Cranky Reviews

Porcine on Parade

Porcine on Parade

Pig

Bellwoods Brewery

7% Alcohol

Anybody seen Clark lately?

There was the talented Arnold Ziffel from Hooterville. The diva in waiting Miss Piggy was known to hog the spotlight on occasion. Wilbur’s biggest fan was a spider, and then there was the precocious pint-sized Piglet, Pooh’s pal. And we all miss Clark the pig, who was MIA on Blue Mountain. * Now Bellwoods offers up a pink pint of Pig, a West coast sty-le IPA (Inquisitive Pig Ale). Will it rise to fame and fortune and join this porcine parade of celebrity swine, or is it just a pig in a poke? **

Bellwoods was a main feature in our COMDB Halloween week special with two of their collaborations with Blood Brothers bookending a scary week of sampling. Goblin’s Trill was a dangerously drinkable double, and Devil’s Sauce was devilishly good. Can Pig follow suit?

A not at all pink pour, golden, semi-clear and effervescent with a light and airy head. A hoppy little porker on the snout. First taste is tropical pineapple that goes immediately into a malt hoppy body then pine bitters on the finish. A classic sequence, well balanced, nicely done. It has a smooth slick mouthfeel. The malt backs off and the tropical juice body goes to a hoppy pine tang. This porcine pint packs a perky punch. A tasty juicy juicer from first snort to final s-wallow.

Super suds swine for sure. Perhaps my belief in Bellwoods triggered a pigmalion effect? Perhaps. ***

*Editor’s Comment: Arnold Ziffel the piglet was a regular on the 60’ sitcom Green Acres. He was paid $250 a week and had a union contract. Miss Piggy was one of the major characters on The Muppet Show as well as a number of movies and guest appearances on other shows, cementing her diva status. Wilbur “that’s some pig” is from the EB White book Charlotte’s Web. Piglet is Winnie the Pooh’s best friend from the A.A. Milne books. Clark the Pig was the mascot of Thornsbury but was dropped when they rebranded their beer as Blue Mountain.

**Editor’s Comment: The old idiom “a pig in a poke” is a buyer beware warning dating back to the 16th century. A “poke” is an old word for a sack or a bag. The medieval market scam was to sell the pig and then put something else in the bag. The moral, always check that what you bought is in the bag before you walk away. The expression has come to mean that if something is a “pig in a poke” it is most likely far less than what you thought you were getting.

***Editor’s Comment: The Pygmalion effect is a psychological theory that high expectations improve performance. The name comes from an ancient Greek myth, where the sculptor Pygmalion falls so in love with a statue of a woman he carved, that the Greek goddess Aphrodite brings the statue to life.

Final Rating: A Fine Swine at 16 out of 20