For many of us, beer is something you find in kegs and drink out of red plastic cups. To some, it's the beverage you sip casually over cigars and pretentious conversation. In an attempt to find a happy medium, the editors of Street taste tested six beers the average Penn students can pick up at their friendly neighborhood Allegro's. At Allegro's, you can create your own mixed six-pack of imported and domestic beers from a variety of regions. Due to the fact that Street eds are not officially qualified to make accurate judgments of a beer's good and bad qualities, take these ratings (on a 0 to 5 scale) with a grain of salt. And don't be afraid to try them for yourselves at only $2.50 per bottle. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Packaging: 3.8 Aroma: 3.2 Color: 3.5 Flavor: 2.8 While the kelly green bottle was appealing to most, this widely appreciated ale proved slightly disappointing to our tastes. With a strong aroma for an IPA and a bitter taste, we rate this ale just a little above average. Pyramid Apricot Weizen Packaging: 3.1 Aroma: 4.2 Color: 3.6 Flavor: 4.2 This sweet and fruity malted beer both smells and tastes of apricots and received high marks from our female staff members. One editor admitted that it was "better than most mass produced fruity beers." Tiger Lager
Packaging: 3.3 Aroma: 3.1 Color: 3.1 Flavor: 3.0 With a feisty tiger on the front, this classic lager was noted "very chuggable" and "a good version of cheap beer." Though it received very average ratings, the complaints were few and far between.
Pilsner Urquell
Unfortunately, this well-known and "usually fantastic" beer was horrendously and unfortunately "skunked" at our beer tasting due to overexposure to light in the importation process. We do encourage everyone to try it, but purchase at your own risk. The term skunked has a very literal meaning.
Tr”egs HopBack Amber Ale Packaging: 3.4 Aroma: 4.0 Color: 4.0 Flavor: 3.1 Deemed a "girl beer at heart," Street couldn't help but like the balanced, hoppy bitterness reminiscent of Magic Hat. The critics agree, this richly colored ale with the woodsy label will certainly require a six-pack purchase. Modelo Especial
Packaging: 3.6 Aroma: 2.7 Color: 2.9 Flavor: 2.8 Though rated better than most and likely to go well with lime, one editor proclaimed "Mexico is not a good place to go for good beer." The gold-foil proved misleading, for this beer was only slightly better than Corona.
