Archive for the 'Thomas Creek' category
kind beers Pale Ale
This is a beer that recently appeared on shelves here in NC. Contrary to what you may think when you see the bottle (which, btw, is very tastefully decorated), this is actually brewed by Thomas Creek. It seems that Thomas Creek got wise and improved their marketing a bit. I’ve never been a fan of their bottle art in the past, but I love the colors and simplicity of this bottle. Also, this appears to be a beer that is attempting to take advantage of the eco-friendly thrust of the past months. While I can see no indication of exactly HOW they may be ‘earth friendly’, the bottle sure has an ‘earthy’ tone to it. But, regardless of any gimmicks, I can assure you that they’ve put together an excellent pale ale here.
This ale pours a deep golden color with a slight white head. In the nose, this is heavily hopped with some notes of grapefruit. In the mouth, this beer is big and flavorful. Again, there is a lot of big floral hop with hints of grapefruit citrus. In any other situation, you might mistake this for an IPA. However, the decent level of malt backbone sets this apart, making for a very hoppy but well-balanced brew. In addition to all these flavors, there is a note of evergreen pine flavoring to this – it’s subtle but evident, and gives this an interesting note. All through the mouth, these flavors co-mingle, and it goes down the throat leaving just a hop aftertaste that is subtle and sweet. Altogether, this is great beer. It is a bit overpriced when compared to other comparable pale ales. But, it is good, and it is hefty at 7.3% abv. So, I’ll leave it up to you. It’s a premium price for a beer that is also premium, but only slightly moreso than other less-expensive beers. It’ll be great for the uppity hippy hopheads out there…
Thomas Creek Stillwater Vanilla Cream Ale
Well, this is a new one for me. As best I can recall, this is the first beer I’ve had from the Thomas Creek brewery in Greenville, South Carolina. This beer pours a light-straw color, with little or no head. There is a light smell to it, but it does not smell overly vanilla. The problem that I have typically seen with flavored beers (blueberry, vanilla, etc) is that the “flavoring” is oftentimes too present. It overpowers the beer and while it might taste ok, the sweetness often trumps any good qualities of the beer itself. The Vanilla Cream Ale does not fall prey to this trap. While it is sweet, it is not overly sweet. In fact, the vanilla is not really present in the beer until the last swallow. Even then, it is very subtle and kind of like a tootsie pop.
The mouthfeel is very thin – again, it is not an overly aggressive beer so it is not going to blow you out of the water. This is a very clean beer – the hops are not overly present but it has a good flavoring and taste. There is a slight creaminess to it and it is reminiscent of a cream soda. While I probably wouldn’t buy a six-pack of it, it would serve as a good dessert beer for a dinner party. In fact, it would probably go remarkably well with some chocolate chip cookies or any other sweet treat.
