Just when I thought the only pickle beer I had left to try (that I could find in Madison, that is) was Destihl's, I stumble upon this brew.
While, perhaps not surprisingly, I found this beer down in exurban Chicago, it is a little bit of the Lone Star State that made its way up north. The brewer, Martin House Brewing, and the, um, flavoring conspirator, BestMaid, are both denizens of Ft. Worth. To the best of my knowledge, neither company distributes their products here in Wisconsin but I may be wrong. It's true, I haven't gone around town to survey the pickle scene so you might find BestMaid at WalMart or some other national chain. When I need my fix, I head over to the Woodman's pickle/horseradish/sauerkraut cooler where I generally grab a jar of Claussen's spears.
(If any Madison area folks know of a local fermentorium that makes a good, crunchy pickle, please let me know.)
In an earlier pickle beer review, I prognosticated that some brewer somewhere would take the humble style and twist and contort it into something beyond a light beer with brine or pickle flavoring added. It seems that Martin House is exactly the brewer I feared. Their website features a photograph of a pickle beer variety pack with four variations of the beer that have been "fruited" with orange, blackberry, lemonade, and strawberry, respectively. Given that the plain stuff, which I bought, is alloyed with natural flavoring, I suspect none of these beers have been within a mile of any real fruit.
A previous variety pack included four different flavors: spicy pickle, bread-n-butters, Bloody Mary, and chamoy drip. I had to investigate this last one and found that chamoy sauce is a Mexican condiment made from dried fruits and chili powder giving a sweet-salty zip. While the sauce sounds very tasty, I would hesitate to put that beer to my lips and am still wondering why it's "drip" instead of "dip" or "sauce". Bonus points, however, for making a beer with regional character. Further research into Martin House's brewing activities turned up watermelon, grape punch, and tequila barrel aged spicy pickle beer varieties. Those folks down in Ft. Worth are keen to run this style into the ground. Surely a beef flavored version is forthcoming for the true Texas experience.
Luckily I am dealing with the plain Jane stuff. It seems to be a kettle-soured brew with natural flavoring added.
Sorry about the photo. I somehow did not keep the one that was actually in focus.
My pour produced a big, loose white head that was quite volatile - like soda. Bubbles carelessly rushed upwards and popped in a fizzy frenzy. The liquid was a brilliant yellow with a slight haze to it. There was a fair number of bubbles inside. My nose caught sour dill pickle brine and a nebulous sweetness that I couldn't identify.
The first sip revealed a light body with a large payload of sour pickle flavor. There was also a moderate saline taste and a rather prominent sweetness which was so, I believe, because there wasn't much fizz. The finish found the sour pickle taste lingering until the next sip.
My notes say "not bad". The brewer used a rather heavy hand when applying those natural flavors because the pickle flavors are quite potent. Isn't everything bigger in Texas? When I inhaled while taking a sip, I got this weird rubber band taste. Odd. This quirk aside, the natural flavors here weren't horrible. It's like they didn't take as if they were administered with an eye dropper yet they also didn't have a sharp, brisk taste like real brine. Nor was there any hint of the floral along with the green taste of dill.
All in all, not bad.
Junk food pairing: Pair your BestMaid Sour Pickle Beer with either BBQ flavored potato chips or their rare cousin, a beef flavored chip.
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