Blog #74. Mystery Beer

Since lockdown started and the launch of Big Beer Blog, I have been taking full advantage of introductory subscription beer offers. And when I say full advantage, I mean I’ve been well over doing it. I may or may not have done the £6 beer52 first month offer 5 times now, each under a different name to a different house. Naughty! I also did the first month with Brew Republic, who were offering 12 beers for £15, including a free glass. I have since cancelled that subscription of course as I have done with all the beer52’s, partly because I now have a huge stockpile to get through and secondly because I’m going to explore what the supermarkets have to offer when I start to run out…. In a few months, and mainly because I don’t want to spend £30 a month when I can get beer much cheaper elsewhere.

In my Brew Republic order I did receive the 12 beers and the free glass, but one of those beers was the ‘Mystery Beer’. I was quite surprised to see I had been given a beer with no label, so really had no idea of knowing what it was. Best case scenario It could be a super yummy IPA which I’d love, or worst case scenario it could be acid. The person who boxed up my order would have literally picked up that beer, seen no label and thought ‘ah well, beers a beer, who cares’ and dropped it in there. Fair enough, who really cares anyway? And it’s a pretty safe assumption that it is a beer and not in fact poison.

To be fair to Brew Republic they do actually have a sheet of paper in the box with a list of what you’ve received, and it wasn’t hard to work out that one was missing, Go Backer by Rooster Brewing Co. So it’s likely that this is what it is. But technically speaking, it doesn’t say it on the label, so there’s still a chance it’s poison in my mind. So I dropped them an email to let them know what had happened and sent them a picture. The customer service from Brew Republic was on point and they apologised and said they’d send some beers out straight away to make up for it. Naturally I wasn’t against this and considered the matter settled because they were pretty forthcoming with the offer to send replacements and suggested I disposed of the mystery beer. Of course I was never going to dispose of the mystery beer, who would do that!

A couple days later I received another delivery and low and behold. 3 Go Backers had been sent to me! Which I was a little miffed by, because in my mind I was expecting 3 different beers, not all the same. Because what if I didn’t like it? I’ve never heard of Rooster Brewing Co, I hadn’t tried any of their others at this point, despite their being a few of theirs in the fridge which came with the Brew Republic order. But hey ho, it’s free beer so who cares.

Go Backer by Rooster Brewing Co - 3.6%

Naturally I chilled them in the fridge and enjoyed my first Go Backer with the football later that day. And when I say ‘enjoyed’, I don’t mean that AT ALL! It’s horrible, it’s such a waste of a can which could have been used to house a better beer. Go Backer by Rooster Brewing Co is not nice, it’s really bitter and doesn’t have any great flavours, no great aroma. Really makes you wish you hadn’t bothered. I chose not to take notes to review it because I just couldn’t be bothered. (Football was on) Plus if Rooster can’t be arsed to make a good beer, then I can be arsed to review it.

Mystery Beer in Bens brewery

Yesterday Ben invited us round to brew beer and have a BBQ. Sounds like fun to me, 2 of my favourite hobbies. Beer and Meat. Shame there was no football on. Anyway, I took the remaining Go Backers and the Mystery Beer, because I figured I’d save the better fancier stuff for a real treat and get this crap out the way. 3 beers in and starting to feel a bit tipsy I crack open the Mystery Beer, mostly expecting Go Backer but open to the possibility of poison. And do you know what? I think poison would have been an improvement! It was Go Backer again, and yes it’s still crap! Again, really bitter and flavourless, just nothing nice to say about it. I didn’t take notes because at this point, BBQ was ready. But I can safely tell you now that it wasn’t poison, but at the same time, it was poison.

I am giving this a 2/10.

Cheers,

Dan