S.O.S. (Save Our Shore)

What's better than drinking beer with proceeds going to a good cause?  Not much.

S.O.S.  or Save Our Shore according to the bottle "is a message in a bottle...a distress signal for the troubled waters of our Gulf Coast. For every bottle sold Abita will donate 75¢ to the rescue and restoration of the environment, industry and individuals fighting to survive this disastrous oil spill."

I picked this beer up solely because of what it said on the bottle, and it was relatively cheap.   So even if I didn't like it, not a waste of money any way you look at it.  ABV seems, in my opinion, rather high for the classification they give this brew, which is a Weizen Pils.  Although experts seem to put it in the German Pilsener style, which is what I will rate it as.

A:  First of all, love the look of the bottle, and that is actually something I do take into consideration when I'm rating the appearance.  I take into account the overall presentation of a beer.  Cap, bottle, and actual look of the beer are all things I look at.
Clear bright goldenrod/honey hue.  1 to 2 finger thick fluffly head which disipated at a moderate speed.   The head leaves a nice blanket on top of the beer and also leaves sticky foamy lacing on the glass that dries into place.  Looks like a great beer.

S:   Fresh cut grass scent is present up front which is followed by a grainy malt sweetness.  On the finish of the scent is what seems to be some lemon citrus combined with spicy hops.  Rather simple scent, but I wasn't expecting anything complex.   Pretty average straightforward.  

T:  Piney and grassy sweetness is the initial taste found.   It's followed up with some grainy malt notes.   I was actually surprised that pine was going to be the dominating taste in this beer.   It's not bad, just unexpected for me.  Also the finish is slight lemon zest and herbal hops.  The front of the taste is rather unbalanced, but by the finish it's smooth.

M: Medium leveled carbonation with light to medium body, and a crisp, mouth-watering finish.

D:  The drinkability is quite good, and the relatively high  especially with a 7% ABVthat fails to show itsel.   It's always good when the brewer masks the alcohol as excellent as Abita has done with this one.

Grade:  One thumb up.  Not a wower, but a solid beer.

Here's another picture of the bottle, which I really can't say enough about.

Purple Haze

Any beer with a reference to Jimmy Hendrix is a winner in my book. I'm going to turn on Hendrix as I'm writing this review just for an added blast of nerdiness. This is actually a beer I had bought right before I left Buffalo and I didn't get an opportunity to taste and review it before I had to leave for Orlando. I was disappointed and hadn't seen it down here, so naturally when I saw it on tap at the Food & Wine festival I felt the need to get it. Purple Haze is had a relatively low ABV, barely over 4%. Officially it's listed as 4.2%. Just based on that information, it should be thought of as a highly probably session brew.




A - Cloudy.. no wait HAZY (ha..ha..) yellow color. Small head but with tons of lacing.

S - This beer is listed as a raspberry wheat beer, so huge shocker here that it reeks of raspberries. With first smell, it's raspberries. On second smell, it's raspberries. Need I continue? There's a bit of malt and wheat somewhere hidden in between the raspberry sandwich.

T - Based on the smell I was thinking it would be an overwhelming raspberry taste similar to how Sam Adams Cherry Wheat is when it comes to the cherry taste. Surprisingly, the front of the beer is sweet and malty. But.. shortly after that it gives way to a raspberry taste that absolutely dominates your palate. It's a pleasant raspberry taste though that fulls up your mouth and lingers on your tongue in the aftertaste.

M - Light bodied with medium to high carbonation. Despite the raspberry aftertaste, it's actually a smooth finish.

D - It's a very drinkable beer. If my girlfriend who hates beer thought that, "it's not bad" that should tell you a thing or two. It goes down very easy and it's definitely a beer I would like to have, and enjoy again.

Grade - Two thumbs up. I could kick myself in the ass for not having this beer before I left Buffalo. I can't wait to have it again.