Consider the world of beer-drinking no longer an all-boys club, with thirsty females eagerly training their palates to understand beer styles and to speak to hop profiles, shaping the beer industry into one co-ed playground. With females invading beer tastings and dinners just as quickly as males, the beer-savvy ladies of the PA Eats team have joined forces to debut the Girls on Beer drinking series, where each month we highlight six suds lovers who come bearing gifts—craft beer, of course.
The first Girls on Beer tasting panel featured a “wild card” concept, an eclectic mix of girls and their beer, who together tasted a wide-range of releases and dutifully jotted down their feedback for you.
Before you drink up our latest feedback from our first female-only tasting panel consider this disclaimer: The girls behind this beer series believe that there’s a beer for every female—and male—drinker. Whether you love or hate the hops, there’s a beer out there for you. Each month, our panel features a collection of drinkers, from the novice to the connoisseur, each entitled to their opinions and encouraged to express them below.
Feel free to join into the tasting too, and leave your feedback on any of the featured beers in the comments.
The Girls:
Andie Bicho (AB), of Victory Brewing Co. | Currently covets: DIPAs and sour beers | Came slinging: Unita’s Cahoots (Double Rye IPA), Big Elm Brewing Co.’s 413 Farmhouse Ale and IPA
Nina Cazille (NC), of Nina Lea Photography | Currently obsessed with: Unibroue’s La Fin du Monde | Came slinging: Maine Beer Company’s Peeper Ale, Starr Hill Brewing Co.’s The Love
Kate Coppola (KC), of the Kate & Pat Coppola Team of Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc. | Currently stocks: Victory and Fuller’s ESB | Came slinging: Magic Hat Brewing Company’s #9
Nina Malone (NM), of Arbonne | Will forever love: porters and stouts with something yummy added like smoke, chocolate, coffee, etc. | Came slinging: Victory Brewing Co.’s Baltic Thunder Porter
Kristina Rupp (KR), of ARC Press | Currently into: obsessively trying as many different styles and breweries as possible, being the beer novice that she is. | Came slinging: Philadelphia Brewing Co.’s Fleur de Lehigh
Amy Strauss (AS), of PA Eats | Forever adoring: Sours & Saisons | Coveting in particular: Grassroots Brewing’s Arctic Saison | Came slinging: Unita’s Crooked Teeth Series Birthday Suit
The Beers:
Maine Beer Company’s Peeper Ale
AB: Weighing in with a white foaming head and straw colored, Peeper is a nice warm weather drinker. It has a notable dry pepper back, is light-bodied and packs strong pineapple notes.
NC: It’s an easy-drinker, not too hoppy. There is no lacing from the head, and it weighs in with a blonde/straw color. The taste is pine and citrus, and overall, light in body.
KC: Wouldn’t be my first beer choice, but not bad. Pine and citrus are pronounced on the nose, with the taste light and tangy.
NM: Pours hazy, with a great fizz. Somewhat like a saison—citrusy, light, fresh and smooth. Aroma possesses a mix of grapefruit, hops and rosemary.
KR: Peeper weighs in with a good head and with a bright golden color. It’s very light and smooth with a slight hoppiness.
AS: This is a beautiful example of how an American-style, hoppy ale should be—crisp, dry and well-balanced. Even though generously hopped, it’s not all palate-killing bitterness. It’s light-bodied and wafting with citrus too, two characteristics that make it easily sessionable to me!
Magic Hat Brewing Company’s #9
AB: This beer is very easy to drink and is a beer I’d consider as a good stepping stone for new craft beer drinkers. It’s light and the taste’s all apricot.
NC: It’s aroma is musty, what could be identified as an “armpit.”
KC: Nothing thrilling about it, but easy to drink. The aroma is muted fruit, and the body is light with a subtle fruity aftertaste.
NM: Arrives with no head; flat. I’m neutral about the taste—I don’t get much flavor at all. It is easy to drink though.
KR: It has a lovely golden orange hue and lacks carbonation. It’s almost like a hoppy sparkling juice, and is light and fruity. Drinking it with salty food really brings out the fruity sweetness.
AS: #9 can certainly act as a gateway beer to bring non-geeks into craft beer culture. Easy to drink and nothing too “hop crazy,” the pale ale’s palatable and subtle—and certainly an ample choice when seen in a lineup of macro snoozes.
Philadelphia Brewing Company’s Fleur de Lehigh
AB: This is very light in body and drinkability. Spicy ginger is the most dominant taste, and its aroma is somewhat swampy or identifiable to sweet creamed corn.
NC: The aroma’s identifiable to bread and butter pickles, corn and squash; very starchy. The taste is primarily ginger.
KC: Great to sip in summer. Subtle in taste (in a good way), with strong notes of ginger coming through, but not too much.
NM: Easy drinkin’! There’s no head, with a few bubbles. Floral and lemon scents overtake the aroma, with the beer’s body light. Subtle lemongrass largely contributes to the taste.
KR: The aroma’s sweet and spicy with pickled notes. With a mix of lemongrass and ginger, and a clove taste, I consider it very refreshing, like a swamp you want to hang out in for the evening.
AS: Definitely a solid warm-weather drinking choice. Light in body, the nose boasts ginger, while the slightly spicy (as if like herbal tea), hazy body is a collection of all the ingredients—lemongrass, ginger, rhubarb, rose hips and chamomile.
Starr Hill Brewing Co.’s The Love
AB: Very nice! Weighing in as a light bodied, golden ale, with a taste that is all banana and clove.
