4.1/10
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Appearance 4
Aroma 5
Flavor 4
Texture 4
Overall 3.5
Amber colour with no head. Chewy, caramelly nose. There’s some sulphur on the palate, and toastines, but no real balance. Relatively flat carbo, limited malty goodness hurts the beer.
Tried
on 15 May 2008
at 09:52
6.2/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 7
Bottle. Dark brown beer with a light tan head. Light caramel aroma. Caramel flavor with a bit of earthiness. Medium-light body. Easy drinkings. LIngering light caramel. A bit of residual sweetness.
Tried
from Bottle
on 02 Dec 2007
at 16:29
5.6/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 5
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 5.5
Draft. pale straw color with a whitish head. Straw/hay and light mineral aroma. Malt, straw/hay flavors with light hops and backing fruitiness. Medium body - easy drinking. Lingering mineral tones.
Tried
from Draft
on 13 Nov 2007
at 13:01
6.4/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
Bottle, presumably fresh, at the Liar’s Club on 3/23/07
These guys have so much potential with their obvious brewing skills and lagering practices. It was disappointing, albeit not surprising in the least, to see this rather heavily filtered, force carbonated (and maybe pasteurized?) beer, that is otherwise quite well-made. The head retention is moderate to poor, with a chalky-beige head leaving little/no lacing. High clarity in a dark chestnut body, with plenty of large bubbles bursting on the surface.
Sweet, rather sluggish I thought, caramel malts in the nose certainly signify that this is not going to be some undermalted fake attempt at a dark German lager. A little bit of buttercream-like toffee maltiness adds a slight touch of thickness, while some light coffee/roast notes sit on the finish, rather plainly. The aroma tapers off in to a bit of bready/toastiness that is quite dull/bland. Some yeast notes evident throughout, attempting to add dryness/crispness, but the overly sweet mats seem to rob the yeast of most of its elegance that was seen in the pils. Medium to medium-low strength overall, with no alcohol or flaws noted.
Rather simple, somewhat insipidly sweet flavor balances light vanilla-flavored coffee with a touch of cocoa and prunes. Yeast notes almost accentuate the slightly vinousness prune notes, but fail to really take a foothold against the sweetness and extremely loose carbonation. The filtration/carbonation leads to a very wet, rather soggy texture and the flavors just fall in to each other, without any distinct transitions or real brightness/crispness of flavors. No doubt on draught this stuff would be much better. I don’t expect a Mexican brewery to bottle condition a 4.5abv lager, but man if they did.......Still, a good beer, free from flaws, that just suffers from the texture/mouthfeel.
These guys have so much potential with their obvious brewing skills and lagering practices. It was disappointing, albeit not surprising in the least, to see this rather heavily filtered, force carbonated (and maybe pasteurized?) beer, that is otherwise quite well-made. The head retention is moderate to poor, with a chalky-beige head leaving little/no lacing. High clarity in a dark chestnut body, with plenty of large bubbles bursting on the surface.
Sweet, rather sluggish I thought, caramel malts in the nose certainly signify that this is not going to be some undermalted fake attempt at a dark German lager. A little bit of buttercream-like toffee maltiness adds a slight touch of thickness, while some light coffee/roast notes sit on the finish, rather plainly. The aroma tapers off in to a bit of bready/toastiness that is quite dull/bland. Some yeast notes evident throughout, attempting to add dryness/crispness, but the overly sweet mats seem to rob the yeast of most of its elegance that was seen in the pils. Medium to medium-low strength overall, with no alcohol or flaws noted.
Rather simple, somewhat insipidly sweet flavor balances light vanilla-flavored coffee with a touch of cocoa and prunes. Yeast notes almost accentuate the slightly vinousness prune notes, but fail to really take a foothold against the sweetness and extremely loose carbonation. The filtration/carbonation leads to a very wet, rather soggy texture and the flavors just fall in to each other, without any distinct transitions or real brightness/crispness of flavors. No doubt on draught this stuff would be much better. I don’t expect a Mexican brewery to bottle condition a 4.5abv lager, but man if they did.......Still, a good beer, free from flaws, that just suffers from the texture/mouthfeel.
