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 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.

22 ounce bottle purchased from the Davis Food Co-Op. Sweet, sugary, candy-like aroma with some mild floral hoppiness as well as a bit of sweet orange citrus. Transparent golden body with a large, pillowy, white head. Nice lacing and good fortitude from the head. Starts a little sweet, before this one becomes very spicy, very herbal. Has some light doughiness in the body, before if it finishes minty with a significant, bitter, dry hoppiness. Grapefruity. A assault of hops.

Bottle. Gold pour. Nose is floral hops, grassy notes, toasty malts, citrus fruit, and soft honey. Taste is flowery hops, grassy notes, lemon, fruit notes, honey and grains/bread. Body is a bit chewy while having a medium overall feel on the palate. Carbonation is strong with being a burden. Dense and bubbly, really. Finishes with lingering citrus fruit notes, lemon juice, flowery hops, light melon, hjoney, grains, and malt. A so-so beer that kind of hit the "refreshing spot" tonight.

Bottle. Pours a clear dark gold color with a white head. Sweet malt aroma with some hop presence. Sweet malt flavor combined with a noticeable alcohol presence and some bitterness in the finish. Interesting.

This bottled brew from a bottle shop poured a small sized head of foamy with a frothy top white colored bubbles that were mostly diminishing and left behind a hazy typically carbonated yellow-orange colored body. The mild aroma was malty and sweet. The semi-thick crisp and clean mouth feel was very tingly at the start and at the finish. The flavor contained notes of hops and was lagerish. A decent one that I would consider buying again.

Bottle. Small white head with good retention, spotty amounts of lacing, transparent yellow body, and slow-rising carbonation. The aroma was malty, fruity, some bready notes, and hoppy. The flavor was bready malt, hoppy, some citrus hops, and a semi-dry finish. The mouthfeel was fairly smooth and this is a medium bodied beer. Easy to drink for the style, but nothing to write home about.

A vigorous pour produces a finger and a half thick, light tan colored head. The beer is a brilliantly clear, copper color that shows a bright, concentrated gold color when held up to the light; this is clear beyond the usual clear too, this must have been heavily filtered. The aroma is quite hop focused and has a mix of citrus and spice notes to it. There is also a touch of sweet, caramelized malt to it. Aromas of candied orange zest mixes with unspecified holiday spice notes and a nutty, lightly toasted malt character.

Lightly sweet tasting, but there is ample hop character that tends to dry this beer out. A biting, herbal bitterness is evident from the get go and lingers through to the long finish of this beer. Light malt notes of toasted biscuits, and even a soft nuttiness peek through the aggressive hop character. The flavor is quite herbal, though in quite a clean way. This is not nearly as sweet tasting or hop-flavored (e.g. the citrus) as the aroma would have suggested. And despite having a medium body to it, the overall beer is perceived as fairly dry (thanks to the biting hop character). Very clean and lager like; the filtration helps with this too. As the beer warms up a bit some soft citrus notes start to become noticeable.

An interesting beer, I am not exactly sure what it is trying to be, but I don’t think it really does it for me regardless. There is nothing wrong with this beer, but the flavors just don’t quite work for my particular palate.

Purchased: Plaza Liquors, Tucson AZ

Pour is a bright golden with a large white head. Aroma is of crisp floral hops and a good helping of malts. Flavor is biscuit malts with some grain and a bit of pepper. Finish is thick with a bit of the alcohol. Basically its just a heavier lager but it does work. Good enough for a try.