In the interest of shedding a few pounds, I told myself that I wasn’t going to drink beer at all this week (scary, I know). The bourbon I had the other night doesn’t count. But, when Liz texted me to tell me she had a special delivery for me tonight, I figured, for the interest of LouisvilleBeer.com and it’s fair readers, I’d take a hit. Country Western Vol. II, thanks for blowing my caloric intake this week. Let’s see if it was worth it:
I picked up the beers from Liz and they hadn’t been refrigerated; Luckily this is a canned beer, so I can use Alton Brown’s Beer Chilling Trick (thanks, thermodynamics!). 2 minutes later…
I popped the top of the beautifully designed can, put on my Country Western shirt from last year’s release (for the comedic photograph below — Thanks Betsy!), turned on some Johnny Cash and poured the beer into my Newcastle Brown Ale Geordie Schooner Glass. The beer poured with a very thin head and had a deep dark chocolate color. The head dissipated quickly, but luckily the etched star in the bottom of the glass helped keep the bubbles flowing (thanks, nucleation!).
The aroma matched exactly what I had expected: malty, brown sugar (sorghum?) and bourbon. The first sip surprised me with the sweetness of the sorghum, and the bourbon flavor was pretty pronounced. The aftertaste gave me some coffee overtones and some nuttiness…very roasty.
A little Country. A little Western. A lot cheesy.
The body was nice and full, as I hoped, but the carbonation was a bit flat. I wouldn’t knock too much off the score for this, as it’s true to style. There was a bit of lacing in the glass as I drank.
I can honestly say this can’s artwork should get some national design attention and will hopefully show up on one of those Esquire “listacles” or something. Good things come in gorgeous packages.
West Sixth and Country Boy – keep up the good work there in Lexington. Oh, and happy Lexington Craft Beer Week! This is the official beer of LexCBW. You’ll be able to find this beer on draft tomorrow at both Country Boy and West Sixth’s breweries in Lexington, and it will be available in cans at both breweries on May 15th. Not sure how distribution will be handled. I hope we get this in Louisville…Ben? Brady? Liz? What’s the word?
Now, I guess I need to skip lunch or something tomorrow?
Worth it!