Tried
from Bottle
on 03 Apr 2007
at 16:31
7.9/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
No, actually it dosen’t taste remotely like Corona. Try it again
My third favorite beer of my Cali trip, behind Beatification and Redemption. I had 2 draught pints at the Liar’s Club on 3/23/07
I think the draught nature of the beer worked heavily in its favor, as the bottled morena from the same brewer was nothing special at all. This one had a large enough white head that steadily faded to cover, leaving only a light filmy lace behind. Crystal clear, deep maize-golden with plenty of carbonation visible.
Beautiful yeast in the nose is authentic Czech pils yeast and full of that mineral-character associated with it. Plenty of crispness as it crackles on the arid finish. Malts are generally quite crisp and give some graininess, adding to the overall crisp nature of the beer, but they do yield a bit of light honey sweetness. Hops are very reserved in the nose. Distinct saaz grassiness, dry floral and hay notes, are not exactly bursting forth, but are nonetheless fresh and tastefully done. Though I guess these days, a top-notch beer almost has to be oozing strong, dry-hopped aromatics. Whatever, I thought the yeast and malt and absolute stark cleanliness of the beer more than made up for the only traditional hop rate.
Where the aroma fell short of overall strength, the flavor picked up the slack and then some. Delicious honey overtop crackers, with just a pinch of sweet dough thrown in. An ever-so-slight hint of corn-like biproduct from the pale malt and a fully biting, crisp, dry pils yeast finish that is complemented by soft floral and grassy hop notes. A bit of peppery/hay-like bitterness is quite reserved, but the beer is so crisp to begin with, it needs not rely on hop bitterness. High carbonation, appropriate to the style (though perhaps still a bit too high in an absolute sense) keeps it very light and refreshing. I can see how some would fault the lack of strong hop flavors/aromatics, but I think it really allows the obvious care in brewing to show through. The beer is no doubt lagered properly and brewed nearly-flawlessly. Why don’t we have a draught pils like this on the East coast?
My third favorite beer of my Cali trip, behind Beatification and Redemption. I had 2 draught pints at the Liar’s Club on 3/23/07
I think the draught nature of the beer worked heavily in its favor, as the bottled morena from the same brewer was nothing special at all. This one had a large enough white head that steadily faded to cover, leaving only a light filmy lace behind. Crystal clear, deep maize-golden with plenty of carbonation visible.
Beautiful yeast in the nose is authentic Czech pils yeast and full of that mineral-character associated with it. Plenty of crispness as it crackles on the arid finish. Malts are generally quite crisp and give some graininess, adding to the overall crisp nature of the beer, but they do yield a bit of light honey sweetness. Hops are very reserved in the nose. Distinct saaz grassiness, dry floral and hay notes, are not exactly bursting forth, but are nonetheless fresh and tastefully done. Though I guess these days, a top-notch beer almost has to be oozing strong, dry-hopped aromatics. Whatever, I thought the yeast and malt and absolute stark cleanliness of the beer more than made up for the only traditional hop rate.
Where the aroma fell short of overall strength, the flavor picked up the slack and then some. Delicious honey overtop crackers, with just a pinch of sweet dough thrown in. An ever-so-slight hint of corn-like biproduct from the pale malt and a fully biting, crisp, dry pils yeast finish that is complemented by soft floral and grassy hop notes. A bit of peppery/hay-like bitterness is quite reserved, but the beer is so crisp to begin with, it needs not rely on hop bitterness. High carbonation, appropriate to the style (though perhaps still a bit too high in an absolute sense) keeps it very light and refreshing. I can see how some would fault the lack of strong hop flavors/aromatics, but I think it really allows the obvious care in brewing to show through. The beer is no doubt lagered properly and brewed nearly-flawlessly. Why don’t we have a draught pils like this on the East coast?
Tried
from Bottle
on 03 Apr 2007
at 14:11
6.1/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 5.5
On Tap @ the Liar’s Club. Clear yellow with bright white head. Sweet malts in the aroma with some sugar. A surprisingly crisp hop flavor to go along with the sweet malts. Nice summer brew alternative to macro garbage “beer.”
Tried
from Draft
on 03 Nov 2006
at 21:49