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: Aroma of light hops, pale malts, biscuit, toasting, and a hint of grains. Poured amber/yellow in color with a small, white head that lasted throughout. Slightly hazy. Slightly sparkling. Flavor is lightly sweet and lightly bitter. Tastes of toasted malts, hops, herbs, vegetables, and grains. Medium body. Average texture. Average carbonation. Herbal, hop, and malt finish.

Cloudy orange color with off-white head. Really hoppy and fruity aroma, but still lager. Tastes pretty close to an IPA. ots of citrus. Pleanty of hops. Overall pretty nice.

Draft at Brouwers. Very lagery aroma, dry. Bright gold. Dry throughout, astringent finish.

22 oz. bottle that I received as a birthday gift. Pours a slightly hazed gold with a thin-moderate off-white head that lasted through the first third of the glass and left spotty lace. Light aroma of malt and slightly sweet. The flavor is weak malt, which is almost immediately washed over by moderately bitter citrus pith. Somewhat dry and bitter at the finish, lingering briefly beyond the swallow.

From the 22 ounce bottle. Pours gold with thin white head. Light aroma, just a little bit of hops. Bitter flavor from the hops, which not as much balance for the malt as I would have thought. Kind of boring overall though.

Big bottle on a slightly chill cloudy Sunday afternoon. Very carbonated gold beer with a thin lasting white skiff. Moderate but intriguing aromatics. Fruit, hops, alcohol, spice and malt. Nothing particularly dominant. Flavour light pepper, peach, hints at a Belgian character with hops stronger at the finish. Tasty but light enough for drinking on the deck.

Draft at Redlight. Tart aroma of citrus and other fruits. Thin mouthfeel with a nice hoppy punch and enough sweetness to balance. Light and refreshing for a full flavored beer.

22oz. bottle. Rather delicate aroma, showing just a bit of citrus, spice, floral sweetness and faint, grainy, pale malt. Clear light-medium golden color with a fine, white head that lasts. Flavor is very mildly sweet and malty to start, turning gently bitter about midpoint, and finishing with a blend of noble-tasting, citric, grassy hop and vaguely sweet malts, managing to remain semi-dry and mostly clean by the end. Very fine but active effervescence and a somewhat thick mouthfeel for a lager, body is medium-full. This really is a European Strong Lager style, exactly as indicated here on the site, and fairly refined (as these sorts of beers go).