Otley Calif-O-nia Gold

Cask conditioned at Brecon Beer Festival, Castle Hotel, Brecon, Powys. Pale gold with fullwhite head. It’s not often when going to a beer festival, that the best beer of the day is the last, not the first, so this was pretty dynamic to show above the previous beers. it was beautiful, hoppy throughout, dry,oily and bitter, as fresh as a daisy and, it has to be said, in absolute perfect nick. The finish is juicy and citric and had me quoting from Dylan Thomas, the Welsh poet (and boozer) who i was reading whilst in Wales. My tears are like the quiet drift; Of petals from some magic rose; And all my grief flows from the rift; Of unremembered skies and snows. I think, that if I touched the earth, It would crumble; It is so sad and beautiful, So tremulously like a dream.

Draught half-pint at NERAX on 5/5/07
A very warm-toned honey-orange/yellow body is bright, yielding a medium amount of white head that laces lightly and shows moderate retention.
Citric hops in the nose are somewhat muted by a grainy, almost nutty malt character (could be some yeast in there too). Very papery and dry, seemingly a very high attenuation. Lemon and light tangerine break through, with moderate citric bitterness. Not flawed, just too much blandness/paperiness in the nose.
Hops are strong up front, leading to very lightly sweet malts that recede quickly, allowing for a strong graininess on the end. What could be a crisp, husky, bite from the lager malts really just seems rather bland, grainy and too dry. Using those malts in beers with low carbonation is very difficult, because the carbonation adds back the body and balance that those malts need (one reason why they work so well in lagers). Schiehallion (cask lager) seems to have similar problems.
Don’t need to cut it out entirely, but it needs a high proportion of pils malt or an English pale malt.