Wednesday, November 22, 2006

ANOTHER BARELY SATISFYING BEER FROM SPEAKEASY

I’ve got a couple of pals who make anything from the SPEAKEASY BREWING corporation their default beers. Living in San Francisco as I do, where the brewery is located, it’s a snap to find their wares around town – a great many corner liquor stores stock PROHIBITION ALE or BIG DADDY IPA as their default micros, along with the de riguer Sierra Nevada, Anchor Steam and Sam Adams (sometimes Anderson Valley’s BOONT AMBER as well – only one of the greatest beers in the history of recorded civilization). I really don’t quite get the Speakeasy thing. I ordered up another PROHIBITION ALE at a local tavern last night and had that “middling” feeling I get every time I try something of theirs. This amber ale is good enough to keep the palate moist & the brain from doing a lot of whirring during its intake, but this blandness is also its curse, in that the yeasty overtones of the beer are about the only thing that keeps it in any way different from its peers. What’s more, there’s sort of an acrid aftertaste that I also found when I sampled their DOUBLE DADDY IPA, and I don’t like an acrid aftertaste. Do you? I’d really like to see a San Francisco brewery bust out the way some of our friends in the counties to the north of us have, but I don’t think it’s going to be these guys. 6/10.

4 comments:

mumbly said...

Must say I have a different take on Speakeasy. I'm not a huge fan of the Big Daddy (too thin a body to hold up to the hops), but love the Satchmo Stout and think the Prohibition is quite good. Also, if you have the chance, try Double Daddy on Cask at the Front Porch on 29th near San Jose.

--Tim

Anonymous said...

I think the Speakeasy Prohibition is the best Amber I've ever had.

Ben said...

I've tried a couple Speekeasy beers from the bottles I can get up in Portland and found them very unimpressive. Doesn’t sound like they are any better fresh from the tap. To bad.

Bryan Kolesar said...

Not generally a huge fan of most of their stuff, but last week had a bottle of the Double Daddy here in the Philly area, and yowsa...quite a delicious tasty treat. Will keep my eye on anything else that they might have coming down the line.