Miasmatic Review

Honker's Ale.

Oh my heck! With the BlogCrawl and all I forgot today was Wednesday until I was driving home. It was that long four-day weekend that threw me off. As I was driving home, I stopped at a local liquor store to pick up a beer to review this week. Unfortunately since I didn’t want to review a warm beer, I was limited in my selection. Thus I ended up choosing a beer that others have said was pretty good. Tonight’s beer is Honker’s Ale by Goose Island Beer Company in Chicago, IL.

It came in the standard 12 oz brown bottle. It had a bright red label with a black oval that had the name of the brewery on it and a smaller red oval in the middle of the black one with a goose head. A red banner with white lettering had the name of the beer on it. There is a little history about the beer on the label.

When poured into an Ale pint, it has a hazy copper/amber coloring to it. Light passes through, but you have a difficult time making out shapes. The quarter inch head faded quickly to a ring on the edge of the glass, there is no lacing at all.

My first sniff of the beer was a mix of citrus and malts. The strong citrus scent almost drowns out the rest. You can smell a touch of coriander as well. The taste is much like the smell. A taste combination of malts and biscuits, but with a strong citrus finish to it. Surprisingly there was a slight alcohol tinge to it that one doesn’t expect from an ale. There is also a bitterness that lingers into the aftertaste.

This was a thin-bodied beer. It was very light with almost no coating at all. There was a decent bit of carbonation to the bottle. It’s very easy to drink.

I can’t say I was overly impressed with this beer. In fact everyone I’ve talked to totes this as the jewel in the Goose Island crown. To be honest this beer didn’t impress me much. I’m giving it 4 out of 10.