Is Panhead craft beer? It looks like craft beer, it costs like craft beer, it gets you incredibly drunk like craft beer… but it tastes like the green bottle stuff your dad’s been drinking for the last 35 years. Supercharger is a gateway beer to the craft world, though your dad will only drink it if he thinks Keith Richards would think it makes him look cool.
Panhead is super cool because it’s either named after a type of motorbike or screw. I can’t tell, but I like bikes and screwing so I’m in. It’s also called ‘Supercharger’, which reminds me of the engine of my wife’s boyfriend’s car. It’s a totally rad beer for wicked alcoholics. Drinking Panhead feels like when you’re a little kid and you see a pin-up of a blonde, plastic-lipped, huge fake-boobed, orange spray-tanned, bikini-clad woman, and you think, “Woah, that is the hottest woman I’ve ever seen in my life,” and then you declare yourself a man and brag to your friends about how your testicles got totally erect.
This is not a bad thing; in-fact, the faux machismo that comes from simply holding this beer is appealing to me. When I come home from the library after a day of Excel spreadsheets and baby mandarins, I want to crack open a Panhead and be flooded with the sense of manly accomplishment that only comes from checking WOFs at a VTNZ all day. You can taste the grease! And with that workman’s spirit, you can stop paying $25 for 12 beers and instead pay $13 for 1! Hell yeah.
The appeal of Supercharger is that it’s incredibly easy to drink. It’s completely unoffensive. Without any “notable attributes” or pesky “flavours” like some other craft beers, you can swig a Panhead down your gullet without any impedance. A pint of the stuff is quite nice and honestly I would err towards it over whatever else is on tap.
Your partner is going to be concerned about how drunk you’re getting off these Panheads, and even urge you to get back on the lower percent (4%) green bottles, but they will never understand that this has nothing to do with the alcohol percentage (5.7%); you’re doing this for your newfound love of craft beer. “It’s about the craft, babe. There is artistry flowing through me right now. It’s about how these brewmasters control their domain. The uhhh yeast ferments into… alcohol… and the hops make it… springy. And this is all done with high-grade filtered glacial water, mind you. Once the batch is done fermenting - craft beer is brewed in batches, babe - they add a dash of their secret sauce, and bottle it on through. Like how I hear Emerson’s put a little bit of Richard Emerson in each bottle.”
Nothing helps me appreciate the art of craft beer like drinking twelve Panheads on a Friday night.
Tasting notes: It may taste like burnt coffee at first, but if you try really hard, you may get a hint of marshmallow.
Chugability: 9/10. These things disappear.
Hangover depression level: 8/10. How much did a box of those cost me? Fuck.
Overall: 7/10. Hell yeah, brother.