A Beer That's Not Really a Beer: Shiner Ruby Redbird

Okay, so it's a fruit beer, and fruit beer's really don't taste like traditional beers with a solid malt bill.

Shiner Ruby Redbird is kind of like a ginger ale, but with alcohol. I'm talking about a serious ginger ale, not the mass produced "natural flavors" ginger ale.

In my light it looks amber-orange. The head left in a hurry. It smells of ginger up front with the sweet bitterness of grapefruit in the shadows. Again, it tastes and feels like a ginger ale. My guess is there is not one cultivar of hops listed in the ingredients for this recipe, but I haven't seen the blackbook of the brewmaster. Call it a hop-free beer if you can stand to imagine such a blasphemous concoction.

Refreshing? Yes. Satisfying? Sure. Does it stand a chance when I've got a choice between it and Bell's Amber Ale or another favorite of mine, Sierra Nevada's Torpedo? No. That being said, nice try.

I like you Shiner Ruby Redbird, but I don't love you.