El Segundo: Steve Austin’s Broken Skull American Lager (USA: Pale Lager: 4.8% ABV)
Visual: Very pale yellowed body. An inch of loose white bubbled head. Soda steam levels of small bubbled carbonation.
Nose: Crusty white bread. Flour on bread baps.
Body: Clean. Slight hop oil sheen. Vanilla. Flour. Palma violets. Crusty white bread. Some bitterness and hop character.
Finish: Sour dough. Moderate hop bitterness. Flour. Toffee sweetness. Lime hop styling. Cardboard.
Conclusion:I have to admit I was nervous about this one straight from the pour. Looking at all the mass of bubbles coming up in the body I could feel my stomach panicking already at gas inflicted pains even before I had a sip. I distrust over gassy beers, ok?
When I started sipping the gas initially wasn’t as bad as I feared from that, but it still did feel a tad over carbonated on the stomach, and after finishing it I definitely felt unpleasantly gassy for a while. Not the best start. Still, lets put that to one side, how does it taste?
Eh, average to sub optimal at best. There are some nice touches – a palma violet note that reminds me of European pilsners, and a hop oil sheen that similarly calls to those styles, but the hop touch feels slightly off and the finish is a bit wet cardboard. It feels unpolished. The bitterness is initially welcome but soon merges with the cardboard notes in an unpleasant way.
It just doesn’t click with me. I can see bits I like. The vanilla, the initial hop bitterness, but overall that wet cardboard hop style makes it feel clingy, not easy drinking, not examinable. It feels like a cheaper mass produced lager and not one of the good Czech or German ones. It feels cheap and poorly done.
Not the worst, but not particularly good and beers shouldn’t be so gassy they make you feel rough.
Background: I had heard Stone Cold Steve Austin had teamed up with a brewery to turn out some craft beers a while back, but never expected to see them in the UK. Then Independent Spirit got them in, so it would be rude as a wrestling fan not to give them a go. I have to admit to being more of a Mick Foley fan than a Stone Cold fan, but I cannot ignore the impact he has had on wrestling. Since lagers were what he always downed in his in ring persona I figured they would probably concentrate on making their lager good, so tried this first. Looks like Two Roads was the contract brewery for this. Music wise I went with Saliva: Survival The Sickest as I have vague memories they used that song over a pretty good WWE promo package back in the day so it fitted the theme.