Peregrine Golden Ale
Review Date 5/9/2001
Try?
Re-buy?
Mark your calendars, dear readers. You’re about to
experience a rare occurrence, an infrequent happening, a once in a lifetime
event. I’m about to pan a beer. Egad, you say, Bruguru is going to be
negative about a beer? Yep. Not because this is a bad beer per se, but
because this beer is just too lacking in character in my opinion.
A little background is in order. Peregrine Golden Ale is brewed in California by the Mendocino Brewing Company, and also in New York State by the same company at the former North Country brewery in Ten Springs. I’ve had the beer before from the New York brewery, whose beers have always seemed to me to be lower in quality than the California-brewed versions. Today, I’m reviewing a bottle I received from the Micro Beer Club. It was brewed in the original California brewery.
I love Mendocino beers. Red Tail Ale has been a favorite of mine for years, though it does seem to have changed a bit over time. The Yuletide Porter is a true delight. And so on. But Peregrine Golden is just too light in my opinion. That in and of itself is not a bad thing. Lots of beers are light in character, but still do have some flavor to them, some redeeming quality. I just don’t find that here.
Peregrine Golden is light gold in color with a light head formation and a very subtle fruity nose. The palate is very light and slightly crisp with malt. There’s a subtle touch of fruit and an extremely light finish. No hops are discernible in the very clean finish. This would seem to be Mendocino’s answer to a Budweiser or Coors, albeit in ale form. Peregrine tastes distressingly like one of those beers, and has distracting adjunct like flavors.
This might be a good beer for hot weather, but I just can’t see paying $7 a six-pack for a beer that tastes so much like $5 Budweiser.
A little background is in order. Peregrine Golden Ale is brewed in California by the Mendocino Brewing Company, and also in New York State by the same company at the former North Country brewery in Ten Springs. I’ve had the beer before from the New York brewery, whose beers have always seemed to me to be lower in quality than the California-brewed versions. Today, I’m reviewing a bottle I received from the Micro Beer Club. It was brewed in the original California brewery.
I love Mendocino beers. Red Tail Ale has been a favorite of mine for years, though it does seem to have changed a bit over time. The Yuletide Porter is a true delight. And so on. But Peregrine Golden is just too light in my opinion. That in and of itself is not a bad thing. Lots of beers are light in character, but still do have some flavor to them, some redeeming quality. I just don’t find that here.
Peregrine Golden is light gold in color with a light head formation and a very subtle fruity nose. The palate is very light and slightly crisp with malt. There’s a subtle touch of fruit and an extremely light finish. No hops are discernible in the very clean finish. This would seem to be Mendocino’s answer to a Budweiser or Coors, albeit in ale form. Peregrine tastes distressingly like one of those beers, and has distracting adjunct like flavors.
This might be a good beer for hot weather, but I just can’t see paying $7 a six-pack for a beer that tastes so much like $5 Budweiser.
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled
(D)=Draft