NC: I love The Love! It’s medium bodied with a great mix of banana and cinnamon in the taste.
KC: Not a wheat beer fan. This one weighs in medium-bodied and amber in color. Clover and honey are dominant with this beer.
NM: I’m coining this “super easy to quaff!” Banana, clove and honey are the key characteristics. Light bodied, with small carbonation bubbles.
KR: Cloudy in appearance, The Love is very light and mild with an elusively sharp finish. It leaves an almost soft, gentle feel on the tongue, and packs an aroma of banana, clove and honey.
AS: It’s always exciting to taste-test a newer hefeweizen hitting the market. This one succeeds in following the satisfying stereotypes of this style—medium-bodied, moderate carbonation, cloudy gold, swirling with hints of banana and cloves.
Uinta’s Cahoots (Double Rye IPA)
AB: I love this! It’s sweet on the aroma, medium-bodied, and all hops.
NC: Largely caramel in taste.
KC: Smooth and delicious with rich hints of caramel and toffee.
NM: Amazingly smooth for a hoppy brew. Hops are up front with toffee at the end, with a caramel finish.
KR: Medium in body and pouring a thick and rich head, this beer is smooth and has a slight hint of hoppiness.
AS: You’d never guess this beer is 9.4% ABV from its taste! Malty with rye spice, pleasant pine resin and earthy, woodsy notes, this is a terrific example of what Uinta can do and what a rye IPA should be. Plus its firm citrus-forward hop foundation is worth acknowledging for one hell of a beer base.
Uinta’s Crooked Teeth Series Birthday Suit
AB: Another one I love! Dark cherries and plums are dominant on the nose, with the taste medium-bodied and largely sour.
NC: [No comment; gigging as the photog.]
KC: This is a beer that is not for me. So sour!
NM: Dark and gorgeous, with great fizz. Tart and fruity, yet amazingly smooth. Puckery black cherry and plums round out the taste, with sweet cherry the leading culprit on the nose.
KR: Heavy in body and very smooth, with a tart, sweet aroma. I feel as though the sour fruit notes are as if the fruits were harvested prematurely.
AS: With a moderate amount of barnyard funk on the nose, this copper brown lured me right in! Packing serious carb and acidity, this sour dark ale hosts a sharp mix of tart cherries, apples and black raspberries on the front, with an surprising finish of chocolate malts. Overall, it’s an interesting sour, but a bit off-balance.
Big Elm Brewing Co.’s 413 Farmhouse Ale
AB: Banana takes over this beer, with the aroma and in the taste. Light and refreshing!
NC: I pick up a mix of caramel, banana, Bananas Foster and sugar in the taste. A decent canned beer.
KC: The beer’s light bodied with a tangy, smooth finish.
NM: Smooth! Can is epic! Low in fizz, with creamy body of candyish banana. Aroma is all caramelized bananas.
KR: Pouring with peachy hues, this beer is light-bodied, refreshing and tangy, but not overly memorable. The aroma is as if the fruit was not fresh, but cooked, reduced and sweetened.
AS: Pours a creamy orange with a slight white head, with sweet, bready malts in the nose. The light-bodied taste falls dead-center between a blonde and a farmhouse ale, with an orange blossom or Bananas Foster hosting the most comparable flavor profiles. Finish is candied, without being too cloying.
Big Elm Brewing Co.’s IPA
AB: This beer is easy to drink, with big hop flavor. Grassy on the nose and medium bodied.
NC: This beer has a lovely hoppiness, with the hops primarily up front. The aroma smells like what grass would taste like.
KC: Very good! Hoppy to start and sharp in taste. Notes of grassy and citrus dominate the aroma.
NM: Not quite balanced. Can is also epic! Amber in color and fizzy. Hops are up front, mixed with spicy-lemon and bitterness.
KR: This beer has a great, hoppy kick when it hits the lips, but clears out at the finish. The aroma is deceivingly sweet and its medium in body.
AS: A fan of East Coast IPAs, this rendition is a rich example of a hop-forward beer that excels with its well-balanced blend of citrus with pine. The aggressively bitter hop finish is a nice nod to West Coast IPAs, but it doesn’t linger, as to not neglect the identity of its own.
Victory Brewing Co.’s Baltic Thunder
AB: Huge chocolate notes. What a happy ending!
NC: A happy ending! Chocolate heaven!
KC: Smooth, dark and sultry.
NM: Duh, I love dark beer! A balanced mix of malty, chocolate and roasty, weighing in with a heavy body. It’s smooth, creamy and dreamy.
KR: “Did someone say chocolate?!” Seriously, ‘did someone say chocolate?!’ — This is a chocolate punch to the taste buds, and when served with Wegmans’ brownies [what we did], it’s a stellar pairing and a great finish to a fabulous tasting.
AS: A perfect conclusion to a night of beer tasting. This dark beauty blends a symphony of heartier flavors together beautifully, from chocolate and coffee, to roasty malts, caramel and dark fruits.
The Snacks:
Cheers goes out to Righteous Felon Jerky Cartel for slipping us stashes of their superior, locally-produced beef jerky for our first-ever Girls on Beer tasting. We highly recommend you hightail over to this article and become educated about these West Chester, Pa.-based superstars that are currently in the midst of a cured-meat renaissance. Also, be sure to explore their enticing flavor profiles here.
Follow PA Eats’s Girls on Beer series socially (on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram) by following #GirlsonBeer. Want to participate in the next tasting? Email Amy Strauss with your interest at [email protected].
- Photography: Nina Lea Photography
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