96: Bad Penny

Traveling outside the Pacific Northwest is what most worried me about this project. In Washington, Oregon and California, I feel confident I can find good craft beer almost anywhere. But elsewhere, choices can sometimes be more limited, particularly when you’re living in Airport World. In Airport World, industrial lagers tend to dominate. Writing this somewhere over the Northern Plains, I just heard the beer choices rattled off: Miller Lite, Heineken or Corona. The bar I called home in my Iowa days served Bud, Bud Light and Michelob Dark on tap; there were more choices in the bottle department, but few ventured there.

In strategizing for this project, I have planned to save these “safety beers,” those most widely available, for moments of desperation, when something better or more unique isn’t available. I just know I’ll find myself somewhere, sometime, and have only Coors Light available. When that day comes, I can’t have already sampled it for the project, you see.

So it was with great delight that colleague Rodrigo and I stumbled onto Mac’s Speed Shop in Charlotte, a motorcycle themed barbecue joint that has an amazing beer list that includes a fine selection of craft beers from the region and beyond. Being a visitor, I focused on the North Carolinian selections, choosing Big Boss’ Bad Penny to accompany my pulled pork. The beer’s sweetness and chocolate undertones complemented the food beautifully, and I enjoyed sampled a few other selections from the list (including a personal favorite, Bell’s Two Hearted Pale, brewed in Michigan …) before calling it a night.

Beer Name: Bad Penny
Brewer: Big Boss
Price: N/A
Sampled: April 6, 2010
Rating: 3/5
Notes: Some rye? A funny copper taste for real, but not in a bad way. Very smooth with a bit of a dry bite. Might have some black malt? Caramel & chocolate.
ABV: N/A
IBU: N/A
OG N/A
TG N/A
Serving Type: Draft.