I Like Big Cans and I Can Not Lie: Iron Mike-Moat Mountain Brewing

The scenario: You're out of work in time to get some beer, the night has no destination but you know you want some sudsy relief. Alas, your wallet seems light and that 6 pack of craft beer is a bit too pricey and you don't really want a 6 pack of the yellow fizz stuff. There is another option, and along with the 40 oz, it's a classic brown bagger; nothing says budget drinking like the 24 oz pounder can.

However, the options in the pounder can are limited and sparse at best. Labatt Blue, High Gravity, Keystone Light etc...either way, not really an all star cast. That is until now. Introducing Iron Mike Pale Ale from Moat Mountain Brewing Co.

The Bruins were playing a critical game against Philadelphia, game 4 to be exact and with a limited amount of cash on my person, I needed to fulfill my pre-game drinking obligations. Now I had seen this big can option before, yet I wrote it off as nothing special...boy was I wrong!

As I mentioned in my previous blog, Nice Cans Baby the can to me is a nostalgic drinking vessel. Bringing one back to the days when you drank whatever your friends older brother bought for you in a pinch. Enter college, when a few pounders of some rust tasting High Gravity, not only took up less space in a backpack but also got you just that much drunker.

But let's face facts, those beers tasted horrible beginning to end and now that you know what you like, the choice is yours and while it may be about $4 a can, as opposed to the 99 cents the other pounders cost, the end result is worth it. Upon the first sip of Iron Mike, you may feel compelled to pour it into a glass, well I'm here to tell you that in order to get the full experience of any canned craft beer, keep it canned up. There's an aesthetic appeal to drinking out of a can, it brings you back to normalcy, back to the days when taste didn't matter. With Iron Mike though, you can get the best of it all.

At 6.5% ABV, it's a beast of a beer. Nice and malty with a huge dosage of hop addition that lasts throughout the beer. It has a drinkability that I find common with a lot of pale ales, but the other guy drinking a pounder may not appreciate the complexity of this beer.

I know it sounds like I'm trashing on the guy buying the Labatt pounder, but I'm not. These beers have their place and time, but their time is coming to an end. With Iron Mike, we may be able to convert the uninitiated into our world. Next time your friend asks you to pick him up a pounder, get his usual, but spend the couple dollars more to get him an Iron Mike too and let the good times roll.

Oh and Go Bruins!