I’ve already mentioned my Pavlovian response to fancy packaging (boxed bottles, fancy labels, wax dipped caps, etc…), but I also have to admit that there’s something to the minimalism of Maine Beer Company’s label designs. Simple fonts, straightforward description of the beer, maybe a little representative pictogram, but their labels are clearly dominated by whitespace. Sometimes straightforward trumps fancy, and you have to admit, Maine’s simple bottles do stand out on a shelf.
I suppose it also helps that those crazy neo-hippies from Maine have brewed some pretty fantastic beer. In this case, we’ve got a “stout aged on natural vanilla beans” which sounds rather good, but it didn’t quite work out as well as I’d hoped:
Maine Beer Co. Mean Old Tom – Pours a very dark brown, almost black color with a finger of tan head. Smells of deep, dark malts, maybe a little roast coffee. The taste also features that deep, dark malt character with less roast and maybe some notes of chocolate making an appearance. Not really getting any vanilla in the nose or taste. Mouthfeel starts off medium but sorta thins out as I reach the finish. It’s certainly not light bodied, but it’s on the lighter side of medium. Overall, it’s fine, and I’m enjoying it, but it’s not something that’s really pushing my buttons… It reminds me a bit of my homebrewed stout, though this is certainly better than that… B-
Beer Nerd Details: 6.5% ABV bottled (500 ml). Drank out of a tulip glass on 6/15/12. Bottle sez 050312 (presumably bottling date) and 6 (batch number?).
Despite being a little disappointed by this one, I’m still looking forward to trying… pretty much anything else that Maine has available. I’ve got a bottle of MO in the fridge as I write, and it probably won’t last the weekend. At the rate I’m getting through reviews, you’ll probably read about it in a month…