IT'S LINT, ITS DIRT, ITS UNFILTERED YEAST!!? UFOs???

Harpoon UFO White

First things first, Harpoon's UFO series are their "UnFiltered Offerings", inspired by the cloudy brews (due to the presence of suspended yeast) of Germany. They have 4 of these UFOs: 3 wheats and a Pale Ale.

I was fairly excited to taste this beer, mainly because it was a nice day; perfect for the type of beer. Witbier or White Beer was made popular by Pierre Celis, the original brewer of Hoegaarden (named after his home town). Eventually Celis moved to the states and opened the Celis Brewery in Michigan. Celis White was born. After Hoegaarden and Celis came more whites, like Blue Moon, Allagash White, and this beer: the UFO White.

I poured it into the pint glass and the first thing that I noticed was that the smell was not what I was hoping for or expecting. I was expecting a fruity and clean smell. Instead, it smelled kinda like frat-party-warm Natty Light. Ok, maybe not thaaat, bad but not what I expected.

The flavor was much less offensive. It had the expected wheaty flavor and very slight banana notes, but not as much of either as I would have liked. It did, however, have a very clean finish and taste from the ale yeast.

Maybe this just isn't my type of beer, but I would much rather have a Celis White over this one any day.

- Nathan

QUICK TASTE

Harpoon UFO
Boston, MA


ABV% ~5%

American Pale Wheat Ale

Appearance: Cloudy yellow, orange

Aromatics: "Beer Smell" (like Bud, Miller, or Coors), slight sweet and orange smell

Taste: Wheaty, orange, Very watered down taste

Notes: To be honest it just seems like a weak attempt at a witbier style (Celis White, Hoegaarden) i gave it a 77

Beer Raids in Philly, PLCB is crazy

If you don't know, there have been raids on beer bars and distributors in Philly recently. I think people interested in the future of beer and PA alcohol laws in PA should do some research and look in to the situation but this article has some of the points of view of others in the beer community:


"It all came to a head after an anonymous complaint that a Philadelphia bar was selling beer that had not been properly licensed with the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, an agency created after Prohibition in 1933 to regulate the sale of alcohol.
That tip led to raids last week at three upscale bars, where police confiscated three quarter-kegs and 317 bottles of beer that were not believed to have been properly registered with the state. Raids at Memphis Taproom in Philadelphia's Kensington section, Local 44 in west Philadelphia and Resurrection Ale House downtown caught the couple who run them by surprise.
"I feel like there are a lot of typographical errors that caused this," said Leigh Maida, who received calls from staff around midday March 4. "The laws were really developed before there were so many kinds of beers."
"The liquor code, they say, is no match for beers with names like Dogfish Head Raison d'etre and a dark ale called 't smisje BBBorgoundier. The rigid code also isn't able to account for when they abbreviate Allagash White Beer to "Allagash Wit" on their menus."


The whole story AP story: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iZ8rClw3yusg2pZUIFqhRR6pyl-gD9ED1ORO0