Pete's Wicked Wanderlust Cream Ale

Karen and I went to her friend's place last night for dinner and drinks, and a good time was had by all. Of course, as the resident beer-geek of the bunch, I brought some of my "Sim-tennial 1½ IPA" homebrew, as well a mixed sixer of Bridgeport offerings for sharing. Once those were killed off, the beer selection in their fridge was decidedly less interesting. But I decided to give this a try, having not seriously thought about the Pete's Wicked line of beers since the 20th Century....

Now, I don't know Cream Ales very well -- they're much more of a Midwest/East Coast specialty, as far as I know..., and thus I didn't grow up drinking Genesee Cream Ale, for example. But I'll give this a fair shake, calling it as I see it.

This isn't bad. The mouthfeel, which some folks would probably refer to as being smooth and velvety and creamy, I feel is just too soft and mushy for my liking. Yeah, I do realize that's the intention of this style, so I certianly won't dock point s for that -- but, at the same time, doesn't really win me over, either.

At least the hop profile with this one is enough to do the job. Not enough IBUs to really scare anybody away from this, but enough to get the job done. I'm normally not a fan of Cluster hops, but I also know that they are pretty traditional for this style, and in this specific case, I think they work well enough.

Not sweet and cloying, which is the main reason why I've shyed away from this style for the most part. Quaffable enough, though I kept on wishing I was having something more challenging than this waiting for me in the `fridge. But..., for it's intended audience, it does the job.

"It's not my bag, baby...", but it's not drain-worthy, either.
//TB