Backyard Ale
Adams Street Brewery

Backyard AleBackyard Ale
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From:
Adams Street Brewery
 
Illinois, United States
Style:
American Pale Wheat Beer
ABV:
Not listed
Score:
69
Avg:
2.61 | pDev: 33.72%
Reviews:
16
Ratings:
25
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Dec 03, 2012
Added:
Jun 27, 2011
Wants:
  1
Gots:
  0
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
 
Rated: 3.5 by Kunstman from Wisconsin

Dec 03, 2012
 
Rated: 3.25 by t0rin0 from California

Nov 04, 2012
 
Rated: 2.25 by bzach from Indiana

Oct 21, 2012
 
Rated: 1 by sethmcconkey from Illinois

Sep 04, 2012
 
Rated: 3 by dorkinajeep from Wisconsin

Aug 26, 2012
 
Rated: 3.75 by hinemk76 from Pennsylvania

Jun 19, 2012
 
Rated: 2.5 by KC9LDB from Illinois

Mar 06, 2012
 
Rated: 1.5 by doucmehu from Oregon

Feb 06, 2012
 
Rated: 2 by JayAre46 from Texas

Dec 12, 2011
Photo of tone77
Reviewed by tone77 from Pennsylvania

3.33/5  rDev +27.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Woodychandler continues to amaze me with new canned beers. Poured from a 16 oz. can. Has a cloudy golden color with a 1 inch head. Smell is of wheat and lemons. Taste is tart, rather mild, some wheat and citrus are present. Feels medium bodied in the mouth and overall is a refreshing and pretty good beer.
Dec 10, 2011
Photo of emerge077
Reviewed by emerge077 from Illinois

1.79/5  rDev -31.4%
look: 4 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 1
Poured into a 16 oz. tulip glass, it's a glowing pastel orange yellow, with a billowing head of white foam. A halo of sticky lace adheres to the glass, looking more Belgian than midwestern.

Smells like creamed corn, sweet swilly grains. Bland but not offensive, definitely leaves a lager impression though.

Adjuncts galore, bland and flaccidly sweet flavors of corn and rice. There's a weird sweetness that verges on artificial, with a mealy texture that's nearly gag inducing. Candy corn, bland mealy grain, highly astringent... what is this crap? Cloying sweetness and sulfurous malaise. Overly carbonated and overly sweet. Not worth taking more than a few sips before it's dumped down the drain.

A shame that Minhas has drug the Berghoff name so low, oh well... Chicago lost that piece of history years ago anyway. Not sure if Minhas can do much worse than this, but they likely will find a way.
Nov 30, 2011
Photo of secondtooth
Reviewed by secondtooth from Indiana

2.19/5  rDev -16.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2.5
This 16 oz. canned "ale" pours a urine yellow, with an oversized head of thick bubbles. Heavy on the lace, too, so looks good (aside from the piss-yellow appearance).

Aroma is largely grainy, with some biscuity grains and sweet corn. Hmm.

Taste is sweet. More corn or adjunct malts seem right up front here, despite the hop cones on the can. It's creamy and buttery even. I think this one's grossly imbalanced, and needs to dial back the malts a wee bit. As it stands, this one's mediocre at best.
Nov 12, 2011
Photo of drabmuh
Reviewed by drabmuh from Maryland

1.39/5  rDev -46.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 1 | feel: 1 | overall: 1
Apparently it is the (accidental) return of bad beer Thursdays this week.

You don't so much drink this as much as you gather a mob to try and kill it. My experience with this brewery is weak for sure so I was excited with this random extra from kbutler1, but that was a more innocent time. A tine with hope for the future, a time where anything was possible, a time before I drank this, one of the worst beers I've ever had.

Beer served in a Bruery tulip. Beer is yellow to amber and hazy with a thin white head. Moderate carbonation, low retention, some lacing.

Aroma is grainy and vegetal. I already dont want it.

Beer is oddly thick with this horrid diacetyl palate with a harshly grainy acidic aftertaste. I drank 2 ounces of this unfortunate 16 ounce can and poured the rear out. Never again. This beer was so bad I may never drink another beer from this brewery. Gross.
Oct 21, 2011
Photo of woodychandler
Reviewed by woodychandler from Pennsylvania

1.26/5  rDev -51.7%
look: 2 | smell: 1 | taste: 1 | feel: 3 | overall: 1
Chaz sent this to me as part of an ongoing massive trade between the two of us and I am both grateful (for a new CAN) and hesitant (it is a Minhas beer). The CANQuest (TM) marches on!

From the CAN: "'Welcome to the backyard with the sun high in the sky, the grass freshly cut, and the aroma of hot coals and steak as you relax in your lawn chair. This is your safeguard, the backyard.'"; "A Midwest Tradition of Craft Brewing".

The Crack & Glug produced two fingers of rocky eggshell-white head with low retention. Color was a murky, hazy orangish-yellow. I think that Chaz hit it by characterizing it as an "APWA", vice an "APA" because the nose held a remarkable absence of hops. It had more of a bubble gum sweetness on the nose and did I catch an underlying scent of plastics factory and dry cleaning solution, or was it just my imagination? Mouthfeel was medium and the taste was unpleasant in all new and different ways. It tasted like the summer that I contracted trenchmouth and had to gargle with diluted hydrogen peroxide and have my gums treated with Gentian Violet. I had nearly forgotten that long-dormant memory until this rubbish hit my palate. Finish had a metallic twang that really made my hackles rise because the uninitiated might attribute it to the medium (a CAN) as opposed to the source (Minhas, makers of the world's finest swill and worst beer). Jeez-O, man, but if The CANQuest (TM) did not require full CANsumption in order to count, this would be a drain pour. Not my sink, but out front, in the gutter where it belongs and may have actually come from. If I am in the backyard, I do not want this beer anywhere near me, my lawn chair, my sizzling steak(s) and definitely NOT in my cooler. Gag.
Oct 15, 2011
Photo of scruffwhor
Reviewed by scruffwhor from Illinois

3.1/5  rDev +18.8%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
16 oz. can, hell yeah!

