Weird Beard - Camden Beard

Weird Beard seem to have 3 distinct schools of thought on releasing beer:

• Big, intricate, complex, temptresses that assault you and leave you in a ditch... In a super fancy kung fu style.
• Delicious and refreshing session beers that are as fun to drink as a game of Risk with an extremely competitive, high voiced, leprechaun with narcolepsy. (I think that would be super fun!)
• And "Little Things That Kill," (A bafflingly brilliant beer that is low ABV and still pronounced and hoppy. I would call it driving beer but that seems a bit irresponsible.) Which is obviously worthy of having its own section.

Camden Beard is the middle one. The big clue is that it comes in the big bottle (I r smrt =D ) but at 5.5% I don't think anyone but the biggest lightweight on earth would think twice about considering this as a session beer. I'm not sure what I was expecting when I cracked this bottle open, I think I was expecting a cloudy, white, wheat beer with an enormous head and the smell of banana bread. What I got was a pint of lively, oak brown, ale that smells deliciously sweet and hoppy. Winner! That's something I really like about Weird Beard, they make beers that pour well and look good... A horribly shallow thing to like but I'm sick of drinking flat and ugly beer, dammit! The Germans will send a beer back if it doesn't reach a predetermined level of head (it's a freshness thing,) but for me I'm close to the point where I'll send a beer back if it doesn't have spider-web lacing and smell like liquorice, mango and dandelions. Maybe I'll never get to that point but Weird Beard aren't helping me, not with their pretty, pretty, beer!

Dammit if it doesn't taste as good as it looks too! It's got the smooth wheat mouth feel but a softly pronounced hoppiness that lingers, throwing around hints of toffee and liquorice, playing with the malt to soften it and occasionally giving you a little tingle. This is just lovely, beautiful in its simplicity, and I reckon a perfect beer for a party... Depending on your age, anywhere below 19 and your parties are too much about getting hammered and vomiting to enjoy this properly. Above 31? This is for drinking! Stop trying to pair it with a blue cheese soufflé! This isn't dinner party beer and no we will not "kiss the chef," put that bloody apron away, you're embarrassing yourself and everyone around you.

Conclusion: For people who read the end of books and look up main plot points on wikipedia, this beer is good... If you like beer, you'll like this. If you don't like beer then you should probably stop reading.

Food suggestion: Pork scratchings, beef and mustard crisps, dry roasted peanuts, good old pub fare. Nothing too stodgy, stop short of chips and you'll be fine, you'll be needing all that space for more beer.

Drink this if you like: As sweet and soothing, refreshing and regenerating as Mariana Trench. I don't think I've consistently drank beers as quickly as I do beers from Weird Beard... There's something about them that make me want to make a mess and chug like a demon.