I recently paid a visit to The Alemonger’s for a mid-week beer tasting and #Beertography session. During the session, we tried three beers from the New Belgium Lips of Faith series which he picked up as part of a recent Craft Beer shopping excursion to State Line Liquors of Elkton, MD. Here are the New Belgium beers that we sampled:
While I would love to give you detailed tasting notes about these beers, the truth is that I didn’t bother to write anything down. I can tell you this, the Coconut Curry Hefeweizen was easily the best of the three (think kinder, gentler Ballast Point Indra Kunindra), while the Pluot was the worst of the three because it was way too sweet and syrupy for both our tastes (our buddy at the Beerbecue blog wrote up a HILARIOUS and spot on review of this beer which is a definite must read!).
In addition to the New Belgium beers, The Alemonger picked up a plethora of other beers that included Maui Brewing Company’s Lemongrass Saison which is the subject of today’s review (he gave me a can to take home). Here is what Maui Brewing Company had to say about this beer in a recent press release:
Maui Brewing Co. (MBC) is happy to announce their collaboration with Lost Abbey, using 100% local Maui raised lemongrass! Lemongrass Saison is a 5.5% ABV beer utilizing White Wheat, Oats, Pilsner malt, Lemongrass, Citra and Nelson Sauvin hops. This first limited release of 2013 will be available starting mid-April in 12 oz. cans and draft. The Lost Abbey is a brewery located in San Marcos, California – famous for their Belgian-inspired beers.
Let’s find out if this beer is any good…
- Appearance: Golden yellow color with a fast rising half inch head that dissipates rapidly. No lacing at all.
- Aroma: Freshly grated lemon zest, a hint of clove, and that yeasty smell that you get from room temperature bread dough that’s been sitting on the counter to rise. One question: where’s the lemongrass?
- Taste: Medium bodied and lightly carbonated with soft bubbles that roll over your tongue. Very crisp and clean with hints of lemon and clove at the onset. That Saison yeastiness kicks in at mid palate with a touch of sweet biscuity malt as well. A subtle bitterness at the end with the lemongrass flavors finally showing up in the aftertaste.
- ABV: 5.5%
While Maui Brewing Company’s Lemongrass Saison was definitely light and refreshing (i.e. a fine Summer beer), I thought it was a bit too polite, i.e. it lacked the funky astringency that I have come too expect from this style of beer. It was a good beer, but not one that I would go out of my way for to try again.
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