Regal Ice
Minhas Craft Brewery

Poured from 12-ounce can into a glass tumbler. Clear dull amber in color, with a reddish-orange highlight and an evanescent white head that fades to nothing in short order. Not much to say here: corn soda, wet hay, a little overripe apple. Finish is rather sticky, with some astringency. Overall, I wouldn't recommend it.

Poured from a can into a pint glass
Appearance – The beer pours a clear golden color with a one finger head of fizzy white foam. The head fades very fast leaving just a trace of lace on the sides of the glass.
Smell – The aroma of the brew is strongest of a bready smell mixed with some corn syrup smells and a touch of a hay aroma. Along with these smells comes a touch of a paper and metallic smell as well.
Taste – The taste begins with a somewhat malty and cracker like taste mixed with a decent showing of a paper flavor as well as some caramel. As the taste advances the caramel transitions more to a corn syrup taste all while more and more metallic and metal come to the tongue. In the end one is left with a rather biting papery and somewhat malty metallic taste to linger on the tongue.
Mouthfeel – The body of the brew is light and crisp with a carbonation level that is slightly higher. For the style of the beer the feel is very fitting and downplays some of the off flavors a bit better.
Overall – Ahh. If I feel like an ice beer, I would take a bud ice or icehouse over this. Hey, but it is even cheaper than the former so you be the judge..

 

 

Nabbed a sixer of 473ml cans for $3.97 USD. Tough price to beat.

5.5% ABV. "Premium ice beer."

HEAD: White in colour. Thin. ~3cm in height. Lasts maybe 4 minutes.

BODY: Clear golden copper. Obviously filtered.

AROMA: Grain. Corn. 6-row. Malt syrup/extract.

Aromatic intensity is average. I find no off-notes.

TASTE: Matches the aroma, though it isn't overly sweet or syrupy. Corn and 6-row go the distance with neither dominating. I've tasted worse, and it's not imbalanced.

TEXTURE: Smooth, wet, sharply overcarbonated, not unrefreshing, light to medium-bodied. A little thin. Neither watery nor syrupy like many budget beers.

OVERALL: Running $3.97 for close to 3 litres, Regal Ice will find many enthusiasts amongst the student demographic (as well as...shall we say, itinerant....populations in the United States. Factoring out its bang for your buck, there isn't much to enjoy here, but it does have more body and presence on the palate than its mainstream competition. Worth a go at this price, but don't expect the world.

Low C- (2.56) / BELOW AVERAGE

Appearance: Clear, medium golden in color, with abundant coarse,, fast-rising carbonation, and thin, sparse, and broken lacing. The head is snow-white and rather large, but it soon fades to a curious circular patch of foam at the center of the surface, almost resembling a fried egg, but with white and gold colors reversed.

Aroma: Lots of cooked corn and grain in the aroma, as well as solvent alcohol notes.

Taste: Opens with sweet corn flavors, and a spare amount of earthy and metallic hops. As the taste progresses, the initial surge of sweetness is largely vanquished by the hops and alcohol, the latter having a slightly spicy and solvent character, and offering a good bit of warming. Finishes with a slightly sharp medicinal and metallic note.

Mouth feel: A bit thin, with brisk, champagne-like carbonation.

Drinkability/notes: At $4.49 for a six-pack of sixteen ounce cans, it seems to be a fair bargain. Regal Ice is not great, but it certainly is cheap, and would be refreshing served ice-cold on a hot summer day.

Presentation: Packaged in a standard sixteen-ounce aluminum can, served in a New Belgium Brewing chalice.-

This was a recent addition at my local HEB in Texas available in a 16oz 6-pack of cans or 12oz 30's. Poured from a 16oz can to a Mason jar.

Thin head rose quickly and dissipated quickly. Color is a dark straw, a little better than average for the style.

Grainy sweetness, a little maltiness, but otherwise some combination of adjunct sweetness.

A swiftly passing corn syrup sweetness that finishes dry and a little bitter. Some hint of barley malt in there. Definitely some unpleasant tastes in there that extend as it warms.

Average plus mouthfeel for the style. A little bit of body and plenty of carbonation.

Overall, this is a slightly better than average example for the style. I'm sticking to the subcategory of "ice beer" beneath American Light (Adjunct) Lager and am evaluating it as such. Ice beer is rarely good and more often than not more closely resembles its light brotheren more closely than the brand's regular offering, which is scary stuff when they ratchet up the ABV. I cannot foresee ever seeking this out, but I also don't know why I would want an ice beer either. There are certainly worse ice beers out there.