There are 4 beers available from Trader Joe's. None jumped out as gotta try beers, so I started with the style I know the least about, the Vienna Lager. As you can see from the picture, this beer has quite the head. The flavors are very bready, kind of nutty. Very easy to drink, I was most impressed by the color of this beer. Nothing spectacular, but a decent beer.

After the Vienna I moved on to the Hofbrau Bock. Very golden and clear,my impressions were similar to that of the Vienna. This beer carries a bit of a kick. I've noticed that these beers stray towards the middle of the road, but still nothing that I would call a poor beer.

The next beer in line was the Bavarian Hefeweizen. This one I really liked. The aroma was very strong of banana, clove, bubble gum, very typical hefeweizen. The flavor was strong, sweet, fruity and refreshing. While the others were safe entries, this one was bold and really impressed me. My wife loves hefeweizen, and while she didn't try this one, I can see buying a six pack of this for her down the road.

Finally I reached for the Bohemian Lager. Apparently the hefeweizen stands alone among the Trader Joe's beers, because this one went back to the pack as a middle of the road, decent beer. Nothing exceptional, a fairly well balanced beer, a little watery, nothing jumps out at me.

When I try beers like this, I tend to compare them to you macro swill, and these are definitely superior beers. At the same time, I think of that macro drinker, would this beer appeal to that person? In this case I think it would. As craft beer fans, we try to convince others to drink better beer, and the Trader's Joe label is perfect with that goal in mind. Are there better beers out there? Definitely. The hefeweizen is a star and should be given a shot by any fans of the style.

In case you were wondering, Trader Joe's beers are brewed by Gordon Biersch. One other comment after trying all four, the malt character of all 4 beers was quite similar. You could easily mistake the Vienna for the Bohemian and the Bock only stands out due to it's kick.

Give them a try sometime. I was able to grab singles for $1 each, which, given the trend towards $10 six-packs, really is quite a deal. Bring a 6-pack to a party where you might be less critical of the beer and see if any of the styles appeal to you.