My first Craft Beer…Revisited
I started drinking craft beer around 1992-3 while I was going to college in Buffalo, NY. I saw many new beers upon my arrival in Buffalo that I had never seen before. Many of these were regional beers, like Saranac, Utica, Genesee, and Dundees. There were also some other beers that I had never seen before that were not just regional beers. These beers were special. They tasted different. They tasted…good.
The beer that stood out the most was Pete’s Wicked Ale. Once I had my first Pete’s Wicked Ale, I was hooked. I bought it from the stores and in the bars every chance I had. The Winter Ale also blew me away, a toasty beer with some nice woody undertones and a warmness that was perfect for the Buffalo winters.
A recent issue of The Beer Connoisseur (Issue 4, Fall 2010) highlights a brief history of Pete’s. In 1995, Pete’s was the second largest craft brewery in the US (Boston Beer was number 1). That year, Pete’s sold 350,000 barrels. Pete’s was sold to The Gambrinus Company in 1998 (a company that also owns Spoetzl Brewery, the Bridgeport Brewery and the Trumer Brauerei). It seems that ever since they were sold, their market share decreased. By 2009, their output dropped all the way down to 20,000 barrels and they are not even listed in the top 50 largest craft breweries today.
In my last year in Buffalo, 1996, I started to explore more beers. I would regularly be found at Alternative Brews in Buffalo, which at the time was the first beer bar that specialized in foreign and craft beers I had ever seen, with many taps and even more bottles. I also started brewing my own beer around this same time period. When I finally moved to Denver, CO, it was game over. Colorado was a bastian for craft beer. I discovered Boulder Beer, New Belgium, Left Hand, Great Divide and others. I stopped drinking Pete’s because there was so many more options available in Colorado.
It’s probably been about 13 years since I last drank Pete’s Wicked Ale.
When I go to the liquor store, I often walk up and down the beer aisle looking for something new and interesting. I always pass by the JW Dundee’s Honey Brown Ale and the Pete’s Wicked Sampler 12 pack. This week, I decided to have a visit with nostalgia and give Pete’s a try. I didn’t want to buy a full 12 pack, but was lucky to find Pete’s Wicked Ale in the singles cooler. So I bought one.
Pete’s Wicked pours an amber-red to amber-brown. It has a light head with some tight bubbles on the lacing. I wasn’t that pleased with the smell. It was reminiscent of fizzy yellow beer to me. I did smell some cherry, some caramel and plenty of malt. The taste…this is not what I remember. I don’t know if they changed the recipe or if I just remember the Winter Ale more. Definitely malt flavor, maybe some of that caramel I smelled. But otherwise, kind of flavorless, very mild. I think it would be easy to drink 10 of these in one sitting. A session beer? I guess so, but I would really rather have some more flavor.
Taste is one of those senses that is supposed to stick with us for a long time. Drinking this beer did not bring back any memories, at all. Did the recipe change? Did my taste change? Either way, this was not an enjoyable beer for me, and I probably would not like to drink it again. Maybe in another 15 years…
