When shopping for alcohol, I often find myself beset by indecision, and stare at my options in the beer aisle for far too long. No doubt most of us have been in this situation before, and some may know the cure: the mix pack. Offered by a large number of breweries, mix packs allow the consumer to sample multiple styles of beer in one 12 pack. While many stores are happy to let customers create their own six packs, if you want 12 beers it will generally be cheaper to buy a pre-prepared 12.
After I decide to stop dawdling and go with a mix pack, a new decision awaits: which one? There are a lot of options out there, with a fairly decent range in price, variety and quality. The decision becomes extra difficult when mix packs contain a few selections from a given brewery that are foreign to the palate (and this happens a decent amount, as breweries sometimes sell certain brews to certain regions only in mix packs). This is especially important to keep in mind; just because you like a certain brewery's more common beers does not mean everything in the mix pack is going to be good!
Before I talk about the mix packs that I've had the best experiences with recently, I feel the need to mention a few that should generally be avoided. While everyone's tastes won't match up with mine, there are still certain mix packs that I would hesitate to recommend to anyone.
For example, Shipyard is a brewery whose mix packs often feature a weak, excessively bitter India Pale Ale (Shipyard, like many other breweries, varies their mix packs seasonally); when three of the 12 beers you're buying are not very good, you may want to reassess your purchasing habits. It also tends to be on the more expensive side, generally ranging in price from $15 to $18, depending on where you shop. I have, however, heard good things about Shipyard's newly released Brown Ale so my opinion on that might soon change.
Other mix packs to shy away from include Magic Hat and Sea Dog. Like Shipyard, Magic Hat tends to be as expensive as or pricier than most microbrews, and features its fair share of duds. Although No. 9 is a unique, delicious Pale Ale, some of Magic Hat's seasonal and obscure brews simply don't cut it. Fortunately the beet-juice flavored Wacko that they released this summer is out of season, but I pity whomever ends up with three or four leftover Lucky Kat India Pale Ales from their Magic Hat mix pack. Sea Dog mix packs tend to be mostly fruity wheat beers, and subpar ones at that. Even if you love this particular style, Sam Adams Cherry Wheat and Blackberry Witbier blow anything Sea Dog has ever attempted out of the water.
Speaking of which: Sam Adams mix packs are an excellent choice. They usually come in two varieties: seasonal and the "Brewmaster's Collection." For this column I decided to buy a Brewmaster's mix pack, which contained six of Sam Adams' finest. Sam Adams is an interesting brewery because they're much bigger than the typical American microbrewery, yet are still vastly smaller than the giant American brewing companies like Anheuser-Busch and Coors. So while their beers are technically not "mass-produced," Sam Adams' levels of production are much higher than other microbreweries; fortunately, the quality of their beers does not suffer as a result.
Anyway, my Brewmaster's collection contained two Boston Lagers, which were solid as always, and two Cream Stouts, which I traded away (if you read my last column, you know how I feel about stouts). A quick note here: if you have no friends, don't buy mix packs containing styles of beer you don't like. I really enjoyed Sam's new spring seasonal, the Noble Pils. Hoppier and more flavorful than the typical pilsner without sacrificing a great deal of sweetness, the Noble Pils greatly outdoes Sam Adams' previous spring offering, the lackluster White Ale. Also good was the Coastal Wheat, which has negated the need for fresh lemon slices as it is brewed with California lemons whose flavors are brought out especially well when the beer is poured into a glass.
The two biggest highlights, however, were the Boston Ale and the Scotch Ale. Lighter than most ales, the Boston Ale does more with less. Its flavors come out more subtly and slowly than its stronger counterparts, and it certainly doesn't fill you up like some other ales do. On the other hand, the Scotch Ale tasted big and robust, with some serious malt. Sam Adams definitely beats Gritty's, amongst others, when it comes to this particular style. Although Sam Adams mix packs sometimes run as expensive as others previously mentioned, the consistency found within makes them far more appealing.
Saranac beers, hailing from Utica, New York, are another strong mix pack option. Saranac usually runs a dollar or two cheaper than other microbrew mix packs at any given retailer, yet they are perhaps superior to the majority of their more expensive cohorts. The one catch is that, like many other breweries, Saranacs have a standard built-in taste found in all their varieties (in this case it is an watery after taste); if personal preference results in dislike of this taste, then of course Saranac ceases to be a good option.
If, however, any given Saranac appeals to you then you are bound to enjoy any and every beer within your Saranac mix pack, the contents of which vary seasonally. Highlights amongst the Saranac collection are their Brown Ale, Adirondack Lager, and award-winning Pale Ale. My personal favorite, however, is the Saranac Black Forest, a German-style dark beer that features a very subtle balance of caramel, fruit and malt flavors. Sadly, my most recent Saranac mix pack did not have any Black Forest (I was stuck with more stouts!) and I will not rest until I find some. You shouldn't either.
The Bowdoin Orient has a promotion in partnership with Bootleggers Beverage Warehouse in Topsham, Maine. This week only, Bowdoin students can receive 10 percent off mix packs of Sam Adams and Saranac upon presentation of a Bowdoin ID.