Catawba Brewing Company | Peanut Better Jelly Time – Round 2
It’s not often that I come back to a beer that I know I’ve reviewed before. However, this is a beer that always makes me smile when I see it and I’m curious to compare notes to when I had this beer a few years back. So, after I finish drafting this post, I’m going to go find the old one and see how both I – and the beer – compares. That said, I do recall noting my affinity for PB&J in the previous post and, true to that statement, I had a PB&J about 3 hours ago for lunch – as did the Mrs and the kids. Let’s jump in.
This is a brown ale base and as I recall this particular brown ale is aged on raspberries and roasted peanuts to help bring about more of a natural flavor to the beer. The beer pours a light brown with a bit of an amber hue to it. It is unfiltered and began with a big head that has since retracted to the edges. On the nose I immediately find that raspberry – wow. What I always remember about this beer is how natural it smells – like when I open the clam shell package from Costco (my kids eat a lot of raspberries). I find a bit of the nutty aroma too as well as a malt-grain note. Overall though, raspberry take center stage. On the palate things change up a bit and while the raspberry is easy to find, it blends well with that roasty peanut character. The base beer is not lost either as a bit of a toasty character can be found. The beer coats the palate very well, moderate carbonation and I’d say a medium body. The palate is left with a sweet sensation.
Final snobs: Overall, this beer is just as I remember – PB&J in a glass. It isn’t a heavy beer and at 5.7% it’s easy to take big sips and let it fill the palate. While the flavors lend itself more to the adjuncts than the base beer, this beer is exactly as advertised and is a wonderful testament to the PB&J sandwiches of our youth. Well done!
Now, I’m going to go read my other post and report back: Go figure, pretty close summary! One thing I will note is that I previously suggested that I take one of these for lunch tomorrow – grain, raspberries, peanut butter, what’s the difference?
This beer is widely available in the Knoxville area so keep a lookout for it.
Prost!