Hathor California Common
Being the guy that doesn’t “know beer” and isn’t a “beer snob”, I really didn’t know what to expect from this beer. I had never even heard of a California Common and didn’t know it was a non-copyrighted name for a Steam beer (truth be told, I didn’t really know what a Steam beer was, either…). At any rate, this beer was definitely a good example of a Cali Common, meaning it checked the boxes for the style and it was a good beer.
I was still wrapping my brain around what I was drinking my first few sips. Was it hoppy? Was it malty? I couldn’t put my finger on it. Reading about the steam style of beers afterward, I think I was on the right track by thinking both malt and hops. But, once I stopped trying to figure it out and just decided to enjoy the beer, I certainly did – for a time. I found that the malt had much more of a presence that the hops. Now, I like me some malty beers, but I don’t know if I like them with such a strong hops component. I don’t know if it was that, or if it was because I ordered it after an IPA, but I got about 3/4 of the way through it and offered it to Mike. I hate to have to admit that. Truth be told, there was the factor that I was feeling a bit of a light-weight that night and was feeling the effects of the previous beer a bit strongly as well, even though this one was only 5.2% ABV.
Bottom line, I’m going to give this one another chance but this time, I’ll be ordering it first thing.
Alas, no picture of this one.
