Beer Review #6: 21st Amendment Brew Free or Die

The holidays are over and its time for me to stop being a lazy asshole. After almost a month of sloth, stuffing my face with holiday treats, and wild parties (maybe not that last part) I’m getting down to business with a delightfully patriotic beer, 21st Amendment Brew Free or Die!

The website has a pretty great description of it, even using some scale I’ve never heard of to describe how bitter it is. It’s 7. It’s 7 bitterness units. Whatever that means. Silliness aside, it’s an IPA and you know how I love me some IPAs!

Or maybe you don’t. I don’t recall if I’ve ever mentioned on this site my undying love for IPAs and I’m too lazy to go back through the archives and check. Time for a flashback!

::wacky 80s/90s wavy flashback noise::
It’s 200…something. 2005 maybe? I forget. Whatever, its a few years ago. I’ve never had a good experience with beer because up until now all I’ve had is major brand pee in a can (Bud, Coors, etc.) and two really, really bizarre microbrews. One of them was tolerable and the other tasted like concentrated evil, so you can see that I’m not really into the whole beer thing. One fateful day, a friend of mine returns from a road trip out west (she used to be stricken by bouts of wanderlust from time to time) and she comes back with a case of Sierra Nevada beer that she’s just raving about. She tells me she’s had it before a bunch whenever she goes travelling, but its hard to find around here because NY sucks balls or some such. I am skeptical about this beer’s alleged awesomeness, but I’ll try almost anything once. We crack open a couple of bottles and…

You ever see that Family Guy episode where Peter tries Red Bull for the first time? Right when he takes a sip… what am I doing, this is the Internet! Watch this clip. That’s basically my reaction when trying Sierra Nevada for the first time. I was pretty blown away. My friend tells me its a type of beer called an IPA and ever since then, that’s been my favorite kind of beer. I’ll try any IPA, anytime, anywhere. I HEART THEM LOTS!
::wacky 80s/90s flashback noise::

Now that we’ve returned to the present day, let me tell you about this beer. Its got a pretty strong odor to it that tells you right away that if you don’t like hops, stay the hell away. Fortunately, I like hops! :D It’s golden brown in color and according to the beer menu it has “citrus & pine hops.” According to the website its got 6 different hops and a “solid malt backbone.” That surprises me because there are two things that I am not a fan of when it comes to beer. Those things are “piney hops” and “roasted malts.” Piney hops just tastes like they ground up some Christmas trees and tossed em into the beer and roasted malts tastes like corpses. Don’t get me wrong, I like normal malt flavors and a nice, light malt can really compliment a beer well. Roasted malts on the other hand? They can STFU, GTFO, and die. Thankfully, this beer stays on the side of proper and right malt flavor and ends up being a pretty solid IPA. If you’re not an IPA person, this is probably not the beer for you, but for everyone else its great. I’d definitely order this again, should I come across it. Two hops up!

7% ABV