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

Quite strong hop aroma, like a DIPA. Pretty light in colour, a bit of red and cloudy. Some lacing. Flavour is completely dominated by hops, a bit of malt in there. Bitter hops aftertaste as with anything approaching this much hoppiness. A pretty nice hop lager, but why? Make it a DIPA and up the % to match the flavour. I probably wouldn’t get this again for that reason.

Pours hazy amber with a thin white head. Aroma is very floral and hoppy, smels like pacific north west hops. Great flavour very floral and bitter. Creamy mouth feel. Really great beer. Drinks like an IPA.

Bottle. Pours a golden color with a longlasting white head. Has a malty caramel and hoppy aroma with some grainy hints. Sweetish malty grainy hoppy flavor. Has a sweetish malty caramel finish with some hoppy hints in the aftertaste.

Bottle:   Fiery golden, translucent, light carbonation, moderate sudsy white head, spotty lacing.   Soft alcohol nose, otherwise corn and/or rice like attributes.   Maybe its cornmeal I am smelling.   Grassy on the tongue, sweet straw but also a touch astringent.   Very mealy on the finish.   Moderate body and mouthfeel.   Not as crisp or clean as other examples.   Not bad, but does feel too alcoholic, astringent, and mealy.

Tap @ The He’Brew Bash at the Blind Tiger NYC. I was fricking wasted by the end so some of these rates might be a bit odd. The nose was full of very zingy fruit and had a very heavy finish.

(bottle - 22 oz) Lightly hazy amber pour with a very thin white head. Aroma is light and sweet with some very subtle hints of hops and flowers. Very large hop bitterness begins the flavor with a lot of floral and citrus notes. A good peppery bitterness and spicy flavor in the middle that goes to a very bitter and lingering finish. Not what I was expecting from the aroma at all.

22oz bomber. Pours a tawdry gold with little to no head, minimal lacing. Nose is surprisingly malty, with strong bread and cereal notes and a resiny, piney hop quality normally associated with IPAs. Mouthfeel is full and prickly, with strong ctiric hop flavors and a long powerful tannic bitterness. Really the only clue this is a lager is the clean finish, as the beer in all other aspects doesn’t much fit the definition of standard strong lager. Taken on its own merit, however, I found it relatively enjoyable.

It has a hazy yellow-orange color with a fluffy white head. The aroma is mostly citrus hops and grass. The taste is bitter, but with all the hops staying on the roof while your tongue stays mostly clean.