Action Figures & Their Beers - Crab Invasion, Part 2

by Beedo Sookcool
on 2012-09-24, 08:13:25

CRABBIE’S SPICED ORANGE GINGER BEER

Last week, we had the original Crabbie’s Ginger Beer paired up with Eternian naughty person, Clawful. As vicious as Clawful might be, the TransMetal Predacon, Rampage, is even worse. He’ll find out what scares you most, and then do it to you. In slow motion. Twice. And then he’ll blow you up with a salvo of missiles. And then laugh. And he gets teamed up with Crabbie’s limited-edition Spiced Orange Ginger Beer, because he’s also orange and crabby. I think this particular brew was released around Christmastime, but it’s still hanging around on the shelves at the time of this writing (late March 2012 . . . and some can still be found at the time of posting). So either not many people knew about it, it ain’t very popular, or it was so popular, it became a regular thing. I dunno. If they’d included their phone number on the label, I could’ve called them up and asked. I get the feeling, though, that it may be the second option of those three.

The label reads pretty much the same as last week’s original version, except for the addition of “real Orange Extract.” When you pour it out, this stuff looks like real beer: clear, amber, and fizzy. Lovely. Take a sniff, and you can really smell the orange, ginger, and spices. Delicious. It’s in the taste where things get strange. When you take a belt of this stuff, it’s like a swig of disinfectant grabs you by the tonsils. After a bit of sensory overload, you then get the orange and the spices fading in. And combined with the usual Crabbie’s ginger beer taste, it all blends into . . . rather disconcerting weirdness. It’s not disgusting enough to pour down the sink; it’s just too strange to wrap my head around. Burn-wise, the orange mellows out the brew somewhat, so it’s not quite as spicy as the original Crabbie’s ginger beer. Once tried, it’s not something I think I’d ever drink again.

Drink this if you also like: Gustatory weirdness (for the most part); mouth tingle, Vernor’s, Old Jamaican, or any other spicy ginger beer or ginger ale, or mulled drinks (if you can get over the weirdness), adding to your beer bottle or bottle cap collection.