Tea infused beer!
Ok – so treading lightly here because while this is technically a production by Beau’s Brewery it was done in partnership w/ DAVIDsTEA and I definitely got to see “behind the curtains” a bit as this cool combo beer came to fruition and I don’t actually know exactly how much of the ‘how we got here’ I’m allowed to talk about so I’m just gonna err on the side of none of it…
Also not sure how “rating” this one falls morally – again, not technically a DT product. Just something that uses a DT product in it, right? But I’m also just going to err on the side of not rating it just because of any potential conflict of interest or subconscious bias that I might have. So, all of that said!
This is definitely not my first run in with a tea infused beer – and it’s not even my first run in with a London Fog flavoured beer. I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again – I love the concept of tea beers and I’m really always game to try one because I think the pairing and flavour potential is endless. However, I also don’t really love beer aside from a good stout or the occasional radler. So I often end up trying these tea beers and then feeling kind of just “meh” about them – not because they’re necessarily meh beers but just because it’s not my thing.
That said, I like this one more than others! It’s still not something that I could just sit down with a pitcher of like I can a Guinness but I really appreciate how well this appears to be brewed and how much the essence of the tea actually does really, truly come through. It’s very creamy/silky – more than any other pale ale I’ve had, I think (admittedly a small pool of contenders). I get some hops sort of funk that I just don’t love, but mostly I’m taken away by the smoothness and how much I actually get vanilla! It’s nice and I can actually finish a full can without feeling as if I’m really, really pushing myself to do so!
So, you can probably take all of that with a grain of salt because I don’t know shit about beer – but just for me personally I’m down with what this combo is trying to achieve! If Beau’s can make a pale ale so appealing to me by mixing it with Cream of Earl Grey – which is a tea that I don’t even love, I wonder what they could do with something that I am really into!? Would definitely love to see more tea beers developed – so much cool potential!
(Tossing on my disclaimer statement – just in case…)
Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts and feelings regarding the teas, and not the company’s.
Interesting tea/beer. I have few beers with tea, but they were usually only single batches.