Anheuser-Busch - Budweiser Reserve "Copper Lager"

So we got this into the shop a few weeks back, and having never reviewed an Anheuser-Busch product before, I figured I'd give it a go. I've never seen any Budweiser product outside the normal red-colored bottles or cans, and so I was kind of surprised to see something craft-y from this megabrewery. Some of my colleagues were curious, too, and so we split this sixer three ways and each got two. This goes for $8.99, so I spent $3 on two bottles.

According to Vince Brennan at the St. Louis Business Journal, this 6.20% ABV ale is made with two-row barley and is aged on Jim Beam bourbon barrel staves. Brennan also adds that this is the third iteration in Bud's "Reserve Collection" line, which has other entries like their "Freedom Reserve", an ale made according to George Washington's recipe. Seems fun -  I'd never heard of Budweiser venturing into this realm, but makes sense given the popularity of craft beer. Budweiser has practically unlimited resources, so it figures that they might try their hand at fancier products.

 Pours a clear amber, and generates a fluffy off-white head. Lots of ts of tiny bubbles. Smells kinda like cheap whiskey, actually.

You know, actually, this is not terrible. A stunning endorsement, I know. This beer is thin, as expected, with lots of fizz. Like regular Budweiser, it's malty, slightly sweet, with flavors of stale wheat. The Jim Beam barrels definitely adds a flavor of slightly-sour, inexpensive whiskey, mostly on the aftertaste. Not getting a lot of oak, per se, but definitely tasting the whiskey. It doesn't taste artificial, but it does have a bit of sourness. But definitely drinkable.

A big issue here is the cost. It's $8.99, which is on the low end for craft beer, but on the high end for mass-produced stuff. While this was good to try once, you can get craft beer of much better quality for only a dollar or so more. Aside from any brand loyalty someone might have to either Budweiser or Jim Beam, I see no real reason to spend this amount of money on this beer. If it was $5.99 for six, I'd still say no because you can get Narragansett for that (and more of it, too). Best just to avoid this, or try it on draft somewhere if you're really curious.

Corvelia - 2016 red blend [Paso Robles, CA]

A fun part of writing this blog is trying new, random things on a whim. Today's wine I grabbed at Trader Joe's a few weeks back, mostly purchased since it was at the right price point for an "everyday" wine - $9.99. It's called "Corvelia", and is a California wine from the Paso Robles region in south-central California.

But that's kind of all the information we have. Some bottles of wine have tons of details on the label - grape blends, information about the vineyards, who made them, their family history, tasting notes, etc. Some don't. This one doesn't. All it says on the back of the bottle is "v. 2016. Corvelia red wine. A unique blend of grapes, sustainably grown and harvested from the rolling hills of Paso Robles."

It's not unusual for some wines not to provide this specific information. This could be for a variety of reasons: maybe they don't want you to know that there's 15 different grapes in there; or maybe they bought refuse grapes from a top-tier vineyard (ala Trader Joe's house blends) and that vineyard doesn't want you to know that their $100-a-bottle grapes are available for a tenth of that price. This is common practice, and there's nothing terribly shady about it.

So let's check it out. It's a blood red in the glass, and candles clear. My camera does not pick up red that well through light, so I may stop candling wines for these posts. It's not purple, despite the below picture.

The wine produces a lively aroma of tannins - a spicy aroma. The wine itself very thick, with a velvety texture that coats the mouth. Flavor-wise, I'm detecting some leather and tobacco and maybe some plum. Big burst of wood. Not a lot of brightness or jamminess - all deep, dark flavors. The finish has some smoke, too, with a tiny metallic tinge on the aftertaste. This metallic note lasts for quite a while after swallowing.

I think this is sort of what "normal" wine drinkers would expect to call a "strong" wine...not strong in terms of alcohol (we would call that "hot" in the wine business) but strong in terms of intensity of flavor. Wine that has strong, aggressive flavoring - especially of unfinished alcohol - is sometimes called "brawny" by wine professionals. It's a quality you want to avoid in fine wines, but for everyday wines under $10, it's not wholly unexpected. As such, I have a feeling this'll stand up to whatever dish you throw at it, and in terms of pairing, I had this with my famous homemade sriracha and pepper-jack mac n' cheese. So give this a try!