Pennichuck Ladder 1 Lager

Brewed by Pennichuck Brewing Company
Style: Vienna
Milford, New Hampshire USA

Date: 05/31/2008
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting, Noog Four-O

Appearance: hazy orange, wispy off white head,
Aroma: sweet caramel malt aroma with a nice bready character and light earthyness,
Flavor: sweet malt flavor, lots of biscuit character, touch of earthyness,

Aroma: 5/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 10/20
Rating: 2.7/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: *4

(12oz bottle) Small off-white head atop lightly hazed amber body. Aroma is medium sweet, caramel, bread, light mint. