Bomb Lager - NYC, NY

To kick off the first beer review in close to five years, I figured what better way to go than with something new and local. That, and Bomb Lager was also the cheapest 6-pack available at the overpriced organic market on my block when I was headed back home from Pearl's Social and Billy Club at 2 AM.

New York City isn't exactly a mecca for locally-produced craft beer like the cities of the Pacific Northwest. So whenever something new pops up on the local market, I'm sure to seek and destroy with a vengeance. Many parts of2009 and 2010 are but a faded memory, a blame I place solely on Sixpoint....and maybe Kelso. The point is, a new local brew doesn't escape me for very long. It only took me four days to procure a sixer of Bomb Lager after reading about it in this article.

A few questions still remains though....Can the beer really be called "local" and "craft"? Bomb Beer Company is a NYC-based business but contract Lion Brewery in PA to produce it. If I'm correct, Lion Brewery is hardly a local craft brewery. Regional favorite(for some) yes, but more on the macro side of the American brewing world. I guess I would have to have a better understanding of the contracted terms to see which company actually designed the recipe.

For a $6 six-pack at an overpriced gentro-bodega, I can actually forget about those questions in a timely fashion. Not so quickly to forget I'm drinking something that is no more than a couple steps away from a shitty American Macro Lager. Bomb Lager pours a bright amber, with a fair-sized white head that will stick around for the duration of drinking. As far as duration is concerned, it really shouldn't take you more than 10 minutes to knock this session beer back. Like most American Lagers, opening a cold one and taking an instant sip is sure to produce gasface from the bitterness. That's why I have found it best to wait a few minutes after pouring before knocking it back. I have also found the drinking it at a warmer temperature is a more pleasurable experience. Drinking it at 45-50 degrees brings out more of the Helles style that Bomb is supposed to be modeled after.

Now we get to the artwork...blarggh! I love street art just as much as the next bearded fucker who calls Bushwick home, but I am of the opinion it doesn't belong on a beer can. I like my label art to to have elks and drunk monks, even images of Lucifer. The current label makes me think I'm drinking alcoholic Kool-Aid like FourLoco and all the other ghetto shit that mocks it. Street art belongs on brick walls, not a can of craft beer.

Despite my hatred of the can art, I can't really go wrong with the price point. It's the best party/session beer that I'm going to find in these parts. It's even cheaper than getting a sixer of PBR, and much better in taste and quality. It couldn't have come at a better time. I've been disgusted with my old friend the Blue Ribbon lately, and was on the verge of never touching it again. Bomb Lager just gave me a good reason not to.