Mandolin Beer

[Lynn Dudenbostel]

Well, you gotta like the bottle! I'm not a beer guy, so can't comment on the taste. But I suspect it has a "woody" flavor, with lots of "sustain" on the palette! It's from a brewery near Roanoke, VA. NFI.

[JEStanek]

I sure hope there are no rattlesnake rattles or tone balls added.

Jamie

[Timbofood]

Lets just hope there's not too much "bark" the next morning!
Very cool label, however!

[Lynn Dudenbostel]

I don't think I'd open it after a session on a Tonerite!

[Timbofood]

Maybe outside, pointed away from yourself?

[JeffD]

I have always thought that a great name for a bourbon would be "Snakehead."

[sunburst]

That's brewed just up the road a few miles. A friend recently gave me on of those... 750ml. I was fixing supper, and decided to pour myself a glass. After having supper and drinking the glass of beer, it occurred to me that the remainder in the bottle was going to go flat and be ruined since the cork had been removed, so I poured the rest in the glass and drank it after supper. When I was nearly finished with it, I began to realize that I was feeling it! I read the label and found that it is 9% alcohol!

As for flavor, I'm more of a "hop head" these days and prefer IPAs, but it's a good lager, not too sweet, plenty of flavor. It's been around for a while but the label has changed. It used to look like this:

Looks like they "upgraded" from and A to an F!

[lenf12]

As for flavor, I'm more of a "hop head" these days and prefer IPAs, but it's a good lager, not too sweet, plenty of flavor. It's been around for a while but the label has changed. It used to look like this:

I'm a committed hop head myself (new fave: New Belgium "Rampant" Imperial IPA 8.5% abv) but I would happily drink a Mandolin Beer or two, if just to try it out.

Len B.
Clearwater, FL

[UlsterMando]

Does it come in a case ?

[journeybear]

Someone PLEASE pass this along to danielpatrick, founder of the entertaining Mandolins and Beer thread! Though it's possible there could be an ironic implosion, ending with the ouroboros effect!



PS: Their tagline is: "An artisanal ale" - not beer. Just sayin' ...

[brunello97]

I don't often drink beer, but when I do it is typically a lager. This looks good. Is it distributed or only available locally? (Regional beers = awesome.)

9% alcohol is pretty hefty for me, too, but I'm coming from the ice-cold-Tecate applied to the forehead beer drinking tradition. Actually opening the can is secondary. The craft brew / micro brew surge is amazing but I've had to change my approach to suds: low and slow.

There has been a "Mandolin" wine around for awhile but the label isn't quite as compelling as that of the beer. I've tried their Pinot Noir and Merlot but I'll leave it up to y'all to evaluate the quality of the wines. Check them out.

Mick

[sunburst]

I've tried the Chardonnay. It was a typical bargain priced offering, IMO.

[journeybear]

Hmmm ... I wonder if the Mandolin wines come in a magnum size. And if so, is that called a Mandola?

And would Octave Mandolin be the Jeroboam? And would Mandocello be the Rehoboam? And would MandoBass be the Nebuchadnezzar?

Just wondering ...

[Danidog]

Blue Mountain Brewery and restaurant (not sure that's the official name) is one of the busiest, if not the busiest establishment along what we locals have come to call 'brew alley', a short section of Rt. 151 just chock-full of everything from beer, to wine and even a distillery. The Blue Mountain folks ALWAYS have a crowd there. Never tried it, but a lot of folks like something about it.

[Bernie Daniel]

That's brewed just up the road a few miles. A friend recently gave me on of those... 750ml. I was fixing supper, and decided to pour myself a glass. After having supper and drinking the glass of beer, it occurred to me that the remainder in the bottle was going to go flat and be ruined since the cork had been removed, so I poured the rest in the glass and drank it after supper. When I was nearly finished with it, I began to realize that I was feeling it! I read the label and found that it is 9% alcohol!

As for flavor, I'm more of a "hop head" these days and prefer IPAs, but it's a good lager, not too sweet, plenty of flavor. It's been around for a while but the label has changed. It used to look like this:

Looks like they "upgraded" from and A to an F!

The beer has a nice color and that is an impressive head on the glass. With a cork & wire arrangement and the 750 mL heavy glass container I am sure they employ in-bottle carbonation - so they add a little sugar before they cap it. I used to make and also like to drink beers like that in the good old 1970's -- but I've lost my taste for it --find it "too yeasty" now.

Likewise the 9% alcohol is a kind of questionable and maybe irresponsible (IMO). And it seems pointless as the alcohol adds essentially nothing to the taste but does make the product more of potential "social liability".

With the rise of the microbreweries in the late 1980's - early 1990's I stopped making beer because you really can't make a better beer than you can walk out and buy. I'm with you for the last couple of decades India Pale Ales and other heavily hopped beers are all that pass through me.

Plaudits for the name on the bottle though! I wish we had a beer drinking emoticon to use for such occasions -- this one does not seem to apply.

[Bertram Henze]

Is that what you see when you've had enough of that beer? Two identical bottles?

[Timbofood]

Recently visited Bells to show it off to a friend from SC. The new bar looks beautiful! My friend enjoyed a beer with 11.5%
We only had time to have one but, one of those was enough for him.

[journeybear]

I think that's the point of high alcohol content beer. The one beer to have when you're having only one is not Schaefer, but something like Mandolin.

[Steve Ostrander]

I don't often drink beer

Perhaps you would prefer a Vodka Gibson?

[journeybear]

Yes, yes I would! Just make it stirred, not shaken.

[brunello97]

Perhaps you would prefer a Vodka Gibson?

Ha! I'd forgotten all about those. Not sure if I've ever had one, but I do enjoy pearl onions.

Mick

[Timbofood]

I was once told that the "Gibson" was named for a politician who was not much of a drinker in the days of four martini lunches.
He had made an agreement with the barmen at his watering holes to make his second "martini" using onions with a bit of the juice over water.
My grandmother used to drink gin gibsons and "old fashioneds". I do love the "classic" cocktails!
Perfect Manhattans are still a favorite!

Completely unrelated trivia, something I seem to be pretty good at!

[DavidKOS]

I always thought that these mandolins go with wine:



These go with Bourbon:



And these go with beer or ale or stout:

[Timbofood]

Nicely put David!

[Bertram Henze]

I always thought that these mandolins go with ...

I can add to your list...