Day 13 of the 2nd Annual Advent-ure Calendar
Day 13: Jolly Traveler Beer Co. Winter Shandy
We are throwing in a wild card with this beer. Surprise, it’s a shandy! Jolly Traveler set out to be first American craft Shandy. When you think of shandies, most people think of summer. At least, we do. We definitely don’t think of winter beers. Both of us typically don’t drink shandies because they tend to be too sweet but we’re anxious to see how this winter shandy will be. From the website: “Jolly Traveler is a cheerful winter beer inspired by the senses of the season. A wheat beer made with real orange, pomegranate and holiday spices, this Traveler is a refreshing libation for the season of festivity.”
REFLECTIONS
Beard & Broad
Beard: Full disclosure, this is the beer I was least looking forward to. Traveler beers are always just way too sweet for me and not enough like beer. I guess that’s what they’re going for since they’re all shandy’s (beer mixed with a soft drink, i.e.: carbonated lemonade, ginger beer, ginger ale, apple juice, etc.), but they don’t even taste refreshing to me. With this I get fruity pebbles, but replace the milk with Hawaiian Punch. Not for me.
Broad: To be honest, I was not looking forward to drinking this. I kinda hate these beers. They are too sweet and probably shouldn’t be classified as beers. It smells like summer shandy. It tastes like they took old summer shandy and throughout some holiday spice and some coconut in it. I really don’t like this. There is nothing winter, holiday or delicious about this. I couldn’t even finish my half!
Adam & Alex
Adam: “Preface: I do not like shandies. They are far too sweet for me. That said- this one is even worse than most shandies. It smells like oranges and cranberries. Honestly it smells like things I’d want to mix with vodka but instead it’s terrible beer. It’s like a carbonated jungle juice. This is the Hi-C fruit punch of holiday beers.”
Alex: I can’t even sugar coat this one, because I think I now have about 100 cavities from the sugar explosion that is this beer. This didn’t even taste like beer to me. It’s far too sweet, and reminds me of a cream soda. I am just not a fan.
Scott & CT
Scott: I don’t hate this beer. Honestly, I kinda like it. It’s like those guilty pleasures you won’t tell anyone about (except you’ll write a blog post about it…hmmm) such as my love of Backstreet Boys, really soft blankets and the 4 for $4 from Wendy’s. Let me clarify, this is not a good beer, but I’m still allowed to like it. Maybe it’s the two xenomorph beers I just had…wait those are aliens…I mean Xocoveza’s but I’ll give this beer one thumb up.
CT: Okay for real: This beer tastes like what an overly jolly holiday retail worker makes me feel. Way too sweet. A bit aggressive. Probably going to give me a headache.
Lou & Jen
Lou: A shandy during the holidays, you can’t be serious!! Blasmephy! But I have to admit, this is a nice pallette cleanser after a few weeks of traditional holiday ales. I feel like it’s June and i’m too pale to have my shirt off by the pool, but I’m going for it anyway. The pomegranate and apple flavors balance nicely with the holiday spices. The smell is mostly of oranges and it is pretty sweet on first taste. This would be way down on my list of beers to drink during winter time, but if it’s mid February in Ohio, going on 2 months straight of grey skies and below freezing temps, I could see myself cracking one of these open and dreaming of speedos and sun burns.
Jen: Notes of cinnamon, pear, apple, orange and honey. Very light and smooth. No strong aftertaste. It’s almost like a cider beer. My only complaint is the low alcohol volume. It’s definitely a nice brew for casual drinking and doesn’t feel too heavy. I could drink a couple of these and not feel like Santa Clause squeezing down the chimney.
