Little Kings

Ok, this blog is normally about craft beer but I am also just a fan of beer, history of beer and just about anything to do with beer. I think it is awesome how brewers take 4 simple ingredients (for the most part, water, barley, yeast and hops) and develop so many different tastes. Ever since reading ‘Ambitious Brew: The Story of American Beer’, I have been on a quest to find all of the old beers, Schlitz, Stroh’s, Old Style, etc… I know that some of these brews are not owned by the original brewery but still I have hopes that it is the same recipe. So when my buddy made his yearly trip to Lake Erie, I gave him a mission, bring me back some Old Style and anything else you can find that we don’t get down here in the south. Well, tonight’s review is just that, one of those old style American beers we can't find in Georgia.

Little Kings by Hudepohl-Schoenling brewing Co. – Cincinnati, OH.

Pretty cool little 7oz bottles which is why you see two of them. Pours a nice golden yellow with a surprisingly thick head that also stays around leaving nice lacing down the glass. The smell definitely reminds you of when you were a kid and you would sneak a scent of your grandpa’s beer. Nothing like today’s craft brew, but I never expected that. Very light smelling, maybe just a bit of barley, straw, and hops hanging around. The taste is also basically what we grew up tasting when we would get someone to buy us beer before we ‘legally’ allowed to, but much better than the other King of beers. It is crisp, light, refreshing, nothing overpowering, your’e not going to be blown away by the hops or the sweetness of the barley, although there is a slight sweetness to it. I’m not sure this would replace my go to everyday beer that I drink when I plan on tailgating or partaking a backyard grilling feast but I could drink this or a couple of these on a nice summer day. I probably should have poured one in the glass and kept the other in the bottle for a comparison, you know, kind of how the old Coke you get in the small 8oz glass bottles seems to be the best ever tasting Coke. Oh well, I like a full glass of beer instead.

So cheers my friend and I hope this weekend finds you sitting on the back porch with your grill a flaming and your cooler full of cold beer.

FourBoysBrewPub!