Reviews Archives | Short Brews

Kirkland Helles Style Lager Review: Finally, a Good Kirkland Beer?

Thomas Short — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 03:43:17 +0000

Kirkland products, Costco’s private label, tend to fall into the “good, not great” category, where you don’t sacrifice much in quality but get plenty of quantity. The Kirkland Helles Style Lager fits “good, not great” to a tee, which is good news for beer fans who have tried Kirkland beers in the past. Long-time Costco shoppers know that Costco doesn’t directly produce Kirkland goods; instead, other companies make them (usually at a slightly lower quality than their main products), then Kirkland brands them. So, the quality of the product, which in this case is beer, depends heavily on the original producer. Fortunately, Costco paired with a winner. Here’s what I thought of the incredibly well-priced and surprisingly decent Helles Style Lager. Kirkland Signature Helles-Style Lager: At a Glance The Helles Style Lager, though lacking in an interesting name, doesn’t lack in character. It brings everything you’d expect from a Helles lager, from a 4.5% ABV to a malt-forward profile. But more about the flavor in a bit, since what interested me most about this beer is the branding. Usually, Kirkland Signature products leave you guessing who the actual producer is. For example, the superior Kirkland Vodka was long rumored to be produced by Grey Goose (it’s actually Distillerie de Gayant). That so many people still assume it’s Grey Goose speaks to just how Kirkland branded these products are. But not the Helles-Style Lager. There’s no mistaking the brewery behind this beer: Oregon’s Deschutes Brewing. The logo is featured heavily both on the box and the can, which is something of a rarity for Kirkland products. It’s almost as if Costco knew their previous beer options, such as Kirkland Light, were terrible beyond drinkability, and that they needed to lean on another brand’s reputation. Fortunately, the Helles-Style lager drinks more like a Deschutes beer than a Kirkland beer, meaning it’s a legitimately decent beer, especially for the price. Kirkland Helles Lager Flavor and Profile As I mentioned before, the Helles Style Lager is a 4.5% ABV Helles lager. It has tons of delicious malt flavor, as you would expect from a Helles, with sweet bready flavors. It has a great dry finish, all complemented by the smooth carbonation. Put simply, this is a tasty, crispy beer. But this is Costco! Quality isn’t the only thing that shoppers expect to see from Kirkland products. The brand is famous for its quantity and affordability! Naturally, the Helles Style Lager checks both boxes. When I last purchased this beer, it was available in 12-packs for $13.99, making it as cost-effective as beers like Modelo. While Modelo is one of my favorite Mexican beers, at this point I think I would prefer the Deschutes…I mean Kirkland Helles Style Lager. It’s truly difficult to find something that meets Deschutes’ quality at this price point. Final Thoughts: Helles Style Lager Overall, the Helles Style Lager is an easy buy that you don’t have to think twice about. It’s the perfect afternoon beer that doesn’t weigh heavily in your stomach or on your wallet. The only downside I can think of is the name. Helles Style Lager describes the beer perfectly, but after writing it a dozen times, I can’t help but think that there has to be a better name. Of course, you can find much better Helles lagers than this Kirkland iteration, but I doubt you will at this price. I’d recommend this beer seven days a week, followed by a tastier Deschutes option like Mirror Pond or Fresh Squeezed. Rating: 3.5/5 Highlights: Quality, affordability, flavor Downside: Generic, boring name

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Chilean Craft Beer: Modern Takes on Classic Styles

Thomas Short — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 18:06:36 +0000

