8.6

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 8.5

Draught at Three Tides, Summer 2011, I believe?
Clear golden-to-light-amber with a touch of light chestnut and a light beige head atop that is small but shows moderate retention.
Sweet, succulent honey-like malts in the nose are garnished with hints of maple, caramel and pureed nutmeal. The emphasis remains on the base malts and they easily balance the strong herbal hop notes that are delicate, fresh and a perfect complement to the honey-caramel. Very clean, with no alcohol.
A lot of viennas go too far with the vienna/munich malts but this one has a perfect balance. The specialty malts add only a modest amount of toastiness, caramel and nuttiness, allowing the soft base malts reign over the palate, which as a result, is exquisitely soft. Moderate, tight carbonation and luscious herbal hops are light but provide just enough bitterness and spice to keep the finish crisp and bright. Just a phenomenal rendition, unsurprisingly. Marshall Wharf really does a knock-out job with the traditional German styles.