Review of Backyard Batch by Twisted Tea Brewing Company.
APV: 5%
Availability: Released Late Spring 2009, available in 6 pack bottles and in the select Twisted Tea Mix Packs.
Brewed by: The Twisted Tea Brewing Company in Cincinnati, OH. Owned by The Boston Beer Company.
Recently I did a review of the various Twisted Tea Hard Iced Tea beverages available as of May 2009. Apparently I left out one Twisted Tea flavor that is brand new for Summer 2009.
That new flavor is Backyard Batch and Twisted Tea describes it as a ‘slightly sweetened, sun-brewed style hard iced tea’.
I had the pleasure of discovering this beer by surprise in the latest Mix Pack available from Twisted Tea. Since this happened so soon after I wrote the initial review, I felt it was appropriate to give this new Twisted Tea a review.
Like all Twisted Tea Hard Iced Tea, this Backyard Batch brew is non-carbonated and all Twisted Tea beverages are made with brewed iced tea combined with alcohol.
Also like the other Twisted Tea varieties the flavor of this Twisted Tea flavor tends to mask the flavor of alcohol.
Backyard Batch has a less sugary flavoring then many of the other Twisted Tea flavors and it is likely that this particular brew contains less sugar than some of the other varieties.
This tea has a taste that will remind many iced tea drinkers of tea that is often made in homes across the world.
The kind of tea that is made by boiling a large pot of water and than throwing in a large number of tea bags and letting this mixture sit for a few hours before adding ice.
The kind of tea that is served on hot summer days in glass pitchers with a lemon on the side where there is always a few lemon seeds caught in the bottom of the glass.
This is the flavor of Backyard Batch by Twisted Tea and I think this is the exact flavor that they were going for.
A few friends tried the beer as well and likened it to the large batch brews of iced tea you often find in restaurants where the tea comes without sweeteners or much lemon flavoring.
Overall this new Twisted Tea flavor has the taste of a homemade beverage, which as you may know is often hard to pull off at home. Just ask any home beer brewer how much time and effort it can take to brew a quality home beer.
Fortunately this hard iced tea is brewed by a company that’s only focus is creating alcoholic beverages that have iced tea as their core flavor.
It is available in many markets and it is too early to tell if the Backyard Batch will remain on the Twisted Tea line up so try some while you can. It is available in 6 packs of bottles and as a special flavor in select mix packs.
As a side note, Twisted Tea has also introduced the Cardboard Keg for select flavors of their drinks. Basically it is similar to boxed wines, except filled with Twisted Tea.
