Beer and Wine Review: Holy Ail and Blackberry Witbier
Wednesday, March 4, 2009 at 8:41PM 
Monty Python's Holy Grail: ($10.99 per 6-pack)
Derick- This beer is not worth $11, but it is worth a try. The beer is thick on a clean pallet, although you won't notice after the first swallow. It has a lot of carbonation and a light flavor of spice. What kind of spice? I'm not totally sure but I'm betting on ginger or African Swallow. Not too bitter and with a fluffy kind of foam (if you pour it right.) In the end, I did enjoy the beer and would recommend it to a light drinker or someone looking for a beer at a feast, not a session drinker.
Tony- This was a beer that I was completely drawn in by the packaging. Being that this is Nerdfeast and Monty Python is a staple of the nerd community, it was a must buy. "But TONY," you may ask, "how does it TASTE?!" Well, it doesn't at first. Out of a pint glass much of the flavor is lost, it's subtle almost to non-existence. Though it was my love of the Pythons that brought me back to try it again. In the bottle, the first thing I noticed was a nice wood flavor (or maybe it was burnt witch.) It was slightly smokey and really helped bolster the beer...or maybe it was just the Taco Bell. I enjoyed this, doubly so because of what it represents to me: pure hilarity.
Sam Adams: Blackberry Witbier ($8 per 6-pack)
Derick - This beer has a full body of wheat and light hoops. Any bitter beer taste is enveloped by the sour blackberry. The kicker is that the sourness relishes in your mouth and vanishes shortly after swallowing. This beer should be drank with a meal or for a specific occasion as its thick and filling. The blackberry flavor itself isn't much like the fruit, but like watermelon flavoring it's still delicious even though it isn't accurate.
Tony - Another decent beer, I'm going to have to stop listening to Derick! It's a very light feeling beer in the mouth, not so much hoppy as it is sour. The fruit flavor is there, but if I wasn't told that it was blackberry I would never have guessed it. Compared to the Leinenkugel, this stuff was not a punch in the mouth, it was more like...the feeble whimpering of sad, sad puppies.
Leinenkugel: Sunset Wheat ($8 per 6-pack)
Tony - Beer for people who don't particularly like beer. Leinenkugel was a surprise when I first tried it. Described to me as the fruit loops of beer, I can see where that comes from. Most beer and wine you here described as "A hint of berry" or "chocolate overtones" this beer does not hint at anything. It pops up and yells "SURPRISE SEX" and hits you in the face with fists made of blueberry. It's decent, but not my favorite beer by far.
Wine: Charles Shaw 2006: Shiraz ($3.50 per bottle)
Derick - One of the most gawd-awful scents on a wine I've ever encountered, this one pleasantly surprises in taste. It's not as heavy in flavor as a better Shiraz but it surpasses any comparably priced bottle of wine at its price, and some much higher. When the liquid first hits your tongue its relatively sweet and smooth. As you swallow it turns to bitter, sour, but ultimately good fruit aftertaste, not unlike candy. I was pleased enough to buy a 12 pack for when I don't want to spend $10 just to get drunk.
Tony - This is the worst. There is a reason you do not pay $3.50 a bottle for wine and this is a prime example. Smelling this foul concoction is akin to sticking your nose is a rotting pile of fruit, and not in the alcohol-y kind of rotting, I mean killer flies from outer space kinda rotting. It's true that the flavor is much better than the smell, but seeing as how so much of human taste is derived retro-nasal, this Lambrusco-esque wine is ruined by the taste of rotting grapes.
Reader Comments (1)
I would pay at least once to try Monty Python's Holy
Grail. Sounds fun, but it would have to be a pretty damn good beer to be worth $11 a 6-pack, and have me buy it more than once or twice.