Welcome to your weekend party people. We have a bottle with a beard in town as well as a guest review from He-Man’s arch nemesis.. 

 

BREWER: Robinsons, Greater Manchester 

STYLE: IPA

ABV: 6%

VESSEL: 330ml bottle 

TWITTER: @robbiesbrewery

MOB RATING: 52%

 

 

SAMMY SAY’S…

As I myself am currently the proud owner of a well-worn beard, you can only imagine my excitement at the thought of trying a beer named after this long lasting tradition.  With so much riding on this beer (based solely on its hipster name), does it live up to expectation?

Well – the first signs are good.   There’s a face with a beard very prominently displayed on the label.  And that’s great because…well….the beer is named Beardo!  Then, once released from its bottle into a glass, the chocolaty aromas are distinctive and give hope of something great inside. 

I’m sorry to let you all know that that’s where the greatness ends.  You see, Beardo does not follow through with taste.  It’s not a heady trip into the world of beards, as so teasingly promised by the label.  Neither is it a journey into the world of great craft beers.  No, Beardo is very much about being on show and trying to cash in on the wonderful world of craft beers.  The taste just isn’t there.  Beardo is distinctive for being hard to chew down.  It has no place with all the other fantastic beers out there on offer.

 We all know that the trends for beards come and go over time: hundreds of years of being in and out of fashion.  I’d be very surprised if Beardo is around the next time beards are en vogue.  It would be some feat if Beardo was still here by the time the last beard associated with this current crop is shaved off!

 More time needs to be spent on brewing as opposed to beard grooming.  

 

Sammy’s Rating: 45%

 

 

JYMI SAY’S…

There was once a time where ale was associated with chaps who donned beards and beards were associated with chaps keen on the consumption of ale.

As time has moved forward ale is now associated with chaps who don beards and beards are associated with chaps keen on the consumption of ale… hang on, so nothing has changed you say?!

Incorrect, though a beard is still a beard, and ale is still ale, plenty has changed my friends, plenty has changed.

The beard is no longer there because the consumer is far too hammered to contemplate a shave. Far from it. Most of today’s beard wearers have this furniture on their face because they’re a hipster, beatnik or just flippin’ cool.

Of course ale is still ale but nowadays it’s trendy to drink it and there are a million and one takes and tweaks out there for us to try. If you had mentioned something like an orange peel infused IPA back in the 70’s you would have been thrown to the floor by the aforementioned bloke that was too pissed to shave.

But the fact remains, Beards and Beers belong together, like Gin and Tonic, and the Robinsons branding division have recognized this and NAILED IT!!!

WHAT. A . NAME.

WHAT. A. BOTTLE.

WHAT. A. BEER?

Well, let’s find out..

The nose is lovely, a little old skool with the bitter tones but really good. I must also take a moment to comment on how good this looked in the glass. The colour and head on Beardo once poured just made it look so inviting. So I got stuck in.

Bizarrely, the initial taste took me back to when I was VERY young but just old enough to be offered a small sip of my Dad’s crappy pint of whatever it was. I genuinely liked the taste of those little sips though. I’m not sure the quality was good at all, but as said, I most definitely liked. The first two seconds of each sip of Beardo, taste wise were the same as I used to get way back when, and I have to say, enjoyable.

But then something happened, something totally out of the blue, and I have to tell you it was not pleasant.. The taste suddenly switched from the crappy old skool bitter taste that I liked, to this soapy texture and almost banana flavour. Odd, really odd. What is strange is the whole tasting experience seems like it has been put together well. But the taste poles are crazy complex and not really for me.

Beardo had so much promise but unfortunately missed the mark.

 

 Jymi’s Rating: 59%

 

 

MUSE ON BOOZE RATING: 52% 

 

 

SKELETOR SAY’S…

Firstly welcome to the guest review from the almighty Skeletor! I was given the task of sampling a Robinson’s Brewery tipple by the aptly named “Beardo.”
In order to get in the mood I donned a plaid shirt and skinny jeans with my most presentable deck shoes (no socks obviously). So upon popping the top I was welcomed by a beautiful yet powerful aroma of hops and zest, genuinely under the impression I was on to an absolute scorcher and at 6% ooh wee what a treat!
It poured a lovely golden colour and thick aromatic head to compliment, my excitement grew more so with this great appearance and the smell still lingering in my nostrils!

The chap on the bottle with his dark glasses beard and hat, looking almost “Heisenberg” like clearly utilised to draw the Breaking Bad fans which arose my first concern that they be trying to mask a certain level of mediocrity. Alas the info on the back not taking itself too seriously with a few cheesy jokes redrew my attention, this included pointing out the 6% marker as being able to “put hairs on your chest.”

I gave the beer some time to sit, although not too long as it’s been a tough week at work! I took my first sips and was overwhelmed by immense sense of mediocrity, it tasted like fermented pine cones and orange peel. I was determined to believe my first impression was wrong but after further drinking the flavour almost became worse by the mouthful. Although served well chilled it went warm very fast and like a can of Red Stripe lost any kind of carbonation less than halfway down.

In conclusion I offer the grade “could do better”
I was really excited to knuckle down and guzzle this bad boy only to be stricken with heart breaking disappointment and I shall not be imbibing this again.

 

Skeletor’s Rating: 56%

 

MOB review next weekend: CASTAWAY by KONA BREWING CO.

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