The Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club is a subscription service from monthlyclubs.com that allows subscribers to sample beers from microbreweries that they otherwise might never get to taste. Monthlyclubs.com also has a monthly club for sampling wine, cheese, flowers, cigars, and chocolates from around the country!
My Subscription Addiction paid for this box. (Check out our review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
The Subscription Box: The Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club
The Cost: $27.95 + $15 shipping = $42.95 per month
COUPON: Use code SAVE10NOW to save $10 off your first box!
The Products: Twelve 12 oz. hand-crafted beers from two different lightly distributed US microbreweries
Ships to: US only, excluding Alaska, Hawaii, and Utah, for $15
Check out the Beer of the Month Club Subscription Box Directory and make sure to add The Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club to your subscription list or wishlist!
This pamphlet was included, describing the six different subscriptions that monthlyclubs.com offers.
This welcome letter was also included, detailing the various perks, terms, and conditions of membership in the Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club.
One of the benefits of membership in the Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club is that they provide a really thorough guide to the beers you received, pictured here. It talks about the different microbreweries and their histories, plus it provides serving suggestions.
They also included this really nice, sturdy bottle opener. Bonus!
Hudson Red Ale by D.L. Geary Brewing Co., Maine - Value: $10.24
Now on to the beers! This is an Irish Red Ale with a 4.8% alcohol content. It features hops from Mt. Hood and Golding plus 2-Row English Clarity, Crystal, Wheat, Barley, and Chocolate malts. My husband, best friend and I shared this trio of brews, and we all found this beer to be generally agreeable. Red Ales tend to be more accessible to a larger number of people, and I think this one was particularly smooth. It had very mild fruit and caramel notes.
Hampshire Special Ale by D.L. Geary Brewing Co., Maine
This is an English Strong Ale with a 7% alcohol content. It features hops from Cascade, Mt. Hood, and East Kent Golding, plus 2-Row English Pale, Crystal, and Chocolate Malts. My best friend and I tried this beer on a separate occasion. I mention this because on this second occasion, we both got ill from one of the beers, and I suspect this one was the culprit. I didn't like this beer at all, and I thought it had a really strange flavor. My friend did not like the flavor either, and we both are typically fans of craft English Ales. I think something was wrong with this batch, unfortunately.
Oak Barrel Stout by Old Dominion Brewing Company, Virginia
This is a Sweet Stout with a 5.5% alcohol content. It features hops from Bravo and Mount Hood, plus Pale, Munich, Dark Crystal, Peat, and Crushed Roast malts. My husband and I tried this brew, and we are both fans! It was a little sweet but not too sweet. I was afraid the oak was going to make it too bitter, but it was a very mild woodsy flavor.
Hop Lips by Old Dominion Brewing Company, Virginia
This is an Amerian IPA with a 6% alcohol content. It features hops from Bravo, Cascade, Nelson Sauvin, and Select, plus Pale, Munich, Wheat, Crystal, and Crushed Black malts. This was my favorite beer of them all! I love a good, hoppy IPA, and this is one of the most hoppy IPA's I've ever tasted. My best friend loved it, too. We sampled this beer on the night we got sick, so this one could have also been the culprit, but it tasted so delightful that I tend to doubt it. I have no proof, just a gut feeling (pun totally intended).
Verdict: First of all, I know $42.95 seems like an awful lot to spend on a 12-pack! However, I think the true microbrew connoisseur would consider this a bargain over driving around the country to different microbreweries. In this regard, I think The Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club provides a valuable service. I enjoyed sampling the different beers, and I appreciate the variety of beers that was sent.
That being said, getting ill was a serious downer. I'll spare you the details, but it had something to do with alcohol, and it was definitely one of the two beers we had on the second occasion. I contacted customer service and was refunded the cost of one of the four varieties of beers, about $10. I was a little disappointed that they did not offer to refund the entire box, nor did they offer to release me from my three month commitment to this subscription. They did apologize, but did not seem particularly concerned. If I were distributing any item intended for consumption and found that it had made a customer sick, I would definitely be very concerned. Hopefully this was just one bad batch of beer and it didn't affect too many people!
What do you think of The Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club? Would you try it?
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