Just goes to show ya that you can’t really expect to follow your own dictum forever. Lagunitas Brewing Co. founder Tony Magee once swore up and down that he’d be the last small brewer to put his beer in cans. Well, some time has past, Lagunitas is hardly a small brewer, having built the largest-capacity brewery in Chicago, and they’re half-owned by Heineken.
Although considering how quickly to move to canned craft beer has gone, they could have been one of the few remaining holdouts. But this July, that changes.
“And then at the very moment that the lands beyond the River Styx froze over, as the last pig took flight, as the last winged monkey departed the darkly fragrant netherlands, when wishes become horses and all of the beggars rode…” runs Tony’s typically hyperbolic copy of the can of 12th of Never Ale, a sample can of which was sent out this week to us craft beer writers. 12th of Never is billed as “a blend of Old & New School hops that play bright citrus and rich tropical flavors,” with likely a pale ale base supplemented with English puffed wheat.
My secretive can arrived in a brown cardboard box on Wednesday, but it had been sitting in a hot delivery van as with previous samples. So a few days in the cooler, and on a Friday night, under cover of darkness, I offer these impressions (again, because the beer was sent to me I call this a “preview” instead of a “review.” Semantics.)
The can pours out a slightly cloudy India Pale Ale type color, under a spongy head. As the bubbles pop, they supply notes of papaya and stone fruit, with a walk-on part from the pine sap of an American Northwest hop. The first sip brings the usual assault of hop bitterness to the tip of the tongue, although it claims a more moderate 45 IBU compared to the trendy hop bombs we’ve been having. Alcohol is a “regular” 5.5% by volume. Somehow I got more of a tropical fruit impression by taking some of remaining sips from the can, perhaps the pull tab in front of my lip helped aerate it going down.
So the Lagunitas folks have attempted to mark their crossing to the aluminum side with a beer that’s slightly different than what has gone before. There is more information, and an interview from their Petaluma brewmaster, at lagunitas.com/beers/12thofnever. Indications are that the canning line has only been installed at the original California brewery for now. But if this “beer in a can” idea takes off, look for more cans from the Chicago brewery too. And look for this beer to hit store shelves and taps in July.
As to the origin of the name, I present you with the song of the same name recorded by Johnny Mathis in 1956. Don’t laugh; for all I know, I was conceived to this song.
And you may notice the MacBook Air in the photo, which was handed down to me, sort of, by a good friend who had just upgraded. It let me sit out here on the porch, write my review, edit the photo that I took with my tablet because the mac’s camera still can’t handle low light, and publish with an hour of sitting down. Go progress!
