Swank and Hoppy Vibes: Bathtub Bier by Young Blood Beer Co.

Whenever I'm at the store and see cans of Young Blood Beer Co. beer, I can't help but think of Jack and Jim Youngblood, the unrelated defensive end and linebacker, respectively, who played for the Rams in the 1970s. I saw their football cards just too many times as a kid not to have that surname etched into my memories. It is also the case that, when I see cans of Young Blood Beer Co. beer, I tend to see lots of fruited sours and IPAs and lactose and guava – every trendy style and additive is represented. These are beers that I have no interest in drinking, alas. However, I recently came across the brew formerly known as Shower Bier, a Munich Helles they have concocted for people like me. Bathtub Bier is the new name because the former one was already taken by some brewery out east that apparently had a litigious streak and so the name was changed to another bathroom fixture. (I think a brown ale called "Bidet Bier" should be next.)

I was hesitant to try this beer, to be honest. If a brewery cranks out mostly IPAs and fruited sours, I tend to have little faith in their ability to brew lagers. Earlier this year I remarked to a friend who works in the brewing industry that I’d had a Spaten Hell for the first time in ages and that it was remarkably tasty. He replied to the effect of, "Well, no shit. They’ve been brewing it for 100+ years. They’ve got the process down, they’ve got a house yeast strain they know inside and out, and so on. It had better be good." Which is why I avoid the lagers from haze factories that let a beer mature in cold temperatures only slightly more frequently than the appearance of Halley’s Comet. I just have to question if they know what they’re doing with so little practice apparent to me.

Last year, for instance, I noticed a rye lager of some kind on the shelves from Drekker Brewing. All I’d ever seen by them up to that point were milkshake this and slushie that. I love rye lagers but they’re as scarce as hen’s teeth. In the end, though, I passed on this rare brew. I was not inclined to spend $16 on a 4-pack by a brewery that had, as far as I could tell, never brewed a lager in its life. Hell, it’d probably have traces of passion fruit in it, I reasoned. Another factor was, quite frankly, that I did not want to give my money to them. They’re a foreign brewery (out of Fargo, North Dakota) that helps clog the shelves at my local bottle shop with beer I consider to be a novelty, at best. I simply do not want to be party to the Hazy Milkshake Slushie Industrial Complex. (And while I generally have good will towards men and women and the rest of humanity, there is surely a special place in Hades for people who make exploding cans of fruit beer and blame the customer.)

Young Blood got a pass because A) they’re local and B) I was able to buy a single can instead of investing in a 4-pack. In addition, I’d heard generally good things about them and there are exceptions to every rule, after all.

When I read the label, my heart sank. Well, just a tiny bit because beer labels really shouldn’t be a source of distress. It read, in part, "…with a slightly bready malt background." Huh? I thought the whole point of a Munich style Helles Lager was that the bready malt part was in the foreground. Imagine reading the label of a hazy/juicy/NE IPA that read, "…with faint notes of guava, passion fruit, and mango in the background." Odd.

Bathub Bier looks really nice. It is a brilliant light yellow (unlike my photograph) and my glass had a big, lovely, white head on it. The bier was a tad hazy (chill haze?) but I could still see bubbles inside running ever upwards. I was surprised at how unsmelly it was. Maybe it wasn't very fresh – there was no date on the can. (It did, however, have "DANK AND DRIPPY VIBES" printed on the bottom.) I couldn't smell anything when the glass was waved in close proximity to my nose and I had to stick it up close. When I did, I caught a nice bready aroma accompanied by some grassy hops scents and a slight citrus something. Either this beer was lacking in the aroma department or my nose was having on off day.

Things got better on the tongue as I found a nice, light body and that the label did not lie. It had a delicate breadiness to it with more herbal and spicy hop flavors on top giving a moderate bitterness. It was clean and crisp and had a nice firm fizz to it which really hit the spot one summer day. The finish was on the dry side with the hops getting spicier and the fizz ably assisting.

It seems weird to me that a Helles would have so little malt flavor. This tasted much more like a German pils with its malty background and largely Noble hop flavors more to the fore. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this bier but calling it a Helles just isn't right in my book.

Junk food pairing: Pair Bathtub Bier with a bag of Vegan Rob's Brussels Sprouts Puffs. The sorghum will make up for the lack of malt and the delicate green vegetable flavor complements the bier's hoppiness well.