Pours hazy copper body with small white head. Smell is refreshing, hoppy and fruity with a hint of caramel. Medium body, softly carbonated with thick and oily texture. Pleasantly bitter taste. Slightly sticky. Aroma of caramel malts, yeast, hops, citrus fruit; mostly mango. A touch of spiciness and licorice. Dry and lasting bitter finish. Overall, nice one. Tasty.

Pours a bit hazy golden color, topped wit ha medium white head, slowly settling. Moderate fruity aroma, soem sweet notes with a bit of malt in the back. Taste starts slightly sweet, mild bitterness with a tad herbal aftertaste. Light body. Ok pale ale.

Mar. ’16. On tap and bottled. Pours a hazy golden body with medium sized head. Strong hop aroma, citrus, pine, floral and tropical fruits. Flavor is quite bitter, with pleasant, although a bit shy biscuit/fruity malt. Hop bitterness include mostly herbal, chalky and peppery-earthy components. Notable residual yeast makes chalk strong and weird in this context but smooths the palate as well. Medium bodied and very tasty for such a low ABV ale. Finish is dry bitter, not short at all but ends sharply. I have tried a couple of test batches before their commercial release and I’m so glad to see it corrected on many levels! It’s quite stable and consistent, from what I’ve tried. And pretty much flawless, although I’d prefer less yeast in flavor. In between an IPA and a regular pale, this is a bold, crisp and refreshing brew. Glad to finally have something like this in my hometown!

Keg at Craft Room, Zagreb. Clear golden, small head. Mid intensity aroma of tangerines and lychee. Mid sweet with medium body and clean, rounded mouthfeel. Passionfruit juice, some grain and sugar. Long bitter finish.

On tap at Craft Room Zagreb. Cloudy orange/golden coloured, minimal white head, fruity hoppy nose. Sweetish malty, biscuity, pleasant herbal hoppy presence with touch of citrus and rather bitter finish. Not bad at all.

Finally tasting this, 0.5 l bottle at Sheridan’s Pub. Clear golden, small barely visible white head. Elderberry, earthy aromas, pines. Medium hopped, medium bitter kick. Quite bitter, nicely balanced. Lasting earthy bitterness. Good one.

OK, I’m so damn happy this exists that I could write a paragraph only detailing the nuances of my happiness. Let’s try to boil it down to the mere basics. I’ve been in this "game" for 12 years. I’ve waited for 12 years for a proper, quality, truly craft beer to be brewed commercially in my hometown. Which is "just" the second biggest town in Croatia and an important regional center. Oh, and, until this was released, there was no beer brewed there for pretty much 6-7 years. That’s how important this is, I don’t need to elaborate. And LAB is basically a perfect example of how time flies inside the world of beer, how random circumstances leads to sorta unexpected solutions... The two brewers who run this - Siniša, the owner and Mario, the brewmaster have, realistically, been in the craft beer world for surprisingly long - when I met Mario for the first time, in August 2014, on the first meeting of what would become the first homebrew association in Split, he was still "only" running, for not even a year, the only craft beer pub in the region, before he started homebrewing. Siniša joined the crew a year and a month or two ago, new, but with a vision. Both learned fast, both acted fast, and this is the result. In retrospect, a year ago, this union would’ve been highly unlikely, but such is fate. So much has happened during that year... but I’m rambling. Two great guys who know what good beer is and what good beer should be, opening a brewery in my hometown. Yup, I was and still am damn happy. Trial kegs, from the batch brewed at Imo-Pilsner, where their equipment originates, boosted the enthusiasm...but the commercially released first batch was even better. On tap, Craft Room... The beer itself is a misty yellow-golden body, solid head. The aroma is hop-driven, herbal and citric... the taste is more of the same, lovely interplay of herbal and citric hoppy notes, with the citric notes even hitting lemon rock candy here and there, on top of an unobtrusive, slightly sweetish malty body that makes for a solid backbone... juity peachy notes appeared too. The finish is slightly abrupt, but a fine light bitterness does build up. This is a very, very, very drinkable beer. The perfect beer to open a brewery with. Flaws were nowhere to be seen. Am I really objective? On terms of taste and technicalities, I wouid hope so, This is a very, very good pale ale, which will be even more appreciated in the summer.