Grain Belt Beer’s Nordeast

nordeastWe’re cheap beer connoisseurs here at the Nuthouse. If it’s cheap and decent, it’s been cataloged by taste, price, and location. If in Texas, you drink Lone Star. If in eastern Missouri, you drink Stag. If you’re in Kansas, you drink Hamms or Pabst Blue Ribbon. Those on Cancun vacations might be sipping Victoria, sort of like Old Milwaukee, though actually more interesting than Tecate or Corona. If you are sampling the beer in Punta Cana Dominincan Republic more than likely it is Presidente beer, which is practically the national beverage. If you’re in a financial pinch and in need of malt and barley libations anywhere, Miller High Life (bottles – not cans) will do, too.

Half the fun of traveling is discovering what the cheap go-to is for any region. I’ve discovered that some cheap beers outperform the local microbrews in terms of flavor and drinkability quite a bit. Grain Belt Beer‘s Nordeast is one of those. I brought back probably seven different kinds of beer from my trip to Iowa City, and split everything up between myself and two gents from work, and we all agreed that the Nordeast is about one of the best cheap brews we’ve had.

Nordeast comes in clear glass bottles, and runs $4.99 a sixer. It’s made in Minnesota, and it’s tasty. As with any other cheap beer, you’re going to want to drink it cold. Whereas some brews benefit from a few minutes to warm up, allowing the flavor to come alive, cheap beer tastes best when it’s straight out of the fridge, and into your mouth.

It’s crisp and clean, like a hard cider more than anything else. The flavor’s not as good as Stag, which is something I could easily drink day in and out. This is something that seems perfectly set up for the fall. Lone Star’s more of a warm-weather beer – something that makes sense, given that it’s from Texas. This is from up north, and suits the cooler climate perfectly.