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Kirkland Signature Beer
I was recently strolling the liquor section at Costco where I saw a box of Kirkland Signature Beer. Kirkland is Costco’s house brand. You’ll see this brand pop up in their stores in everything from jeans to body lotion. They’ve recently expanded to wines & spirits, and now beer. For the most part, you can count on Kirkland Signature to deliver a quality product, and their beer is no different. The beers are brewed and bottled by Hoppen Und Malz Brewing Company out of San Jose, CA. The box comes with 24 beers consisting of 4 different types of beers: Pale Ale, German Style Lager, Amber Ale, and Hefeweizen. There are six of each beer in a box.
Amber Ale:
The Amber Ale has a very nice aroma. The taste is great; has that Amber Ale after-taste with a mild bitter kick, very tolerable though. The flavor is rich and tasty; reminds me of something I tried at Gordon Biersch.
Icey Costco Pale Ale!
Pale Ale:
The smell of the Pale Ale is very familiar, exactly like Sierra Nevada. As I took my first sip, I could definitely tell it was a Pale Ale; it has that familiar flavor, but goes down a little smother than most pales. It has a very nice malty body and like other pales, it keeps getting smoother as you continue to drink it. This is actually a good Pale Ale for those who usually don’t like the bitter taste of pales.
German Style Lager:
The German Style Lager has the most attractive smell of all the beers. It has a very rich flavor with a wonderful after-taste. This beer taste very familiar, but I can’t quite remember what kind of beer it reminds me of. There is no bitterness, or anything offensive to it.
Hefeweizen:
I’m not usually a Hefeweizen drinker, but this Hefeweizen is very interesting. At first sip it had a smooth, mild flavor. As I kept drinking, the flavor got a little stronger and it developed quite a bit of an after-taste. I added a lime (most people add lemon, but I didn’t have any on me at the time), and that helped the beer go down a little smoother while giving it that citrus supplement to the flavor. One of the better Hefeweizens I have had. Too bad I’m not a Hefeweizen drinker.
Really nice bottle caps
All these beers taste good, and everyone of them will taste very familiar. My only problem with the Kirkland beers was that each one was extremely filling. There is no way I can drink more than one of these in a sitting. It’s too bad, because I like the flavor, but I can only enjoy so much before a brick develops in my stomach.
These beers will appeal to the average beer drinker. My concern with most variety packs is that it may contain beers that most people are not accustomed to. This pack does not suffer from that problem, however, it is not the right variety pack for me, as I really have to be in a certain mood to go for some of the beers in this pack. I love Pale Ales, but I’m rarely in the mood for an Amber or Hef. The German Lager I can drink any time, but again, I can only drink so much as the beer is really filling. I still recommend the Kirkland Signature beers as you will definitely get your money’s worth in beer.
Where to find: You can only get the Kirkland Signature Beers at Costco for around $18.00. A great value for a premium beer.
-The Crumb
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“…reminds me of something I tried at Gordon Biersch.”
That’s probably because Costco’s beer is actually made by Gordon Biersch. Hoppen Und Malz is a made-up name.
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July 14th, 2009 at 9:45 am
????
Interesting. I did not know that. Is there a link somewhere that shows this info? I’ll try to find one. Thank you Bigyaz.
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July 15th, 2009 at 11:52 am
Looks like that’s the buzz around the internet, but I haven’t seen any hard evidence.
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Great taste, great variety, great price. I’ve gone through two cases so far since finding it at my local Costco. I like the German Style Lager most.
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What kind of wp template are you using
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August 26th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
It’s called the Arras Theme. It’s pretty nice, but it’s not perfect. You’ll end up doing some customization to get it just right.
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I just bought some at a Costco in Northern Virginia and the label says “Brewed and Bottled By New Yorker Brewing Co. Utica New York”. So it seems that each region may get beer from a different brewing company.
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September 4th, 2009 at 7:11 am
That’s interesting. So they don’t care if their beer taste different depending on where you are. I’m wondering why they would go this route. Do they just see their beer as a way to bring local micro brews to the masses? If so, why would they use a phantom brewery name on the west coast? What an odd strategy. Thanks for letting me know about this m20120.
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October 21st, 2009 at 6:02 pm
Most likely due to shipping cost, and breweries with extra brewing capacity.
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September 12th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
yah, northeast contracted brewer is a d/b/a of FX Matt who brew Saranac
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September 25th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
The Matt Brewery batches many brews on contract. Their flagship Saranac line is constantly being tweaked. Good stuff. I’m looking forward to getting my Saranac at Costco.
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To further what m20120 said: on the west coast, these are made by Gorden Biersch on the same line as Trader Joe’s house brand beers; on the east coast, they’re brewed by Saranac. Since I just relocated from one coast to the other, I’m currently “experimenting” to see if they are significantly different.
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September 7th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
That’s awesome! I was thinking of shooting a taste test to see what people thought of the differences; I just have no way to get both beers in hand. Let me know the conclusions of your “experiment”. Thanks Cactus.
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Just bought a case of the east-coast brewed variety. The beers are certainly okay but there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of taste difference between them. It is certainly slight at most. Overall it does seem to stand on its own somewhere between the major generic brewers and solid micro-brew. I don’t know if I’ll continue to drink it as a regular but it will certainly be a party favorite, based in part on taste and price.
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Kirkland beers produced in Utica and the Gordon Biersch produced version on the West Coast are kosher. Trader Joe’s beers produced at GB are also kosher.
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I just relocated to the east coast from the west. Same great beer, same great taste. Unfortunately, I can’t find an equivalent IPA to those wonderful Northwestern varieties.
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