I’m more than willing to admit that beer doesn’t taste good.
It can be complex, interesting and fun to write a pretentious 300 word column about, but not accessible without pretending to have a developed palate.
However, Mother Earth Brewing Company’s Cali Creamin bypasses the barrier of acceptability by adding an overwhelming flavor of vanilla.
Coming out of my hometown of Vista, California, this cream and vanilla bean flavored ale rides a thin line between sweet cream soda and malty light ale. That sweetness is more crème brûlée than corn syrup, more overpriced restaurant dessert than bargain bin Halloween candy.
The ale has the added benefit of going down smooth like seltzer while accumulating a coat like spliff tar, except it tastes like whip cream and liver disease rather than burnt tobacco and lung cancer.
With accolades out of the way, this cream ales prominent vanilla note both helps and hurts it. No adult should enjoy drinking essentially four Coke Classics in a row. While the sweetness is subdued, it builds up fast and after finishing the first 22 oz tall, I didn’t want to bother with a second.
It’s never a frequent buy for me because of that escalating sweetness, but when I want to relive being 19 and sneaking this sweet elixir into movie theatres, it’s my go-to.
While the nostalgia of the beer is housed in amber glass bottles and 12 ounce cans, I would recommend getting this on Nitro at their tap house in North County San Diego for an added velvety smoothness.
If you stole your grandmother’s vanilla wafers as a kid and got drunk off vanilla extract as a teenager, Cali Creamin would be at the top of my list of recommendations.