Beer review #1: The Meddler, Odell

06 March 2013
Beer review #1
We start the reviews with a recently found favourite.

Name: Odell Brewing Company, 'The Meddler'
Style: Oud Bruin Ale - Sour beer
Date reviewed: December 2012
Rating: A

Analysis:  This was a fantastic beer.  Dark amber in colour and subtle sourness.  It is tangy and fruity.  Very similar to taste and feel to Boulevard's 'Love Child No. 2.'  If  you liked that type and style, this is a greatly comparable beer.  And since it is impossible to find Love Child at the moment (it is a season/annual brew, not a regularly produced beer), I am picking up as many of these bombers as possible until they are no longer available.

The feel is heavy, but definitely quaffable.  The carbonation is low, however it compliments the tangy taste on your tongue.  First you get the feel on your taste buds from the sour, but the bubbles of carbonation pronounce the tang. I will definitely continue to drink this corked bottle as long as it is available (and last I checked, there were still bottles available around here). Price is around $15... a better value than most $15 bottles of wine.

Supplemental thoughts: Odell has been producing a number of great brews lately, several which will be reviewed here.  I have been very happy and impressed in the challenging styles they are putting out, however they have always made some quality beer.  These special editions are truly a mark of continued success and quality.

Statement on the Reviews: How I rank the beers

As mentioned previously, I will share how I rank the various beers that I have been tasting.  There will be a common format throughout all of the reviews so that you and I will easily be able to compare styles and tastes.  This way I can also categorize between styles, and keep some running tables as to what I liked and what I did not.

The basic format will be:

Name:
Style:
Date Reviewed:
Rating:
Analysis:

Here are the details on the rating, which will be letter based, A through F, and judged on taste, uniqueness and quaffability.  There will be room for a + or -, based on value.

A - Absolutely Fabulous beers.  One of the best beers I have ever had, would jump at the chance to drink again, and will always pick above all others when at the store and in the mood.  A fantastic brew.

B - A very good beer.  Great taste, good cabonation.  Not over-tasted (for example, there is a thing as 'too much hops').  Something that I would return to again and again when at the store.

C - A good beer.  Could be a great beer, if not for one or two things.  Something that I would drink again, but not something that I would spend a great deal of time searching for.  Might be something that I simply grab off the shelf because I can't figure out what else to get, and I know I like this one.

D - Not-so-good beer.  Maybe I got this in a sample pack, maybe a friend had some at a party, maybe I picked some up just to try it and develop my palate.  For whatever reason, I didn't like it.

F - Horrible beer.  There are far more Horrible Beers than Absolutely Fabulous Beers, as it is much easier to mess something up, than it is to create brilliance.  It may be simply unquaffable.  I may lack flavour... whatever the reason, when seeing it on the shelf, I either laugh or cringe.  The beer that is always brought up at parties as a joke or reference.  These may never be sampled again.

This will carry though on all samples, whether it be from packaged bottle or can, at a brewery, or a brew pub from the tap.  And with that... here come the reviews.

  - Tom.

Are you ready for some beer reviews?

Between the last time I posted (and said I was going to post regularly) and now, which was about six-months.  Maybe seven.  I have drank a few beers.  Several beers.  Maybe a lot of beers.  And that is plural, with an 's.'  Yes, yes, I drank a lot of beer in general, however I made it a point to pick out a new and exciting beer (or at least a new beer) every time I went to the local retailer to pick up something for the weekend.  This resulted in many different styles, types and tastings of our favourite carbonated beverage.

At the same time, I kept all of these empty bottles and bombers, and placed them lovingly on top of the cabinets in my kitchen.  And then it happened: Col wanted to clean and paint the kitchen.  So all of these bottles needed to head for the recycling bin, my monument and historical data being lost to time and a furnace to meet me once again as some other type of beverage (most likely Boulevard, as most glass recycling in the KC area is re-purposed as bottles for Boulevard).  That's not bad, as long as it is for Love Child #2, and not for something like Zon, or Nutcracker.  Or the Bourbon Barrel Quad, which was horrendous.  Anyway, you should be able to read my reviews of those upcoming.

So over a few days, I took each of the bottles, or groupings of bottles, and photographed them as they were taken down and tossed.  And as I have time, I have begun to review each of them, writing up a small briefing of whether I liked or disliked this particular brew.

Anyway, for what I am about to post, there is a simple ranking system and information that I will post from here on out.  That will come in a second part to this review.

  - Tom.