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I don’t want to sound like
a beer snob, but I had the pleasure, nay the honor, of growing up in
one of the first bastions of microbrews: Seattle.
I came to love the
hoppy, bold tastes of Redhook IPA and Hales,
yet still appreciated a well-crafted lager or flavor-laden ale.
Since
moving to Florida some years ago,
I’ve had this unfulfilled dream of finding amazing, locally
brewed beers here as well.
Sure, I could go to an Orlando
Ale
House restaurant and pretend to have a foamy first with one
of the rotating taps. But what I truly covet and seek are those
relatively undiscovered beauties that are both locally grown and owned.
So
as a one-time fervent
Parrothead, I was thrilled to find Land Shark Lager,
a product of the Margaritaville Brewing Company in Jacksonville, FL.
Ah, I thought, finally a worthy companion to Captain
Tony’s Amber (a favorite of mine when I find myself
drunk in Key West) or Ybor Calusa Wheat.
But I was also a bit wary. An authentic
Florida
microbrew in a Wal-Mart? At a Wal-Mart price? Alarm bells should have
sounded in my head. I should have run for the door, screaming.
But I’m a marketer’s dream. I’ll buy
virtually anything at least once that has New &
Improved scribbled on it or which is new to my overly
stimulated retail eyes. I just couldn’t resist picking up a
six-pack.
Land Shark is served
in Buffett’s Margaritaville restaurants
in Key West, Orlando and Las Vegas. There, it stacks up admirably with
a Cheeseburger in Paradise. It doesn’t
overpower. It does its job well without bitterness or malice. And after
you’ve had two or three or four, they begin to taste pretty
darned good.
That
said, Land Shark Lager does not fare as well in the comfort of your own
home. Even with "Fins" blasting for the fifth time from your
stereo system, it’s just not the same as sitting in
a Margaritaville, watching fake margalava pour from the volcano above
on cue.
Now true, the bottle
does grab the eye. My wife, who is not a beerophile, is the one who saw
it in the chill case: it was the large fin that caught her attention.
She usually has a good eye for offbeat brews to keep her hubby happy.
But this one just doesn’t fill the bill.
The bottle is very Corona-esque. The pour
is
crisp and golden, the foam pleasing, but not overpowering in a pint
glass. But that’s about where the pleasant experience stops.
The actual taste is clean enough, but so
is tap
water. Even a lime or an entire grove of them can’t help.
While
the bottle proudly hails it as "Original Island Lager", I would
choose a Red Stripe over Land Shark any day. Geez,
I’d probably even pop a Miller Lite if
given a choice: it’ll give you the same buzz for a lot less
money. And I was so prepared to just love Land Shark Lager (sigh!).
Land
Shark is supposed to be the product
of the
Margaritaville Brewing Co. in Jacksonville, FL. But
enter the name of the brewery in Google Maps and nothing shows.
What? An invisible brewery?
No.
A little
more detective work and you’ll find that it’s
actually bottled by the Anheuser Busch Company,
which, by the way, takes great pains to distance itself from Land Shark
Lager on the official site (http://landsharklager.com).
You
won’t find a single mention of AB as the manufacturer. I
don’t know if that’s a good thing or not.
Now any beer at the right price
is
worth a try. And if you’re a diehard fan of Jimmy
Buffett, you’ll probably love Land Shark Lager even though
there are far better lagers out there.
The
bottle is gutsy enough to say, "Fins Up!" But I give it a
solid two fins down. Land Shark Lager. Warning: it bites!
"Beers of the world, unite!"
READER
REBUTTAL!
Click here to read Rascalman's alternative
opinion of this beer or to leave your own comments about Land
Shark.
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