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

Purchased a single 22-oz bomber at Cellar’s Wine & Spirits in St Paul, MN. Pours a clear golden amber brew with a thin off-white head that quickly dissipates to a thin white ring. Aroma of golden grain malt, some light pear, grassy hops, and a hint of citrus. Taste is light to medium bodied, flavors of golden multi-grain with some wheat, light fruit, citrus and yeast. Finish is semi-sweet with a light bitter and metallic texture aftertaste.

Bomber. Poured clear orange-tinted golden with a short cap of white head. The aroma picked up orange, grapefruit, and perfumey hoppage over honey and pale malty sweetness.. there was a rather assertive spicy warmth that gave a barley-wine lite impression that I dug. The flavor opened with that same spicy character that paired with citrus and floral bitterness.. sticky-sweet pale malts at the core supported well.. finished bitter and warm. Medium-bodied with low-to-moderate carbonation on the palate.. kept me interested.

<i>My bottle (650ml) shared with tupalev.</i> Shared with tupalev after a tasting, after the rest of the gang went home. Needless to say I was feeling pretty good so my notes will take some deciphering. Pours a clear yellow-orange with a small diminishing white head. Aroma of a sweet hoppy Lager. Flavour’s malty along with some resiny hops. Average bitter finish. Good body for the style. Pretty good.

Clear gold body thin white head. Not much in the aroma here. Nice sweet malt notes although there was some corn notes. A good hop profile that had some pine notes to it. A crisp overall presence Smooth finish. An okay beer that need a little more to it.

22 oz bottle. Pours a clear golden yellow with a frothy white head that quickly diminishes to a thin collar.

The aroma is sweet sugary fruity biscuity malts and honey with some grassy metallic hops.

The flavor is sweet sugary malts and a little fruit followed by a big metallic, burnt plastic bitterness that lingers in the aftertaste. The mouthfeel is thin to medium and kind of watery.

Overall, not very pleasant. Treacly sweetness with odd bitterness didn’t jibe well. It does get a little better as it warms and I get through the bottle.

[Bottle] Pours a clear gold with a medium whitish head. Aroma of strong lager yeast and some floral hops. Flavor is more lager yeast and some hops. Really a bizarre, offensive aftertaste.

Drank at 50. It pours with a decent white head and has a good appearance in the glass as well as a good aroma. However, the first drink is not as exciting as you might expect. It has an awkward non-hoppy bitterness and finishes flat. Not horrible, but not great.

Sunny, sweet-lemondrop hop aroma, with some whiffs of cereal right as you’re about to swig. Clear medium gold with white head. A label that I wouldn’t want for my daughter to have posed for. Flavor gives me a strong citrus peel impression - zest and the bitter white pith. Sweet, hoppy. Viscous, heavyish body. Lasting orange pith bitterness in the finish, with a few grassy notes. MSL, Bradfordville.