Beer of the Weekend #491: Jackpine Savage
I returned from the Twin Cities two weeks ago and have yet to break into the bulk of my Zipp’s Liquors haul. Therefore, I think it is time for a brown bottle (can, in this case) lunch: Jackpine Savage, brewed by the Big Wood Brewery of White Bear Lake, Minnesota.
Note the metal-esque umlaut over the “n”? Yeah — Word will not allow me to place an umlaut over an “n.” (I thought I understood umlauts pretty well until Zee German and I discussed them. Now I am totally confused.) Anyway, the beer is listed as Jack Savage on both the Big Wood website and BeerAdvocate, so I assume the “pine” was either dropped or added recently.
Serving type: 16-ounce can. No freshness date.
Appearance: Poured into a nonic pint glass. The color is orange-amber that is very hazy, almost cloudy. Two fingers of dense, eggshell-colored head settled slowly, leaving lacing along the glass, a bubbly and spotted froth, and a ring of foam around the edge.
Smell: Lots o’ malt upfront. Caramel, toffee, and lightly toasted malts. It also has a nice butterscotch aroma as well. There are hints of fruit on the tail but nothing prominent. Grapefruit emerges gradually but is also not very prominent.
Taste: The first sip offers faint grapefruit/tangerine citrus and coarse bitterness — a complete reversal from the aroma. The citrus remains present throughout the pint, hanging around in the background to influence each sip, and eventually gains prominence. The bitterness is not over the top, either; it is balanced well with a lot of caramel, toffee, and butterscotch. There is also a little spice at the end, which is a surprise. I am thinking rye but could be mistaken.
Drinkability: Solid! This is good, tasty drinking.
Fun facts about Jackpine Savage:
-Style: American Pale Ale.
-Price: $2.99/can at Zipp’s Liquors on Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis. (Thank you, price sticker!)
-Alcohol content: 5.3 percent ABV.
-Nerdiness from the can:
At first I misread it as “a plow in his truck,” which I thought was pretty weird. Do Minnesotans, I wondered, call snow shovels “plows”? I guess not.
The Quiet Man’s grade: A-.
Note the metal-esque umlaut over the “n”? Yeah — Word will not allow me to place an umlaut over an “n.” (I thought I understood umlauts pretty well until Zee German and I discussed them. Now I am totally confused.) Anyway, the beer is listed as Jack Savage on both the Big Wood website and BeerAdvocate, so I assume the “pine” was either dropped or added recently.
Serving type: 16-ounce can. No freshness date.
Appearance: Poured into a nonic pint glass. The color is orange-amber that is very hazy, almost cloudy. Two fingers of dense, eggshell-colored head settled slowly, leaving lacing along the glass, a bubbly and spotted froth, and a ring of foam around the edge.
Smell: Lots o’ malt upfront. Caramel, toffee, and lightly toasted malts. It also has a nice butterscotch aroma as well. There are hints of fruit on the tail but nothing prominent. Grapefruit emerges gradually but is also not very prominent.
Taste: The first sip offers faint grapefruit/tangerine citrus and coarse bitterness — a complete reversal from the aroma. The citrus remains present throughout the pint, hanging around in the background to influence each sip, and eventually gains prominence. The bitterness is not over the top, either; it is balanced well with a lot of caramel, toffee, and butterscotch. There is also a little spice at the end, which is a surprise. I am thinking rye but could be mistaken.
Drinkability: Solid! This is good, tasty drinking.
Fun facts about Jackpine Savage:
-Style: American Pale Ale.
-Price: $2.99/can at Zipp’s Liquors on Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis. (Thank you, price sticker!)
-Alcohol content: 5.3 percent ABV.
-Nerdiness from the can:
Chances are good you know someone just like Jackpine Savage. He’s the kind of guy that always has a plow on his truck with a cooler in the back. If you want to hear a good fish story, or need somebody to run the barbecue, you bet he’s your man. Brewed with all American hops, Jackpine Savage is a good time—gone great.
At first I misread it as “a plow in his truck,” which I thought was pretty weird. Do Minnesotans, I wondered, call snow shovels “plows”? I guess not.
The Quiet Man’s grade: A-.
