It’s just a relaxing evening at home, and I thought I’d take the opportunity to dig into the beer fridge and sample another beer. I’m still getting caught up on my reviews from my trip to Seattle, but I don’t want that to keep me from trying another beer.
Location: Poured into a large tulip shaped pint glass from the bottle at my home in Bloomington, IL.
Numbers: 7.5% ABV, 235 Calories
Appearance & Aroma: It’s fairly hazy and orange in color with some visible sediment in the bottom of the glass. There’s almost no head, only a ring of bubbles around the edge of the glass. However there appears to be a decent amount of carbonation in the beer. It’s got a good sized malty aroma that’s a mix of bread, honey, and noble hops.
Taste & Feel: The body is medium and mostly smooth, with a bit of crispness from the carbonation in it. Up front, there’s a sweet, bready, malty pilsner flavor, which grows in the middle. The beer finishes rather sweet and malty, with a hint of earthy-spicy hop bittterness. After a few sips, I noticed a little bit of alcohol warmth in the finish.
Food Pairing: This was a fairly sweet and malty beer, and therefore, I’d probably go with something like a bleu cheese burger to counterbalance the beer. The bun on the burger would match, but help to cut down on, the bready sweetness. Then the bleu cheese flavors would kick in to balance the flavors out a bit.
Overall Impression: The flavors in this beer reminded me quite a bit of an imperial pilsner, as it was definitely a malt forward beer. However, it was very drinkable, and the fact that it was an “imperial” beer was only really noticeable in the body and the light alcohol warmth after several sips. I would have liked a bit more hop presence in this beer, but overall, I thought it was a good one.
My Rating: 
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