Normally when I go shopping for beer I’m, well, shopping for beer. That is to say, I am on a dedicated beer buying trip to one or more liquor stores in search of beer. I may have a specific beer or two in mind, but the days when I went from store to store to store in search of a certain beer are pretty much over. I see what’s new and what old favorites I want, and that’s how it works these days.

Sometimes, though, the beer goes shopping for me, as it did not long ago when I was with the wife at Target. Now, Target is not a place I usually buy beer from, but as we headed to the checkout I couldn’t help but notice a large display of the Guinness Amazing Ales Variety Pack.

This is an 8-pack of 14.9 ounce cans, 2 cans each of:

·         Guinness Draft

·         Guinness Generous Ale

·         Smithwick’s Winter Spirit

·         Kilkenny Irish Cream Ale

The Kilkenny and Guinness Draft cans have a nitro pour widget in the can, the other two beers do not. As you can tell, I bought one of the 8-packs and I’m drinking the Kilkenny Irish Cream Ale tonight. Guinness says of it on the sampler carton:

A nitrogenated Irish Red Ale that mingles gentle aromas of caramel with tart citrus hoppiness. The sharp edge of a sourdough flavor melst flawlessly into a smooth, dry finish.

Kilkenny Irish Cream has an alcohol content of 4.3% by volume with 25 IBUs. Target was selling the 8-Packs at a normal price of $8.99, which is a good enough deal, but they were on sale for $7.99 and with my Red Card I picked one up for just $7.59. That’s less than $1 a can! This is the first time that I have seen Kilkenny here in the USA; it's quite popular in Ireland and Canada.

Kilkenny Irish Cream pours to a tawny amber color with a very thick creamy head from the nitro and a rich flinty nose. Taking a sip, the beer is very smooth and drinkable with a bit of caramel malt, toffee and butter rum ice cream flavor throughout the palate. A subtle grassy bitterness balances out the beer nicely and brings you back for another sip. Nicely done, a perfect sipping beer and just what is wants to be, nothing more and nothing less.

The can says you should serve this extra cold, and that is indeed optimal here. Normally I like my beer cool, but not cold, but in this case the nitro widget works best when the beer is very cold. Certainly a beer I would buy again. And you can't argue with the price I paid.....



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