In the beer store yesterday I saw the Gentlemen's Club brews from Widmer. At $20+ per bottle, I didn't bite. Who's had 'em, and what did ya think?
All variants of these are not worth your hard-earned cash. This was released several months ago at Cigar City in Tampa for $15 a bottle and they are still available in the tasting room there for a reason.
Completely agree. In fact, they could knock the price in half and I wouldn't buy them. I've tried all three Terry, and several things stood out. The beers are all very malty and fairly sweet, to the point I got tired of drinking them very fast. Also, all three beers tasted very similar, and I mostly got a lot of vanilla from the barrel aging. The rye whiskey and bourbon barrel flavors were very subtle I thought. I ordered sample size pours at the Bier Stein, and after trying all three, I was congratulating myself for not getting a larger pour. I didn't finish any of the sample size glasses I purchased, which was annoying, given that they were kind of expensive. Like Sharpski said, they aren't bad beers, but it's pretty hard to justify the $20 price tag, IMHO.
if you're itching to spend that much on a beer, better off spending 22 bucks on a matt. had these on draft. not bad, just not all that enjoyable either. just goes to show that collaborations of two good brewhouses doesn't always work out.
I also had the Rye. Nothing memorable. Made for the masses/noobs. I hear the the Bourbon was the best out of the three but I won't ever know since I won't get one. Great marketing for both; Widmer (Florida exposure) and Cigar City (more national exposure).
I got a little bit of enjoyment from these: the price tag gave me a nice chuckle before I walked away.
I went to the release party at Widmer back in June. Had a taster flight of all 3 versions. The bourbon one was the best by far, but none were great. Definitely not worth the asking price for bottles. I was happy to get a pint of the Jai Alai IPA they had on tap, and tastes of a few other Cigar City brews they were pouring that night.
At the release, they had a 4th one that was aged in sherry barrels which was definitely better than the 3 bottled versions. It still wasn't mind blowing though.
What's unfortunate, is that a lot of stores seem to have bought up a fair quantity, with the expectation that it would be a hot item. I was at 16 tons yesterday, and they have a whole rack of the stuff (all three versions). I've never seen anyone buy a bottle, nor have I ever seen a gap in the row of bottles (suggesting that someone might have purchased a bottle). So I hope the beer ages well, as I expect it's going to be sitting around in most stores for a long time to come.
