Tin Whiskers Bit O' Honey Blonde Review

Name: Tin Whiskers Bit O’ Honey Blonde

Style: Blonde Ale

ABV: 5.4%

IBUs: 21

For my first review in over two years, I decided to do something special and it frankly didn’t take me too long to find the ideal beer. I give to you Bit O’ Honey Blonde, a collaboration between Tin Whisker’s Brewing Company & Pearson’s Candy, the latter of which is responsible for making Bit O’ Honey candy. 

This isn’t the first time these two St. Paul-based companies have joined forces as they’ve also made a Salted Nut Role Ale & Nut Goodie Porter in the past. Both of these beers came out right around the time I left beer blogging, so I was never able to give them a proper review.

Appearance – Dark yellow/orange with strong haziness to it with a light amount of visible carbonation. The head itself is about a finger in width with some spotty lacing along the sides.

Aroma – A strong honey & almond smell dominate the nose almost completely. It literally smells like they took a Bit O’ Honey candy and turned it into liquid form because the aroma is almost indistinguishable from the candy it’s based off of.

Taste – It starts off with a vibrant honey flavor on the front of the palate but it drops out completely in the middle with some pale malt and floral hoppiness. On the back end of the palate is where the almond flavor pops up and in the aftertaste. The honey flavor also reeappears and lingers for a few minutes after the last sip.

For me, this works! It smells great and the honey adds to the flavor perfectly. Some might find the aroma and taste to be a bit too sweet for their liking but if you’re looking for a good-yet-different take on the blonde ale, this beer is just for you!

Tin Whiskers Parity Pilsner Review

Name: Tin Whiskers Parity Pilsner
Style: Pilsner
ABV: 4.8%
IBUs: 29

Just a little heads up right now, this will be my last beer review for about a few days as me and my wife will be busy getting moved into our new place. No need to worry though, as I have a few articles already finished and will be releasing them periodically throughout the week. For right now, we're taking a look at another offering from Tin Whiskers Brewing.

It's been a few months since this brewery was last featured on here so I've decided to review their Parity Pilsner. Hopefully with my upcoming move, they will be featured more regularly here. Since the owners of the brewery have backgrounds in electrical engineering, I knew right away that the name had something to to do with their profession in some sense. Sure enough, I looked up the definition of Parity and here's what it means:

Parity - a technique of checking whether data has been lost or written over when it is moved from one place in storage to another or when transmitted between computers.

Appearance - Fairly clear pale yellow color with a mild amount of carbonation. The head is rather soapy but with good retention and the same goes for the lacing, which is also fairly sticky.

Aroma - Lemongrass and pilsner malts dominate the front of the nose. These are mixed in with some floral hops and pale maltiness. And yes, just like the label says, there's even some tea leaves in here but it isn't immediately apparent.

Taste - Pilsner malts and grassiness upfront with some floral hops and some lemon grassiness. The aftertaste is mostly lemongrass and pilsner malts. I'm not getting the tea notes that I experienced in the nose but the taste is somewhat on the earthier side, so perhaps that is where the tea should be.

All and all, it's a beer that tastes great and feels very crisp, making this an ideal summer seasonal. On top of that, the asking price is considerably reasonable at around $5, though this may vary from store to store. Since it's a relatively new brewery, distribution is currently limited to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area but here's to hoping that their reach grows in the future.

Tin Whiskers Parity Pilsner - 8/10

Tin Whiskers Ampere Amber Review

Name: Tin Whiskers Ampere Ale
Style: Amber Ale
ABV: 5.3%

It's always exciting to try out beers from a new brewery. Which is why I'm psyched to try out my first beer from Tin Whiskers Brewing Company. The beer I've decided to try out is their Ampere Amber, which you may have guessed, is an Amber Ale. Ampere is a unit to measure electric currents, which makes sense when you consider that the founders of Tin Whiskers are electrical engineers by trade.

Interestingly enough, they talk about how there is some mintiness in both the aroma and flavor, something which I have never seen in an Amber Ale before.

Ampere Amber pours a dark yet fairly clear amber color with mild carbonation. The head is quite foamy with some good lacing.

The aroma starts out some surprisingly strong chocolate malts followed by some floral hops, mild roastiness and, like the bottle says, a hint of mint.

As for the taste, it starts out with some floral and light citra-hoppiness & yeasts before giving away to a chocolate maltiness, roasted barley, and some light mintiness which shows up on the back end of the palate. There's also a mild encompassing bitterness in the overall flavor as well and shows up mostly in the aftertaste along with the mintiness

Another great Amber Ale in less than a week? I must be on a roll here! In all seriousness, Ampere is a very well put together Amber Ale with a fairly complex taste. Plus it's very reasonably priced as I paid just around $5 for this bomber. After having this, I can't wait to see what else this brewery can do!

Tin Whiskers Ampere Ale - 9/10