Bulls O' Steel: A Review of Steel Reserve 211 High Gravity Lager from Steel Brewing Company

Let's not overly applaud ourselves because of the supreme craftbeeriness we possess. Some of the main arguments for craft beer over "macro swill" are taste, alcohol content, lack of adjuncts and the butt-smooching gaggle of beer Einsteins, who huddle together like cold cows in winter for the heat and warmth of each other's mass of flesh, patting themselves on the back. Let's diffuse a few of these with simple facts based on a so-so beer called Steel Reserve.

This silver phallis full of EXTRA MALTED BARLEY AND SELECT HOPS clocks in at 8.1% alcohol at only 99c per can. A 1L .9 oz bottle of Madrugada Obscura from Jolly Pumpkin clocks in at the same alcohol content for about $8.49. Relatively speaking, the Steel Reserve is 8.5 times as cost worthy. By those terms alone this is a brilliant craft beer and would take a JP masterpiece of 70% alcools to equal the value. The taste though is of a comparable macro lager while the JP offering tastes like the nether region sweat of a goddess.

There may or may not be adjuncts in this beer so we'll draw a no contest on that level. All said though, in terms of beer craftiness, this would be the better beer if I was going by the idiot standards set up by the micro-hypers. Obviously, even the barrel refuse from the aged oak barrels at Jolly Pumpkin is better than this beer, but it's a beer nonetheless, it tastes like beer and is a viable alternative even if you don't like the white trash can it comes in. I won't buy it again but there's no reason why you shouldn't at least try it.

-Wörtwurst