The new beer in town-Leinie's Apple Spice

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the latest from the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company, Leinie's Apple Spice. Apple Spice should be hitting the shelves of your favorite liquor store today. It will only be available in six packs and on tap, and it will be available through the end of the year.

I have tried my first sip of Apple Spice, and it is actually pretty good. The company says that they use two tons of apples in each batch of Apple Spice, so I expected this to be a very sweet beer. It really isn't. On my first sip, I could tell it was a Leinie's product. I can't explain it, but most Leinenkugel's beers have a taste to them that is trademark Leinie's. This one does as well. But after the second sip, the flavor of the apples really started to come through with a hint of cinnamon. It is a very mild beer and the flavors in it don't over power the way, say, a Berry Weiss does. In their promotional Leinie Lodge Legend newsletter, they say that the beer can be heated up and drank with a cinnamon stick. A) I did not believe them when I read it, and B) I didn't want to defile my beer that way, but I may actually try it.

If you have tried Woodchuck, don't pre-judge this beer by it. It has very little similarity to Woodchuck. Woodchuck is a very sweet beer that can get overpowering quickly. Apple Spice is much more mild and I can see a person enjoying several of them. For you beer purists out there, this may not be the beer for you, but I think you should try it just the same. I'm normally a purist enough that these flavored beers (like Berry Weiss) turn me off immediately. This is actually quite tasty, though.

As always, I do not receive dime one from the Leinenkugel Brewing company, unless you count the two free beers they allow me every time I visit their hospitality center.