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July 28, 2008

Late-night rendezvous with banana bread

Fellow beer drinker Kelby Brick sends word of a happy encounter with Wells Banana Bread Beer.

 "Rob, last month I got a Wells Banana Bread Beer. I was a bit leery of this. Late last night I decided to relax and turn on the TV for a bit and try this beer. Fabulous late night beer! Really did smell and taste like banana bread (strange, I know) and really pleasant. Hit absolutely the right note—late at night—when one is not sure if one wants something sweet or salty.

"This beer is somewhat sweet but beery—but nothing like those junk sweet liquors. I wouldn’t recommend it for daytime or with meals. But when you want to sit back and drink a pint but (are) also in the mood for dessert."

Thanks, Kelby. Anyone else try this banana bread beer?

I think there might be a whole category of late-night beers.

I have a peach beer from Dogfish that I plan to sample long after the sun goes down.

Any other late-nighters?

Posted by Rob Kasper at 11:41 AM | | Comments (5)
        

Comments

Dogfish head's Festina Peche (or however its spelled) is actually quite sour, just to warn you. It's in the Berliner weisse tradition. The peach is definitely there, but there's a lot of sour.

If that's the beer you were referring to, that is.

I like a nice Bar Harbor Blueberry Ale from Atlantic Brewing Company in Bar Harbor, Maine.
The beer has just enough blueberry to make you think you're having some sort of blueberry confection for dessert, while still holding firm as a real beer.
Besides, what's better for a late night dessert than a beer brewed on Mount Desert Island? (it's pronounced like dessert - blame the French for the spelling).

I agree with Grant that the peach beer from Dogfish is more of a summer afternoon beer. When I go to the Dogfish Alehouse I have it before or after the food. I always have a 60 minute with my food. I do hope they find a Columbia or Baltimore County location for expansion.

I, too, tried the Well's Banana Bread Beer (whew, what a mouthfull) with trepidation. My go-to guy at the neighborhood liquor store suggested it; he rarely does me wrong, so I gave it a whirl. I was pleasantly surprised, but as Kelby points out, it's not something I'd drink at every occasion. Another fruity beer I've become enamored with as of late is Abita's Strawberry Lager. Finishes with the right amount of strawberry flavor, but none of the artificial sweetness I expected. If there's a better hot summer afternoon beer, I haven't found it.

I'm never one to turn down anything that's labeled beer, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't expend the time and energy to go out and buy a sixer of this. While I have been occasionally surprised in the past by 'alternatively flavored' beers, read fruity ones, by and large I prefer a more traditional fare. Not sure, but maybe due to the different metabolites and alcohol congeners of the yeast from different types of sugar?

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About Rob Kasper
Rob Kasper, a features columnist, has been writing about beer for 20 years, and he remembers when Anchor Christmas and Noche Buena were about the only beers at a holiday tasting and Sisson’s was the only brewpub in Baltimore. A collection of his columns, "Raising Kids and Tomatoes, Amusing Tales and Appetizing Recipes," was published in 1998. He lives with his wife, Judith, a professor at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, in a downtown Baltimore rowhouse. They have two grown sons, who come home from time to time and drink their father’s beer.
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