Weyerbacher

I love Weyerbacher.  I think it may be the most underrated Philly-area brewer and thought I'd show them some love.  They are known for making "big" beers.  It's funny that I love them since some of my favorite styles are low ABV, e.g. pale ale, German pilsner, ESB.  According to their website, they found the big beer niche kind of by accident, as they originally set out in the mid 90s to make mainstream styles like ESBs, pale ales, etc.  When their Raspberry Imperial Stout got some good buzz, they changed focus.

Weyerbacher makes one of my favorite beers, Merry Monks.  I have reviewed it on this blog before (Merry Monks if you want to read it).  It has won the bronze medal for Belgian tripel at the Great American Beer Fest, pretty high praise.  It's 9.3% ABV, a nice strong, but drinkable, golden ale.  I love the Belgians, don't get me wrong, but I love that for a few bucks less I can pick up a cork and cage bottle of this and really jazz up a Tuesday night dinner.  It's fantastic stuff.

I actually haven't had their barleywine, imperial stout, or double IPA, which they are also known for.  But I have had Heresy, which is their imperial stout aged in Kentucky bourbon barrels (they sell the empty barrels, too, but my wife would probably kill me).  The Heresy was fantastic, adding just the right amount of vanilla and oak without dominating the stout's roastiness. 

A few other Weyerbachers I've had-

Imperial Pumpkin Ale-a very good pumpkin, I like it better than Dogfish's but maybe not as much as Riverhorse's pumpkin stout

Verboten-This one wasn't my favorite when I had it.  But it gets good reviews, and it sounds interesting as it's a Belgian pale with American hops.  Maybe I'll give it another go.

Blanche-Solid wheat beer

Tiny- I had to pick this one up, as my dog has the same namesake.  Tiny, a "Belgian inspired" imperial stout, comes in at a whopping 11.8% ABV.  But it was smooth as silk with good flavor.

Long story short, Weyerbacher is great.  I'll have to give some of their others a try, the high ABV always makes me hesitate when I'm actually in the store bc/ I like to invest in more versatile beers.  But I should mix a six or grab a few big bottles to have with dinner--the high alcohol is like drinking a glass of wine.

I'm going to stop overlooking Weyerbacher, and you should, too.