Colorful Beer Week: Blue Boar
Even though the label itself claims “Pale Ale”, Henry Weinhard’s Blue Boar could be considered different styles, depending on where you look. BeerAdvocate says, for instance, that it’s a Cream Ale. The Blitz-Weinhard site itself claims a “light, Irish-style ale.” And RateBeer backs up the Pale Ale assertion on the bottle.
It’s also the only Weinhard’s beer to be bottled in green glass. I suppose that’s to make it more distinctive? But it’s an odd choice.
This is also solidly in “craft macro” territory; owned by Miller, most of the Weinhard’s brews are very American Macro in character but are, generally, a cut above. Despite all that, I still enjoy a Henry’s just fine. Blue Boar comes in at 4.6% alcohol by volume.
Appearance: Very clear, pale golden yellow. White fizzy head, but it didn’t last long.
Smell: Crisp and clean, though there’s a hint of green-bottle-skunkiness. Light hop bouquet and a mineral water character.
Taste: Light and crisp with pleasant hoppiness. Not terribly flavorful—it’s a light macrobrew after all—but not unpleasant and there’s certainly more flavor and character than what you’d find in the Big Three.
Mouthfeel: Light-bodied with an edge to the carbonation, but finishes very clean.
Overall: Not my favorite of the Weinhard’s—it shouldn’t be bottled in green—but it’s drinkable enough.
On BeerAdvocate it scores an overall grade of C-. On RateBeer, it scores 2.23 out of 5 and is in their 10th percentile.