You Can’t Go Home Again
Drifter is back. I haven’t had one since before this blog was born, but I have fond memories of the old Widmer Brothers’ pale ale. It stands out in my mind as one of the first beers I really tasted. As young lad, every beer tasted like beer, though some were hoppier -- read bitter -- and some were darker. Drifter actually tasted like something. Drifter tasted like citrus. I never tasted that before. This beer was key in my understanding of beer, that beer could be dissected, analyzed. And then they took it away.
But it is back. And this very week David Bardallis at All Brews Fit to Pint is hosting a Session on the topic of Late, Lamented Loves. It’s fate. I was meant to drink this beer, this week.
Was it ever so sweet? I don’t remember Drifter being so malty. It has the richness of an amber ale or Dunkel lager. It’s a coppery colored ale. It still smells of lightly of citrus. The flavor is fairly balanced, maltier than your average IPA, and less hop forward. That citrus peel returns on the tongue, followed but a light green bitterness.
It could never live up to the hype. Since its disappearance, Drifter has taken on a sort of mythology. It was a foundational beer. It was important. And so it must have been delicious. Eh. Not so much. It’s a pale ale. It’s a good pale ale, but it’s not as good as the story I tell about it.