Grolsch (Het) Kanon

Along with a bunch of UK beers, Karen's friends Dirk and Lea brought back a few oddities for me -- this one the oddest of the bunch. An 11.6% ABV Lager from Grolsch. No flip-top, just a standard 33cL brown capped bottle. Some beer sites have been calling this a Marzen, or an Oktoberfest, or a Malt Liquor. Me? "Misc Strong Lager" works just fine for me!

Deep golden bronze in body, with little- to no-head to speak of. Rather "hot" in both the nose and the initial taste. Boozy, with a capital "Yikes!".

But once you get acclimated to the heat ("...it's hot, but it's a dry heat..."), this is not necessarily horrendous. Rather, just an European take on a Malt Liquor -- with the added angle of this being marketed/sold as something of a Specialty beer.

FWIW, this reminded me of some of the beers that Tom Nickles was pouring for his April Fool's Day celebration a few years ago; the one that featured a bunch of Malt Liquors from well regarded American Craft Brewers. The result of that pseudo-Beer Fest was that Malt Liquor need not equate to "Ass'y, Sugar-Infused Bong Water!"

This is no winner, mind you, but at the same time, it's doesn't suck. Still 100-times more interesting that both the rest of the Grolsch lineup...., and the 999 brain-burning Malt Likkas coming out of the former Warsaw Pact....
//TB
 

(Yeah, I'm feeling charitable. Suck it up!)