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

Bottle from a NYC deli. This one is my favourite among their lagers. The foru hops have taken the edge of the malt, making an imperial pilsener with fruit and pineyness combining to make a depply refreshing beer. There is a mellow Bohemian malt and yeast side to the finish.

Tallahassee, Fl. - Liquor Loft - 22 oz bomber. Pours a medium dark golden with a sticky white head that sticks around quite a while. Somewhat neutral aroma with faint wisps of grain. Bold lager flavor with some cake mix maltiness. Faint traces of hoppiness with some spicy notes. A refined version of some Eastern bloc lagers I have had. Mouthfeel surprisingly thick for the style. What’s with the phallic symbolism on all the Coney Island labels?

Bottle. Poured a clear medium orange color. The head was thin, white, and left some lace behind on the glass. Fruit dominated aroma that included the likes of apricot, melon, and orange. Light to medium bodied and delicately sweet up front. Dry and grainy at the end with noble and resiny hop flavors. Nice.

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.

Corn and chemicals. Yellow color, harsh alcohol on the palate. Pretty bad.

tap at Brother Tuckers. Golden pour wtih a small whitish head. Hops and malts hit the nose and surprisingly enough some big time hops hit the tongue. Better than I expected.

Bottle. Amber beer with an off-white head. Light malt aroma with light earth amd light mineral. Malt flavor with resiny bitterness and grass and ending in a bit of a metallic note. Medium body. Resin lingers with metallic, grass, and plastic notes.

In short: An unusual dry fruity of some kind. A bit “off” but certainly not boring
How: Tap at Beer Island. Beer Island? yes Beer Island. I’m so gonna add this place in ratebeer
The look: Cloudy dark golden body topped by a medium orangey head (yes orangey)
In long: Unusual fruit flavours blending McIntosh apples skin, marmalade, some dried fruits and pink grapefruit without the tartness that usually comes with it. Fluffy yeasty feeling with a sawdust-like dryness. Finish is dry and has a bitterness of medium intensity. I’m surprised to see this is a lager, I would not have guessed it. Not a very good beer but interesting in a strange weird way. I had this beer on a hot summer day sitting by the beach with my girlfriend at Coney Island. That was a nice day. I have fond memories of the time I had with the Swallower, and this beer.