A while ago, I wrote about some of the beers you can (and should) try when visiting Chile and Peru. That article mostly covered beers like Cusquena or Kunstmann Lager, the sorts of beers you can find at most restaurants or stores. But today, I explore four Chilean craft beers from various breweries. Chilean Craft Beer: Some Background For any of my American readers (I’m pretty sure that’s most of you), craft beer is not the same around the world as it is here in the States. You can’t throw a rock without hitting a craft beer in the U.S. But in other countries, like Japan or Chile, craft beer is not as common. That’s not to say it doesn’t exist or thrive, but that it’s just not on the same scale or level as it is in the States. The more craft beer I try in other countries, the more I come to appreciate local flavors and ingredients that make the beer. You can’t make an honest-to-goodness Heady Topper in Chile, and you can’t produce the Juster NU-B in the United States. 4 Chilean Craft Beers, Reviewed On to the main event. I have four beers to review, each a different style and from a different brewery. These were gifted to me in a box from Tierra Cervecera. This isn’t a plug, just a way you can find some of these beers, too. IRA – Cervezería Granizo First is the IRA from Cervecería Granizo located in Quilpue, Chile. IRA, in this instance, stands for “India Red Ale,” and it stands at a stout 7.0% ABV. As you might expect with any sort of red ale, this beer was pretty malty for an IPA. The can told me I was going to get caramel notes and rose aroma, but I mostly got that malty sweetness that comes with high ABV sluggers. I respect breweries that do red ales, but I’m pretty picky with the ones I like. My concern when I try red ales like this is that the brewery is the type of place that pushes ABV higher and higher for the sake of it. I won’t make any assumptions about Granizo, but you know if this is the type of beer for you. Hazy Pale Ale/NEPA – Cervezería Jester What’s there to say about a hazy pale ale? NU-B by Jester was a clean, 5.2% ABV hazy pale ale that pretty much hit the profile right on the nose. As the can claimed, the beer was hoppy without being offensive (if your pale ale is offensive, then you’ve probably done something wrong). The can also noted that the beer was very easy to drink, and I agree with that. Jester is located in the northern part of Santiago, which kind of dashes most of my hopes of visiting. I know NEPAs aren’t the most difficult style to make, but this one was done flawlessly, and it makes me want to try some of their other brews. Stout – Cerveza Cuello Negro Cuello Negro is based in Valdivia, which I understand to be a beer drinker’s destination in Chile. While the logo clearly shows a black swan, some sites translate this to “Black Cock,” so you know, look out for that. The Stout Foreign Extra (foreign extra stout, if you didn’t piece that together) was everything you’d expect from a foreign extra stout – low IBU, great gravity, and a “keeps you warm in the winter” 8.0% ABV. The brew featured delicious, sweet flavors from the oats and malts, and drinking it felt like putting on a warm blanket. This was the perfect beer for winter, though I expect it’s not as fun to drink in the sun. Helles Lager – Alameda Beer Co View this post on Instagram A post shared by Short Brews Beer Blog (@shortbrews) I have a lot say about “Como Jurgen por su Hausen.” From Alameda Beer Co, based in what looks like a pretty lively part of Santiago, Jurgen is a helles lager, and it’s a pretty tasty one at that. Now let’s talk about the name. Como Jurgen por su Hausen is both a mishmash of Spanish and German AND an idiom. “Como Pedro por su casa,” which translates to “like Pedro in his own home,” meaning someone who is too comfortable. This can be a positive or negative connotation, but basically, it’s when someone acts as if they live there, when they don’t. So, we take this idiom and Germanify it with “Jurgen” and “Hausen” which is fun because then the beer name rhymes. Not sure if there’s anything to it beyond that. Just a fun beer name.

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White Claw Flavor Pack 2 Review: Ranked

Thomas Short — Mon, 30 Mar 2020 02:12:37 +0000

When in Rome (quarantine), do as the Romans do (drink what’s in the fridge). I’ve gone back and forth on how similar I really think hard seltzer is to beer. In some ways they’re similar — low ABV, easy availability, brewed by breweries, and so on. But hard seltzer is very different from beer. For example, everybody wants to treat the two as competing industries. Forbes pointed out that hard seltzer outsold craft beer 12-packs over a 52-week period. You also can’t be a beer drinker and open up a hard seltzer without a disclosure. “I want something to cleanse my palate between barrel-aged stouts.” “I only drink them because my girlfriend buys them.” “Hard seltzers are barely even alcoholic, anyway.” Whatever your excuse, you’re on this page and that means you must be interested in hard seltzer or, at the very least, White Claw. I personally enjoy hard seltzer and, upon running out of things to write about, wanted to write about the new White Claw flavors. Here are my impressions on the new flavors. Enjoy. 4. Tangerine In the first White Claw variety pack, people all had their preferences. However, one flavor was almost always voted the worst: lime. Yup, don’t know why, but nobody I know enjoys the lime flavor. If I had to peg a “lime” for the new White Claw variety pack, I’d say it’s tangerine. This isn’t to say I didn’t like it — I thought it was soft and mellow with a nice citrus zing. Not too acidic, but not too subtle. I’m mostly just making this my “calling it now,” just in case I’m right. Tangerine: good, but you’ll probably forget about it after you drink it. 3. Mango I’m going to go ahead and assume that mango is going to be the most popular of the bunch. Why? Because it has six packs readily available in stores. It’s a nice seltzy with a sweet, tangy flavor, kind of similar to Tang. I didn’t even think this tasted like mango. After being spoiled with delicious mangoes in Chile, I found that the Mango White Claw tasted more like blood orange. I think the Blood Orange White Claw flavor will be the most popular. 2. Watermelon Ho ho ho, oh boy. This guy. Watermelon White Claw has more in common with a Watermelon Jolly Rancher than the fruit it’s supposedly based off. This thing is real fruity, but not in a watermelon way. It’s fruity in a, “this candy tastes kind of like it could be similar to a fruit” way. I guess if your goal is enjoying candy that tastes like alcohol (?), the Watermelon White Claw is a step up from vodka soaked gummy bears. If you couldn’t guess, this was my least favorite of the bunch. 1. Lemon Sometimes things just make sense. Imagine a non-alcoholic seltzer water. What does it taste like? Probably water, but with a small little something-something to enjoy. That’s the Lemon White Claw through and through. This drink is crisp and clean, almost like a Fresca. It’s the most simple and satisfying of the bunch. I bet most people will hate this flavor for its “boringness,” but I salute Lemon’s simple and unabashed brilliance. Bravo, lemon. I implore you — drink Lemon White Claw over any other flavor. Treat yourself. Overall White Claw V.2 Impression Here we are. I wrote an entire review of the new White Claw flavors and, if you’re reading this now, you read that review. Who would have thought it would come to this. All jokes aside, I like White Claw and other seltzer waters. I still haven’t tried Bud Lite Seltzer or Corona’s version, and I have no plans to. White Claw, among other seltzy makers, give us more than we need. Hard seltzer will never overtake beer because it’s bound by its own simplicity. Alcohol water + flavor = boozy seltzer. You can’t add, subtract, or divide this equation. Only multiply to make more hard seltzer. But hey, hard seltzer is fun. If we’re ever allowed to go to a beach in 2020, wouldn’t you want to enjoy something cold, crisp, light, and alcoholic? Sure, the flavors get boring, but hard seltzer will always have its purpose, and there’s no shame in enjoying it. If you want hard seltzer and feel bored by the lack of options, give White Claw’s new variety pack a chance.

