Coney Island Sword Swallower Steel Hop Lager

Shmaltz Brewing Company
Brewed at Olde Saratoga Brewing (Mendocino Brewing Co.)
Style: European Strong Lager
San Francisco, California USA

22oz bottle. Cool label. Hazy orange pour. Light grain is the most noticeable thing in the aroma along with a little hop spice. Flavor is spicy with citrus hops, just a touch of malt that makes a week attempt at balance and lastly what I would call a bubblegum flavor. It’s not bad, it’s just nothing I’ll go looking for. Dry finish on a medium body.

Taste: 9/8 Bottle(?date) Looks: Golden body, White top. Aroma: Lots of caramel malt. Taste: Grain and caramel malt. Full bodied. A bit overdone (Don’t know if it is too many hops and malt choices or what.) Full bodied and a little metallic. Bitter finish.OK

Orange/amber pour, very bright. Fluffy off-white head and spotty lace. Alcohol and caramel malts on the nose. Hoppy citrus flavors with a lack of malt.

22oz bottle. light orange, rocky,white head. Aroma of deep caramel, some cotton candy, hints of spicy rye. Herbal hop aroma is on the lighter side. Wonderful aroma. Clean caramel malt. Flavor is a full caramel malt, robust raw honey, and maybe a radish or some other vegatable. radish is just too spicy, a root veg of some kind, can not put a finger on it. Bold herbal bitterness lingers for a while. finishes with a bit of grapefruit towards the end. Could use a bit of balance, although still glad I’ve tried it.

Pours a very pale amber into a shaker. Sickly white head. Alcohol and caramel aromas. Bitter out of the gate. No malt balance. Almost painful, sour astringency.

pours a semi-hazy orange with a small off-white head, good lacing.
smell is malt, some grains, hint of corn, some citrus, a little caramel.
taste is thick, hoppy, slight grapefruit, malt in the back, touch of caramel, some citrus, touch of spice, nice bitter ending.
overall a very nice refreshing beer.

Aroma is a very faint citrus scent. Color is a bright gold with good carbonation and a thin white head. Taste is rich, hoppy and bitter. Starting with a medium body it goes down smooth with a rich feel. Finish comes in malty then a mellow hop flavor with some citrus and a bold bitterness. After taste is more bitterness and sharp feel. This is a pretty good brew although it would be better if there was more hop flavor and a little less bitterness.

Bottle. Head is initially small, frothy, white, mostly diminishing. Body is dark yellow to light amber. Aroma is lightly malty (toasted grain, husks), lightly hoppy (herbs, resin), with light notes of plastic and alcohol. Flavor is moderately sweet, lightly acidic, lightly to moderately bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, lightly acidic, moderately to heavily bitter, slightly husky. Medium body, watery texture, lively carbonation. Pretty sad. The oddest thing is that they talk about "8 hops", but there is so little of them in the aroma. Plenty of bitterness for sure, but just not much of anything in the nose. Rough malt character. You could tell me this was made in some Russian factory and I might believe you.