Earlier this week during on of my semi-regular trips to my local specialty beverage shop, I was feeling restless and irritable. When I first started the 365brews project, I was full of optimism and the options seemed endless. Back in the early days of the year, the liquor store was my playground and I relished the opportunity to kill some time picking out the perfect beers for the project. Now that I'm about a quarter of the way done with the project, my enthusiasm for the beverage shop has been curtailed significantly. I no longer look forward to these weekly trips, in fact, I quite dread them. It's not that the prospect of trying new beers has become boring for me; it's just that it's such a busy part of the year for me that trying to squeeze in time to pick up new beers has become more of a hassle than a pleasure. I was particularly grumpy and ornery walking the aisles alone tonight, and when some stranger offered his unsolicited advice about which beers I should try, I almost went incredible hulk and started knocking displays over and ripping my shirt in half. There wasn't much that anyone could do to snap me out of my funk, and just as it looked like I might strike out, I turned my head and saw a beer called Reuben and the Jets staring me straight in the face. Just like that, my demeanor went from sheer boredom and crankiness to pure delight.
Reuben and the Jets. Sounds like an epic name for a beer if I ever heard one before. Still the name sounded oddly familiar; where could I have heard Reuben and the Jets before? Was it an old band? Some forgotten old television show? A character from the beloved musical "West Side Story"? I pondered the possibilities for a minute and then it hit me; Cruising with Reuben and the Jets by Frank Zappa. I don't claim to be a big Zappa fan, because frankly I always thought he was a major weirdo and I couldn't quite grasp why it was that he was so popular. But my Dad's always been a pretty keen music fan, and I grew up listening to the likes of Frank Zappa blaring from my father's stereo every Saturday morning as he rocked out while attending to his various weekly chores that come hand in hand with having a wife and three young boys. The label of this beer is a replication of the original album cover of Cruising with Reuben and the Jets from the year 1968, and this beer was in fact released as a tribute to the album some 40 years after it was first produced. Why the brewers at Lagunitas chose Reuben and the Jets as the album that they chose to honor with the naming of their beer is beyond me, but clearly the head honcho at the brewery must be a big Zappa geek.
This beer is considered an American Imperial, 8.6% alcohol by volume and plenty strong. The scent is the highly alcoholic, almost medical aroma of a strong Belgian tripel, but the taste isn't quite as strong. This is a thick, heavy and hearty beer; not for you lager purists out there. It pours a dark brown/chestnut color with an ample head, and the carbonation was pretty mild and even. Reuben and the Jets was really a great beer, which made me kind of sad that the Lagunitas brewery decided to tie this brew to something gimmicky like making it a tribute to a 40 year old album. Reuben and the Jets is a beer that I feel would sell on the basis of it's own merits, rather than relying on it's whimsical association with a Zappa album. Granted, I wouldn't have been as excited to drink this beer if it was called something like Lagunitas American Imperial, but still I think I would take Reuben and the Jets a lot more serious if it wasn't named Reuben and the Jets. If you can find this beer, be sure to dust off your Dad's old Zappa records, kick off your shoes, and just enjoy the beer named after the album, Reuben and the Jets.
Cheers,
Ian
http://www.lagunitas.com/
P.S. Be careful when pouring your beer, or this might happen to you.
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