Tuesday Tasting: Thirsty Dog Cerberus

Cerberus is the name of the fierce three-headed watchdog of the Underworld in Greek mythology. It is also the name of a 10-percent ABV Belgian trippel ale by Akron's own Thirsty Dog Brewing.

Were I Heracles, I would have put this beer in a headlock and wrestled Cerberus down to the ground before returning it to the depths of Hades. Were I Orpheus, I would have played my banjo for the beast and serenaded it into a mellow sleep. However, I were neither.

Cerberus pours a light golden color, and I shit you not my first whiff smelled of MGD. However, once the frothy head (nice lacing) settled, the smell seemed to change, more resembling a typical Belgian ale.

Sometime after my first Cerberus and before my last, the Enthusiast informed me that I smelled like cheap beer. This had me worried.

This beer was available at my local grocer in a four-pack, which I teased you with in yesterday's post. I paired this selection with a lamb pita roll from Aladdin's and drank it down during the Cavs playoff win over the Celtics last Friday -- one for each period.

Perhaps my consumption timeline was the culprit. Though the beer first smelled of genuine swill and made me smell like a cheap date at a frat party, the taste was quite pleasant. However, with such a high alcohol content, maybe I shouldn't have been guzzling it so fast.

Beware of hangover.

At a Glance

• Who: Cerberus (Thirsty Dog Brewing Co.)
• What: 10 percent ABV, Belgian trippel, four-pack ($12.99)
  
• When: May 7, 2010
• Where: The Viper Lair
• Why: Think global, drink local

Booze Hounds Beer Rating: 3.8 Hiccups

[Drunkard's note: The Booze Hounds Beer Rating scale (0-5 Hiccups) is based on a complex mathematical formula that would be impossible to explain to such a dunderheaded audience. Let's just say the higher the score, the more likely I am to drink it again. Natty Light would get a zero.]