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1.14.2012

Smart People Like Good Beer: #4 Spotted Cow

Alright folks, it's that time again. Time to fill the pint glasses with something tasty. Since I've been regularly bashing some of Wisconsin's shitty beer I thought I'd review something from a macrobrewery here in WI that is fairly popular. To that end I'm reviewing New Glarus Brewing Co. Spotted Cow.

New Glarus Brewing Co. is located New Glarus, WI. New Glarus Brewing Co. was founded in 1993 by Deborah Carey, the first woman to found and operate a brewery in the US.

Spotted Cow is a cask conditioned cream ale. It's made with local Wisconsin malts and sweetened with corn.

Spotted Cow pours a mostly transparent gold hue (just a bit of haze) with a mild amount of white head. Spotted Cow is approximately 4.8% ABV. The aroma is pretty simple and subtle. You can smell a little bit of malts and hops, but it's fairly bland. Spotted Cow tastes pretty smooth and a bit creamy on the way down. You get a hint of citrus at the back end. All in all a pretty simple beer. Some might say that it's high in "drinkability."

I'm probably going to disappoint some 'Sconsin natives here, but I"m giving Spotted Cow a 79. It's just kind of "meh" in my book. It doesn't do anything really special, it's just a good, but not great cream ale.

Beer Advocate gives Spotted Cow an 82 from 59 reviews. The experts have not yet weighed in.

Ratebeer gives an adjusted ranking of 48 overall but a 91 in its style category. Apparently cream ales don't do well relatively.

So, I'm a little lower than BA, which is consistent, and higher than Ratebeer this time. Sorry Sconnies, not a huge fan of this one, although it beats Miller products any day.

This post originally appeared on Stuff Smart People Like. Subscribe to the Podcast.

2 comments:

  1. out of all the wisconsin beers this is what you pick? maybe try a good wisconsin beer... ale asylum, central waters, oso. you won't be calling those beers shitty.

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  2. Whoah there! I never said all WI beers were shitty, I didn't even say this one was. There are plenty of WI beers that I love. I picked this one because it's relatively popular in the state. I'm only 4 beers in for the reviews, plenty of time left to get to the great WI craft brews.

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