Grolsch - Drink this, I need the bottles

I love my wife's way of thinking - needing some swing top lidded bottles for some concoction she's making with tea and something called a scooby (Kombucha for those playing at home) and not impressed with the range at the local Kmart, swung by the local bottle shop for a four pack of Grolsch.

And since she's not a beer drinker in the slightest, it was now up to me to empty the bottles in the best way I knew how. Directly in front of Netflix.

Challenge. Accepted.

Now I will admit, it has been a while between Grolsch's. A long long while. Long before I even knew of my wife or worked in the town she originally called home. At best guess, probably a good 13 years or so?
Told you it was a long time.

I think the last time I had one was when I bought some for a girl I used to date for a catch up beer and pasta (oh and red wine) night to check out her new house. I don't remember the beers blowing my socks off back then (although the red wine did throw a couple of heavy kicks right to the memory banks) so would things fare better this time around?

Er...no.

What I remember about the beer from the house party 13 years ago.

How much did it set your wife back?: Around $18-19 for four. She bought them for the perfect sized bottles more than to surprise me with random beers. Still..

Initial thoughts: Since I can barely remember the last round of Grolsching I did, we're starting this one with a clean slate. After wedging the lid off I was greeted by a weak grassy smell. If you can concentrate really hard you might get a note of corn in there but I was having a hell of a battle trying to get past the overall hoppy bitnerness that was really drowning everything else out.
Maybe it was the first bottle and they'd get better? No, all four had the same heavy bitterness with barely any other flavours trying to reach out for air. Where did that bees dick of corn go? It's bitter, it's watery and these makes getting though a decent sized bottle a bit of a chore.
Still, these bottles weren't going to empty themselves...

Overall: When you pay a premium for something that marks itself as a premium beer, you expect more than just a wall of bittnerness greeting you at the doorstep. It's no wonder I completely forgot all about the last session I had as it wasn't worth storing away in the memory databanks. Good for a novelty bottle but there's little else here that'd make you want to reach into the fridge for another one..

1 and a half out of five swing tops.