Pale sunshine and hay color, limited bubbling and head. There is a ring of foam that lasts through all sixteen ounces.

Fake banana juice and Government bubblegum aroma from the yeast. Just a light cracker toasted malt aroma with just a touch of tree leaf hops.

Taste starts with a swath of bubblegum yeast, but some seemigly adjunct like bitterness takes over from middle to finish.

Carbonated start to finish, but has some cheap mlat bitterness issues. Not a bad session ale if it was cheaper for a four pack.
Aug 27, 2011
Photo of GrumpyGas
Reviewed by GrumpyGas from Illinois

3.14/5  rDev +20.3%
look: 4 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
I was surprised to see the Berghoff name again. It's been a while since I have enjoyed their dark drafts and a corned beef in Chicago.

This was nothing like that but I didn't expect it would be.

The beer was a dark yellow, almost amber, color with obvious carbonation. There was little to no foam head when poured into a chilled glass mug.

The Backyard Ale had almost no odor, which was odd because I was expecting a bold hop odor, but I wasn't disappointed.

The flavor was a bit of a shock. It reminded me of a canned beer, but the shock was more that I liked it. I'm not sure what that means for me, but the name is perfect. It would be great for sittin' in the backyard in a classic aluminum and plaid strap folding chair with your feet in the 18' pool after having just run the push mower through the front and back yards.

Does that time still exist? It does in this can of beer.
Aug 09, 2011
Photo of syrupjoe
Reviewed by syrupjoe from Florida

3.03/5  rDev +16.1%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
16oz can into pint glass.

Appearance is a hazy golden color with a slight hint of amber. Pours with a decent 1 finger off-white head and has a slight amount of lacing that is retained. No particulates.

Don't get much off of the nose other than a slight metallic smell expected from light canned beers, and some wheaty malty notes with a touch of honey.

Taste is somewhat sweet, with a light wheat backbone and some bready biscuity malt notes.

Mouthfeel is smooth, creamy, and slightly slick. Medium carbonation.

Having never heard of this beer prior to grabbing a four pack of it, I expected a decent amount of hoppiness because of the prominent hop cones on the front of the can. Not a very flavorful beer, but creamy, smooth, and a good option for a decently inexpensive summer consumable. Would buy again for utility.
Aug 06, 2011
Photo of Maya
Reviewed by Maya from Wisconsin

4.42/5  rDev +69.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5
Can code 1218022, Berghoff Brewing Company.

This was a well refrigerated can poured into o.5 liter clear glass.

The clarity is somewhat cloudy similar to a cellar beer. The foam is well laced and no fish eyes indicative of a good portion of wheat malt use. The color is straw-gold. There is a good effervescence which enhances the foam.

The smell has the aromatics of an ale style beer with not notes of fusel oils or dactyl. A mild hop note is present.

The taste is clean with little astringency.

The beer has good drinkability.
Aug 04, 2011
Photo of biggred1
Reviewed by biggred1 from Indiana

1.89/5  rDev -27.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 2
Hazy, dull and brassy with a lumpy greyish head that lead spotty lace on the glass. Bubblegum, flaked maize and a whiff of steely grain in the aroma. Cereal grains and a metallic aftertaste. This beer tastes like a macro lager, light, grainy and slightly sour. Light and fizzy. Berghoff Backyard ale is just plain bad beer and a hideous example of an American Wheat if the style description is to be believed.
Jul 30, 2011
Photo of woosterbill
Reviewed by woosterbill from Kentucky

4.11/5  rDev +57.5%
look: 5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4
16oz can into a Duvel tulip.

A: Clear golden-amber body beneath two inches of creamy white heat. Terrific retention, plenty of lace, and it comes in a great-looking tall boy can. Hell yeah!

S: The can proclaims this “Backyard Ale,” but it sure as hell smells like a lager to me: there’s a bit of pale malt and grassy hops, but pure, chalky, slightly sulfurous lager yeast appears to be the dominant aroma. As it warms, some lovely fruitiness comes into play. Maybe my nose is off, or maybe this is actually a pale lager. Either way, it smells great.

T: Starts out with some lovely, lightly sweet pale malt, followed by a touch of earthy, grassy hops. Light fruitiness finishes things out, as well as some serious yeasty minerality. It tastes like a lager, too – a very good lager. Refreshing.

M: Fairly light body, moderate to high carbonation; very lively, but not too prickly. Goes great with the refreshing qualities of the beer.

O: I can’t wait to look this one up on BA (I’m reviewing on my computer without internet, so I have no idea how this beer is rated, what style it is, or anything), as I would swear that it’s a lager – or at least a Kölsch. Yeah, maybe a Kölsch. Whatever it is, it’s going down great on a day in the 90s, and I wish I had picked up a few more cans – I’d love to have a cooler-full in my backyard.

Cheers!
Jul 30, 2011
Backyard Ale from Adams Street Brewery
Beer rating: 69 out of 100 with 25 ratings