Many moons ago, I embarked on a month-long visit to London as a college theatre course. My naive beer and alcohol knowledge consisted of wine information gleaned from my parents and college parties. For some reason, I became enamored of the Snakebite a 1/2 lager – 1/2 cider concoction with black currant added. It was not good.
But now, memories paint it in a different light and Gigantic Brewing has teamed with Cider Riot! and Beau’s All Natural Brewing to make a 2015 version of the Snakebite. The Gigantic version is Kolsch fermented with apple juice and black currant .
How will it compare to my faded recollections? Let’s see….
Right off the bat the currant and apple flavors pop. Thankfully, it isn’t in a sweetened juice way as this ale/cider hybrid gets very dry, very quickly. There is a biscuity undertone and a bit of watery lightness on the back of the tongue to stave off a complete drying effect. This amber/red streaked colored beer still retains a beer-iness even though the aroma has a bit of mint quality to it. Like drinking a sour ale, this rewards the fan who slowly takes it in rather than as a quick refresher type of beer.
On my new (patent pending) rating scale of, Buy It! – get a bottle. Try It. – get a taster. Shy from It. – get something else first Snakebite gets a Buy It!
