Pabst Blue Ribbon - Pabst Brewing Company

    Just like ironic facial hair, fixed-gear bikes, and bands that don't even exist yet, Pabst Blue Ribbon has been a mainstay of hipsters for years. Now that I live in Chicago's most hipster neighborhood, it was only a matter of time before this review happened. I debated not even reviewing the beer, seeing as it's so popular nowadays..

    PBR is brewed by the Pabst Brewing Company, located in Los Angeles, California. The beer is an Adjunct Lager, using large amounts of corn in the brewing process rather than all barley.

    The beer pours a golden straw color with a thin foam capping it. This brew is super-clear with lots of bubbles rushing to the top of the cup. A thin film of bubbles on top of the beer stays around for a surprisingly long time for a macro brew. These bubbles clearly don't realize foam isn't cool anymore.

    PBR's aroma is very faint, but light malts and sour corn make up what odors can be smelled. To it's credit, the beer actually smells more like beer than other macros which tend to just smell like soda water.

Hipsters only drink warm beer, they grab it before it's cool.

    The Adjunct Lager is medium-light bodied with a medium level of carbonation. There is a bit of a wateriness to the beer, but it is also strangely syrupy. Even more confusing, the beer finishes extremely dry, just like the hipster sense of humor. There is an alcohol content of 4.74% ABV in the brew.

     Pabst Blue Ribbon's flavor has plenty of sweet grain flavor. I'm surprised the beer finishes so dry with how sweet the flavor starts. There really isn't any hops flavor worth mentioning here. The large amount of corn used in the brewing of this Adjunct Lager becomes obvious with the pronounced, roasted corn flavor of the beer. In fact, this is the corniest tasting beer I've ever had. Don't hipsters know that the use of corn hasn't been "underground" since the early 2500's BC?

    Overall, PBR is actually a bit better than some American macro brews. The corn flavor can be a bit off-putting at first as it's so strong, but you eventually settle on it just like most other things in life. I suppose if you're looking for a cheap, ok-tasting beer (or if you're a hipster), PBR isn't a terrible choice. I can only hope that hipsters eventually move on to local craft beer instead of this, but until then I'll keep blaming Frank Booth from Blue Velvet for causing my neighborhood to be inundated with PBR cans...

Amulets and Ale Rating:

(I would have rated it higher if it weren't so mainstream..)

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McSorley's Irish Black Lager - Pabst Brewing Company

    McSorley's Irish Black Lager is, unsurprisingly, a Black Lager which is apparently created by the Pabst Brewing Company located in Woodridge, Illinois. I use the word "apparently" because the bottle tells me that it is made by McSorley's Brewery in Utica, New York, while everything else I can find about the beer online tells me that Pabst makes the beer. Also, another fun fact, I have no idea where this beer came from. I found it at the back of my refrigerator and I honestly don't remember ever buying it. How mysterious! (Yeah I know, I'm kind of wondering if it's safe to drink this as well. Ohwell, the bottle was sealed!)

    McSorley's pours a dark coffee color with a nice khaki head. The bubbles seem to dissipate quickly though, unlike those found in Irish Stouts.

     The Black Lager smells very sweet with chocolate and caramel roasted malts. There is also the faintest scent of dark fruits in the aroma.

    McSorley's Irish Black Lager is actually quite light bodied. The beer has a mid-high level of carbonation that comes off as kind of harsh against the thin body. I would definitely prefer the body be a bit thicker to stand up against the carbonation.

Can beer get much more Irish?

    The Lager's flavor is mostly sweet and roasty. Flavors of molasses and slight caramel hit first followed by a slight bitterness from the hops. There is actually a sourness to the beer for some reason which I find unpleasant. The beer finishes dry with an aftertaste that isn't too overbearing and fades quickly. The beer's alcohol content comes in at 5.5% ABV, a pretty standard level for beers at which no flavor nor warmth can be perceived.

    It's a little known fact that old Mr. McSorley was a fine connoisseur of literature as well as watercolors. They say that he would often sit in his pub reading and painting scenes from the book at the same time. People would marvel at his great works of art while enjoying a pint in his ale house. Yeah, I'm totally just making this up. From what I can find online, Mr. McSorley was quite a woman-hating grump.  The bottle states that it took 116 years and a court order for the McSorley Ale House to allow women inside its doors. Maybe the sourness that I taste in the beer is actually Mr. McSorley's bitterness making its way into the beer with his name on it. From now on I think I'll just call him Mr. McSourly, or Mr. McSorely.

    Overall the flavors in McSorley's Irish Black Lager are pretty spot-on for a beer of this style, if a bit milder than I would like. The sourness in the ale definitely detracts from it's desirability as a session beer. In the end, McSorley's is just another beer that suffers the "good, but nothing special" problem.

Amulets and Ale Rating: