Here’s a beer that intrigued me from the moment I saw the can: Catawba Peanut Butter Jelly Time, a brown ale brewed with raspberries and peanuts. Now I’ve enjoyed Catawba beers before and even been to one of their alehouses in Asheville, North Carolina. Recently, however, we started getting their beer here in Georgia, and I picked up a few at Total Wine. I’ve yet to see them on tap at Taco Mac.

Catawba Peanut Butter Jelly Time is, obviously, a theme beer meant to recall a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. A few brewers make such beers, though this is only the second one that I have come across. Terrapin’s Side Project 25 Liquid Lunch Peanut Butter and Jelly Porter was the first.

From the website:

Remember when your mom packed a PB&J sandwich in your lunchbox? The flavors all melded into pure comfort food by noon! Well, we recreated this childhood goodness in a beer! This light brown ale is brewed from five different grains and then aged for weeks on raspberries and roasted peanuts. Take a sip, let the flavors mingle on your palate, and enjoy our PB&J in a glass.

Catawba Peanut Butter Jelly Time has an alcohol content of 5.7% by volume with 10 IBUs. It runs on the high side at $11.99 for a 4-pack of 16-ounce cans.  

Catawba Peanut Butter Jelly Time pours to a murky reddish brown color with a dark dirty head formation and a gentle suggestion of roasted peanuts in the nose. Taking a sip, I get cookie malt to form the crust, light hints of roasted peanuts if not peanut butter, and a little raspberry fruit to suggest the jelly and a harsh grassy English hop bitterness in the finish. The fruity jelly is understated here and it does not work in harmony with the peanut notes, and the harsh hops clash with it all.

Catawba Peanut Butter Jelly Time does not work for me. The elements work against each other instead of in harmony, and the hops seem totally out of place for a beer that is supposed to remind me of a classic PB & J. Add to that the high price and this is a beer that won’t make it onto my rebuy list.

 And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.

*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.

(B)=Bottled

(D)=Draft

(G)=Growler

 

 

 



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