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

Pours a slightly hazy straw color with off-white head. Nose has some herbal notes with lemony citrus, but isn’t very aromatic overall. Palate has a good balance of malt with hop bitterness, with some spice coming through towards the end (perhaps rye). Finish is spicy and lemony.

Bottled. Orangeish golden colour, small slightly off-white head. Aroma is hops, grains, some mild spicy and herbal notes. Flavour is quite strong fruity and grassy hops along with some mild grainy and earthy notes. Semi-dry palate.

Bottle. Pours a copper body with a white head. Bread y cereal caramel malts, a hint spicy and resinous, earth y with a pine bitter finish. Decent.

Draft. Small, frothy, white head that diminishes fairly quickly. Pale amber body. Hops dominate the flavor of this lager, yet the aroma is very light.. Hints of toasted grain and herbs. The flavor is moderately sweet and lightly to moderately bitter. The finish is lightly sweet and moderately to heavily bitter. The lingering bitterness does not totally cover up some malty huskiness, but the texture is mostly lager-like — medium body, watery texture and lively carbonation. Very nice bitterness, but not much else for everything that’s in this beer.

A Mes rate. Draught at the Rake.
An attractive orange gold colour with a thin white head and plenty of lace. Good fruity hops with a pleasant biscuit malt base. Nice and dry. Good bitterness with a faint resinous sting in the finish. Very straight forward but very pleasant overall.

It was a Coney Island Friday, the day before July 4th and sitting down with my brother and tasting them all, we came to the conclusion that they all are either really average or they really suck. Which is a shame because we both really enjoy the He’Brew beers. These just seem like throwaway beers, with nice labels.

The beer pours out a light amber color with an incredibly scant white head. Nearly nothing came up from a semi-agressive pour. The aroma was iced tea, light caramel, dirty pennies and some floral hops. The flavor seemed quite agressively hopped for the style, as the herbal bitterness was suprising but after the first few sips there was nothing to it to keep my interest other than the hop, which wasn’t a good variety for me. My pint seemed to drag on, so about half way thru I just drain poured it. It wasn’t bad, but inredibly boring.

hazy orange/gold, unnoticible head, not much lace. pretty mild nose contains floral hops, caramel, tea. creamy caramel flavor quickly followed by bitter floral bitterness. medium bodied, bitter finish that lingers. the 6.8% alcohol is well hidden. some kind of metallicness in the bitter taste. just ok, i guess. single bottle purchased at binny’s orland park.

Dense, off-white head. Quite hazy, almost like a hefeweizen. Light amber color. Leaves bountiful lace after each sip. Displays nice balance in the nose. The hop has a touch of grapefruit to it. Inviting neutral pale malts. The flavor starts with slightly sweet, pale grain. This quickly gives to a spicy and bitter hop flavor. This lasts through the swallow and the long aftertaste. Full-bodied with an average level of carbonation. Afterthought, I’m surprised at the lower ratings for this beer. I find this APA to be well above average...superior really.