A new drink that has been heavily promoted is “Jeremiah Weed Sour Mash Brew”. Seeing it on a generous discount at Tesco, I thought I would try one. It comes in an old-fashioned style 500ml bottle hinting at the design language of Jack Daniels and Jim Beam. While it looks like beer (albeit the head rapidly disappears), in fact it is really an alcopop, described on the bottle as “brewed with fruit alcohol, spirit and flavourings”. Essentially, it is a “root beer” with alcohol added. It doesn’t really owe anything to brewing as normally understood. There’s also a ginger-flavoured variety.
It has a subdued version of the herby, medicinal taste of Dr Pepper, although rather swamped by an overpowering sweetness. At 4% ABV, very little alcohol character comes through. It’s not actively unpleasant, but if I want a soft drink I’d prefer a Coke, and if I want an alcoholic drink I’d prefer a proper beer. I suspect it is just another fad that will quickly disappear from the market.
Apparently you’re supposed to drink it from a jam jar – the height of sophistication!
Good god, ten minutes after leaving the beard club you're on the alcopops.
ReplyDelete"It doesn’t really owe anything to brewing as normally understood"
I think you'll find the global history of brewing and fermenting ever since apes began to lose their hair and paint on cave walls includes turning all manner of weird and wonderful fermentable sugars into grog, matey.
It is therefore part of a proud global tradition of figuring out how to get pissed on whatever is available. A tradition that pre-dates cask ale by at least 500,000 years.
The branded handle jam jar's are a lot better looking than the drink.
ReplyDeleteThis concoction has been on sale for a while, and on a recent visit to Tesco was being heavily promoted.
ReplyDeleteI haven't been tempted to try it, as it looked rather contrived to me. Now that Curmudgeon has reported on it, I'm glad I didn't waste my money on a bottle. Hopefully it will sink without a trace, freeing up shelf space for more deserving products.