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Boochcraft Review – Kombucha With A KICK!

Thomas Short — Mon, 13 May 2019 18:05:15 +0000

It’s fair to be skeptical of boozy kombucha. Most people I’ve talked to about it have never even tried the non-alcoholic version of kombucha. For some reason, I feel like the alcoholic version is an easier entry into brewed teas. But I digress. I’m here today to talk about Boochcraft’s new set of cans, which I had a chance to try this past weekend. I tried four flavors – if you read this post, you’ll remember that these are two existing flavors and two new ones – which all clocked in at 7% ABV. Interesting side-bar: Have you noticed that wine cooler/flavored malt beverage/things like this kombucha tend to have the same ABV across their brand regardless of the flavor and ingredients? You don’t see beer or wine doing that. Not saying anything about that, it’s just interesting to me. Anyway, I received the cans in the mail with the instructions to chill the cans prior to drinking. Kombucha is alive, and its shelf life shortens dramatically if it’s warm. Or something like that. So, I chilled the bad boys and did what any respectable American would do: drink in a public park with a bunch of other people drinking. Here’s the review for each, in the order I tried them. No ratings or rankings, just what I thought. Enjoy. Grapefruit Hibiscus Heather I’m not sure if there’s a “flagship” kombucha, but I assumed that this will be the most popular flavor. Boochcraft describes it as “sweet yet biting” and “delicately pink,” and I agree with both of those assessments. However, any kombucha drinker knows that kombucha’s flavor is…strong. Subtle flavors can get drowned out if you aren’t looking for them, and non-kombucha drinkers are likely to not notice any of the flavors in general. That being said, it was a nice drink. Orange Pomegranate Beet Boochcraft says they use all-natural ingredients in their drink, which is good. But I was surprised to find out how sweet this was in comparison to the other three kombuchas. It was almost like a “hard seltzer” sweet, which I suppose is due to the mix of orange and pomegranate. The beet sticks out nicely at the end and prevents this from leaving a soda-like aftertaste in your mouth. This was my least favorite of the bunch, and I would guess that many non-kombucha drinkers would find this too sweet to enjoy an entire can of. Ginger Lime Rosehips I’ll be honest, I’m not the biggest fan of ginger. I don’t feel comfortable criticizing this drink in any way because it tasted like ginger. After the ginger taste faded, I got more of the lime and rosehips, which I thought was a nice touch. If you like or love ginger, it’s worth a try. Then you can tell me if it’s good or not! Lemon Maple Thyme Complete honesty: this blew my socks off. Whoa. Wowza! I don’t care what you drink or how you drink it, I think this kombucha is worth trying. This could convert a non-booch drinker into a booch drinker. It could turn the night into day. The simple revelation of this melody of flavors may even be able to help your facial hair grow faster (or, if you don’t want facial hair, slower). Please, I implore you, try this. Try this kombucha. Change your habits. Change your life. Overall Boochcraft Impression There are a lot of things to like about Boochcraft as a business. They’re trying to be sustainable and healthy while getting you drunk. Sounds good to me. Boochcraft does claim that kombucha is “better for you” than other alcohols and that it doesn’t give you a hangover, or that it at least doesn’t give you as bad of a hangover as other drinks. I can’t speak to that since I didn’t drink enough to get drunk, but hey, who knows. I can say that I didn’t dislike any of the flavors, and that’s pretty impressive for any assorted four-pack of anything. Is it worth the $13.99 for a four-pack? Maybe, if you really love kombucha or are just too damn curious. You can easily find great alcohol for less, but I say that it’s at least worth trying before you write it off completely. At least, the Lemon Maple Thyme is. Wowee.

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