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

Bomber from State Line. Pours deep golden with 1-finger white head. Nose is grainy pale malt, hopcitrus. Tastes pale malty, not terribly hoppy, but with no apparent flaws. Fairly smooth and drinkable. For their next release, I hope they name it Coney Island Kielbasa Gagger Ale.

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.

Bomber from the Coop in Davis. Orange tinged amber color with a minimal white head. Pale malt aroma rather dominated by mostly grassy hop. Lots of hop. Medium body with very mild carbonation. There is malt sugar, but there is indeed a lot of hop. It’s just hard to pin down any particular type. I’m guessing grassy, citrus and resin. Finish is neither sweet nor bitter. The sugars are tastable, but there is a lot of hop bitter. Maybe this is balanced? Certainly unusual.

Dark gold body with a lightly off white head. The aroma was rich grapefruit and pine. A nice background of gingerbread backs up the hoppy character. The taste some grapefruit and notes of earthy root vegetables, parsnips, maybe. The finish is fairly spicy. One of the few very hoppy lagers that I really enjoyed.

Bottle and served in standard pint glass: Clean golden hue with a nice frothy head and spotty lace. The aroma has notes of pale grains and slight toffee, herbal hops, some pear and grapefruit ester, and a hint of DMS. The taste is rather straight forward with mild bitters balanced by mild pale malts and a dash of sweetness. Nice hop spice character about the edges and finish which does add a level of depth to the palate and better than most of the genre. The mouth feel is also better than most, medium-bodied and carbonated. You cold do a lot worse than this beer, all in all it worked for a high end lager.

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.

Bottle 650 ml
Appearance: Amber gold brew with thick creamy mid sized head. Slight haze.
Nose: Heavy aroma , toasty with strong caramel sweetness, spicy citric hop backing.
Flavor/Palate : Full bodied. Continuity of aroma. Caramel sweet malt spiced up with spiced hops of citric nature. Its set up works better if you compare to Coney Lager. More substance fills well making pleasant drinkable brew. Well done American rendering of strong lager.