Goose Island Honker's Ale

So my first sip reaction to this was, "oh no...this is going to be painful." However, I must admit that it isn't all that bad (as far as beer goes, that is).

It has a much less distinct taste than the Oatmeal Stout, but it's a strange, familiar-but-not taste. Almost like chewing wood, but without the chewing. The aftertaste also doesn't stick in my mouth for as long as the Oatmeal did, which is nice.

It suggests that one might wish to serve it in an Imperial Pint Glass. As usual, I don't own the recommended glass, but the picture looks cute. Speaking of cute, I really like the Goose Island logo. Geese are cute as long as they aren't running up and attacking you. Speaking of geese, there was a pond full of geese that we used to visit when I was little, and one of the geese only had one foot because a snapping turtle bit it off. But that's beside the point.

The label on this bottle is bright red, which makes it read as less refined to me, but what do I know...I'm not a graphic designer.

Although the blurb on the label suggests that this is an English Pub-style ale, I drank it while eating a lovely German-style bratwurst. So bearing in mind that I really really like bratwursts, and therefore my love of a good sausage might have swayed my opinion a bit, I kind of ended up not totally hating this beer.

We'll call it a foggy on the beer-ometer.

Goose Island Oatmeal Stout

David informs me this is a dark beer. It's hard for me to tell because the bottle is dark, and we don't have any "balloon goblets" like the label suggests.

It doesn't taste as actively bad to me as most beer does, but the aftertaste is no different than the initial taste, which strikes me as odd. (But really, what do I know?) It tastes nothing like oatmeal, and I should know. I eat a lot of oatmeal.

The more I drink the sweeter it seems, which might be a function of it warming up, or it might be me acclimating to the idea of drinking beer. But the longer I sit, contemplating what to write next, the sweeter it gets, so I'm thinking it's the warming up-ness.

So moving right into things that I'm vaguely qualified to comment on, I like the label! It's classy, has a cute picture of a goose, and I like the font choice. (It's kind of lacy-fancy, and there are only a few grammar mistakes.) I also, as a n00b, appreciate very much the picture of the correct glass on the back. Maybe someday, when I stop hating beer, I too will own a balloon goblet or two.

It's worth mentioning that this is not a pasteurized beer. I don't know who this would matter to, but there you have it.

So...bearing in mind that I drink Cincinnati tap water on a regular basis, on the beer-ometer, this is partially cloudy.