Bare
KnuckleTonight we stopped in for pizza at Bostons. I asked what they had on
tap, I was about to choose a local micro, but the waitress said they had Bare
Knuckle. In typical style she said 'it's a very dark beer'. To me this
generally indicates that it's something worth drinking. But then again I have
had non beer types state this before only to get bud by a different name. The
name rang a bell but I did not recall who brewed it.
To be
honest I think a lot of peoples opinions of this brew are tainted before they
even try it because they know it's an A-B product. Myself I think I had a
pretty open mind. To begin with it looked an awful lot like Guinness but the
head was finer and thicker, if that is even possible. It had very little aroma,
again a lot like Guinness. It had a slight roasted malt taste, a little more
roasty than Guinness has. It has very good head retention. Aside from the
slightly more roasted malt flavor it was pretty much Guinness as far as I am
concerned. To be fair I guess I should try them side by side sometime. It
didn't take me too many sips to conclude this might be an A-B product, why you
ask? Well for all the evil that A-B has done to the taste buds of Americans
they do have a lot of science and money behind them. It takes a lot of science
and money to turn out a brew of this quality. It's not your average micro brew.
Any Dry Irish Stout I have had from a micro was a lot hoppier than this. This
is obviously an attempt by A-B to replicate and compete with Guinness.
Now I
must admit that I am an Imperial Stout and Porter type. Dry Irish Stouts are
not my favorite. But I respect them, I respect Guinness, Murphy's, and Beamish
too. I think they are all in their own right good ales. I find it hard to
believe that Murphy's makes a better brew than A-B. If you want to argue the
point on Guinness or Beamish fine, but if you ask me it's a close one. So I
encourage you to be open minded on this one. Granted on a blind taste test I am
sure you could define it, but if you're honest I don't think you can totally
disregard it as some flavor lacking waste of keg space as many have.
Try it,
let me know what you think.
