin'. This beer goes down like water for something recording at 5% on the ABV scale. The initial watery flavor is followed up with a random hoppy bitter taste. It's a bonging beer, if you're into that.

I picked up a twelve pack at the local bottle shop for 10$. You do the math, stranger. It's cheaper than DIRT. So, if you're looking for a beer to get twisted off quickly, say at a tailgate or pre-gaming, this is the brew 4 u. This ain't a classy beer, except maybe at Michigan International Raceway.

Drinkability: 10/10
Taste: 8/10
Value: 10/10
Curb Appeal: 2/10

Overall: 7.5