Bell's Light Hearted Ale

See my post above.

 

I did, and I've met him a few times too -- he makes it clear that he knows whose name is on the label.

(not to mention at the one fest I talked with him, he was wearing a cubs T and I was wearing my Sox hat... you can guess the discussion! Which was the main gist of my original comment)

 

DFH touted their low cal IPA as something great and different. It’s not too good.

Looking forward to this one if the price is right. $40 a case will not be right.

Enjoy

 

Oh yes, but he runs the business from the owners perspective, but brew beer? He has an excellent staff to take care of production. That allows him to run the business strategically.

Edit - I'm sure he signs off on new products, tastes the new products in development, suggests changes, etc.

 

I’ve been disappointed with Bell’s pricing in MA. Priced at a premium to Sierra Nevada and even smaller places like Zero Gravity are priced cheaper.

 

You been up all night just looking for an argument? Jeeze -- gotta get some coffee now, have fun.

 

No, the coffee is tasting fine.

 

Maybe too good? It's effecting your comprehension -- 'cause I meant time for me to go away and have coffee -- as said, have fun, things are pretty weird around here on Sunday mornings.

 

Exactly. I will gladly try it, but remain very skeptical that it has enough body to not drink like a carbonated hop water. I’ve only had about 2 or 3 under 5% (nothing under 4 I believe) that I could drink again.

 

The notion among people here that low ABV beers cannot be satisfying, enjoyable, and exhibit good flavor displays a bit of a myopic, with blinders on, view of beer, IMO.

A number of the attempts by even highly rated craft brewers to brew a low ABV beer have been borderline awful, for sure. But, IMO, that says much more about their skills as brewers than it does about session beers in general.

Surly did a wonderful one with their original Bitter Brewer, but then ruined it with a change in recipe and followed that up with the awful Xtra-Citra (JMO, obviously, since that latter abomination is highly rated here. Go figure.) (Yeah, I specifically mention Surly because I'm still cheesed over what they did to Bitter Brewer.)

I have an upcoming trip to the West Coast, and I've been perusing the web sites / Facebook pages / Twitter feeds of bottle shops I might visit, and I "discovered" this brewery's beer listed in some of the shops:

Machine House Brewery: Fine English-style Ales (Seattle)

Their beers include:
Dark Mild 3.7% ABV
Best Bitter 4.2% ABV
Golden Ale 4.5% ABV
Cambridge Bitter 3.8% ABV
Mandarina Pale Ale 4% ABV

At least some of these are listed as available in the bottle shops.

I have no idea how successful this brewery is, or how good these beers are, but assuming some are still on the shelves when I visit, I'll let you know (if you check out the NBS thread in a few weeks).

I'll also be trying the new Light Hearted from Bell's.... we'll see how THEY do with low ABV brewing.

 

Permit me to express my personal thoughts here. I personally do not think that all low ABV beers styles are not satisfying and I will offer up the Dark Mild Ale beer style as one example. Having stated that I am leery of breweries producing low ABV hoppy beers (often labeled as Session IPAs). All too often these beverages taste like hop water and when that occurs these beers are indeed not satisfying for me.

In post #43 @Giantspace posted: "DFH touted their low cal IPA as something great and different. It’s not too good."

Maybe Bell's will be more successful in brewing a low-cal IPA? Based upon my numerous past experiences with Session IPAs (e.g., unsatisfying drinking experiences) I have some skepticism as regards Bell's Light Hearted Ale but I will see what transpires here.

Cheers!

 

I think Ballast Point Even Keel is a darn tasty session IPA at 3.8% ABV, so it can be done. I'm cautiously optimistic about Light Hearted Ale.

 

110 calories for a 3.5% abv beer is pretty darn high. So, one would hope it would be way more “full flavor”.

 

Do we have any reason to think Bells has come up with some magical formula to make a session IPA taste full-flavored other than not calling it a session IPA?

 

I would guess this will be ~$1 per can in most of America

 

Two hearted is $46.99 a case here. I never buy it. I doubt this new one will be much less

Enjoy

 

The only session IPA that I could categorize as being in the same category as a regular IPA in terms of flavor and mouthfeel is OH Small Green Everything. Unfortunately they release that like once a year and it’s not distributed.

I usually just gravitate towards other styles for lower ABV since most session IPAs fall well short of the mark and I’m tired of getting burned.

 

I don't have high expectations for a full- flavored beer, but Bell's seems to exceed at just about everything they do, so maybe it can happen.

 

Was really this was going to to be closer to 4 carbohydrates. Low ABV with high-ish carbs indicates a higher terminal gravity. Although I’m disappointed, is a good indication that this is their “trick” to a better mouthfeel.

DFH using zero Carb/calorie Monk Fruit was their trick, thus limiting the carbohydrates and calories.

 

Haha. They want to compete with Slightly Might, DayTime, and Easy Jack.
It's the -4% abv that has my interest, though. A flavorful go-to beer under 4% will be a dream come true. I think at that percentage, it'll be actually hydrating! I rarely drink strong beers anymore and anything under 5% is a blessing.