Friday, July 20, 2007
News Taste Test Showdown: He'Brew Origin Pomegranate Ale
Posted by Jim Ridley on Fri, Jul 20, 2007 at 2:20 PM
Product: He'Brew Origin Pomegranate Ale
Available: Wild Oats, Village Market, Midtown Beverages and wherever fine Jewish beers are sold (full list here)
Brewed by the Schmaltz Brewing Company of San Francisco and New York, this libation arrived yesterday in a plain cardboard box, packed in bubble wrap (thanks!) and resting at a temperature somewhere between magma and the inside of T-Rac's costume head in mid-August. The idea here is to combine the great taste of pomegranates—that trendy fruit whose health properties presumably offset a flavor like homegrown Robitussin—with the sense-dulling snore-in-the-recliner wonders of beer.
Our esteemed tasters—a.k.a. underpaid lushes who'd drink shoe polish if we were handing it out free—gathered at the Scene editorial lounge (a.k.a. the filing cabinet) for a taste test. The results? After the jump.
1. Opening of the cap
PJ: Smells good.
CF: Smells like...beer.
PJ: Nice description, food critic.
CF: Well, there are notes of coffee and chocolate.
2. Sampling
JR: (gags, makes sour persimmon face)
PJ: Very hoppy. Not too bubbly.
IB: The pomegranate gets lost. Nice color, though.
SH: There are citrussy notes. You get the hops right away, really sharp, then it mellows out.
RW: I like the soft finish.
JS: Yeah, but does it taste "Jewy?" You know, does it taste funny in a self-deprecating way?
JP: It's a little neurotic, sure.
3. The verdict
BM: It has a really sour, bitter aftertaste. It's what you'd drink listening to Rammstein.
TM: Grody-core.
PJ: I would drink a pint, say "not bad," and probably not order it again.
JR: (still making sour persimmon face)
JH: Not bad. It's got a bite. But to me, all beer tastes like carbonated pee.
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