It’s been a super busy weekend, between my son’s baseball games, seeing a Shakespearian play, a going away party for friends, and renovating our basement bathroom. I’ve been working my butt off, so this beer is long past due. This is one of the San Diego beers that was sent to me by my friend David. He keeps telling me I need to come out there to see all of the breweries, and if things work out, we might be headed there next fall. I’ve already had the AleSmith San Diego Pale Ale .394 he sent, as well as the Ballast Point Piper Down, so I thought I’d go for this light one on this cool summer evening.
Location: Poured into a tall, thin pint glass at my home in Bloomington, IL.
Numbers: 5.2% ABV, 23 IBUs, ~130 Calories
Appearance & Aroma: It’s bright yellow-golden in color and very clear. It has a fluffy white head on it that fell after a few minutes. The aroma is a bit lagery with some breadiness.
Taste & Feel: The body is light and the mouthfeel is slightly crisp, but mostly watery. The flavor up front is slightly grainy with some breadiness. It’s a little grainy-malty sweet in the middle, which becomes a bready-graininess in the lightly sweet finish. All of the flavors are fairly light, and the lightly-sweet breadiness lasts briefly in the aftertaste.
Food Pairing: The breadiness of this beer makes it an ideal pairing for spicy foods for me. I’d love this beer with a full plate of buffalo wings or spicy pad Thai.
Overall Impression: True to the Kolsch style, this is definitely a great beer for a hot summer day, as the flavors are pretty light and it’s extremely drinkable. There was a bit of graininess and breadiness, but you really have to let it warm up for them to become noticeable. The beer leaned slightly to the sweet side with the hops not very noticeable. Overall, it was a great example of the style and a good beer.
My Rating: 
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