My first blog post on a beer will be on the delicious whisky cask beer Innis & Gunn. Now what is interesting about Innes & Gunn is how fucking ubiquitous it is. It is the one good quality beer that majority of beer drinkers have tried. That's including your regular Labatt Blue 2-4 purchasers and your Craft Brewery supporting brethren. Everyone generally likes it. It's damn smooth and it tastes slightly dark but really is quite sweet and easy to handle.
It's what you would call a "gateway" beer, as it was for me when I first tried it a few years ago. It was what started my interest in trying more exotic and high quality beers. However, the main issue with all "gateway" products is that you eventually outgrow them upon finding stronger/more interesting things. Just like the first time you heard Green Day, you would one day balk at them and favour Black Flag (or at least one would hope). Priced at $2.95 for just a 330 mL bottle, it also is a good way to ease people into spending more on less beer. Time to stop buying 24 packs of crap and start buying a few beers that will change your life (and make you feel less hungover, less fat, less of a loser, etc). Not to mention that it's also 6.6% alcohol, which for some people I have just described to them a perfect beer.
According to the Innis & Gunn website, it's recommended to match the beer with: steaks, sausages, pork, lamb, stews, scallops, haddock, lemon sole, curry, and all sorts of puddings. Man, there's a lot on the site, and it's all in great detail, however I'm a firm believer that just a good pizza will do the trick. I'm also a firm believer that beer is usually better with food, but more so with the hoppier/bitter beers as it tends to highlight the good flavour and weaken the bitterness for all of you that can't handle it (i.e. Bud Light fans).
So, I open my bottle tonight and take a sip. I'm instantly hit with that so called Toffee and Vanilla that is advertised on the front of the bottle. The third flavour advertised, Oak, is way more subtle - which I personally prefer as I'm not a big fan of the flavour Oak (as I determined from trying a few different oakened wines). Not overly carbonated, very smooth and doesn't leave much of a residue in your mouth, which may sound gross but some beers is kinda preferred. Damn this beer is sweet. It smells sweet and tastes sweet. This is probably one of the most sweetest beers I've ever had and yet it doesn't overdo it and make you feel sick. I also can imagine pairing this with more sweet food would just be a complete disaster.
I'd really have to say that while this is a very good beer, I'd maybe change it from universally likeable to overly diplomatic. It's boldness is anything but unique, it's boldly sweet but it comes in such a smooth and almost weak texture that I feel like it's too passive to fall in love with. I'm more attracted to an obnoxiously interesting beer (the Punk IPA comes to mind).
Still, I must remain unbiased when it comes to evaluating a beer and I will still give this a semi positive rating.
70% : Gateway god of beer. Try it if you want to step into the light, but if you're already experienced then it'll be just that for you - light.
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