BRAND: Oskar Blues Cajun Grill & Brewery

NAME: Old Chub

TYPE OF BEER: Scottish Strong Ale

ALCOHOL CONTENT: 8.0%

PRICE: $9.99 for a six pack o’ cans

PURCHASED AT: Nugget Grocery Store

DESCRIPTION: Myth debunking time. Let’s see a show of hands of who thinks good beer only comes in bottles? That’s most of us. I’m here to tell you that is a myth thanks to modern-day canning. Yes, beer in cans a few decades ago could possibly affect the taste of beer. Beer in cans today is actually better for beer.

Yes, my MANLAND brothas. I said, “better for beer.”

Why? Many factors come into play as to how beer tastes after packaging, but there’s one main component that’s guaranteed to ruin beer: light. Whether it be the sun’s UV rays or the bright lights of a well-lit supermarket beer bin, light penetrates a bottle and slowly (or quickly) breaks down the quality of a beer. This can result in the hops of a beer spoiling and thus producing a “skunky” aroma and flavor. Think about most beers in clear or green bottles. Most (not all) have a skunkiness to them and that’s what is known in the beer world as a “lightstruck” beer.

I’m not a rocket scientist, but if a can allows zero light into the beer, that means a can can (I’ve never used can back to back in a sentence before) have a fresher flavor than its bottle brother. English brewers have offered beer in cans for years (Guinness, Boddingtons, Tetleys, Murphys, Old Hen, etc), and many more breweries are offering beer in cans these days. (I just noticed Newcastle Brown Ale in cans today.)

Want proof? I recently purchased Corona in bottle and Corona in a can. I did a taste test with both beers poured into a glass and everyone who tried the samples preferred the canned beer to the bottle. The can beer had zero skunkiness and a smoother flavor than the bottle. So don’t write off cans when buying beer!

Who is Oskar Blues? The company is located in Lyons, CO and opened operations in 1997, started a brewpub in 1999 and started canning in 2002. This is a brewery with a sense of humor: my can of Old Chub was adorned with the motto “HIGH ALTITUDE, HIGH ATITUDE, HIGH LAND, HIGH YA, NO RICE.” The bottom of my test can was also laser engraved with “I GOT ME A CHRYSLER, IT’S AS BIG AS A WHALE….” and the “born-on date of 05-02-09. Extra points for any MANLANDER who can name what song the previously mentioned phase is from!

POUR/TASTE: Oskar Blues describes Old Chub as having “a creamy, skim-milk mouth feel, and rich, semi-sweet flavors of caramel and chocolate throughout. The addition of smoked grains gives Old Chub a delicate kiss of smoke on the finish.”

Old Chub came out of the can with a color and aroma I’ve never experienced from a beer in a domestic can: it has a deep brown/reddish hue that reminds me of Coke Original. There’s not much of a head on the pour (1/8” at the most), but the beer does have active carbonation. The first whiff reveals some dark caramel scents with alcohol bite (this one weighs in at 8% ABV). The sip test reveals the same dark caramel flavor with some roasted malt and a bit of Imperial-Stout-like black-licorice tones. I did pick up a minor hint of some smokiness to the aftertaste, but just a hint. Old Chub has a medium/full presence in your mouth with a caramel/alcohol aftertaste but one that doesn’t have tongue/cheek-saturating heaviness.

WOULD YOU RECOMMEND THIS BREW TO OTHER MANLANDERS? Excellent beer from a can? Oh, yeah. Put on a pair of board shorts, load a few cans into the pockets, and sneak some great brews into a movie theater this weekend! (At 8% ABV … you won’t need many!)

SCORE (1-5): 4.5

CAN FRONT

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CAN POUR

POUR VIDEO

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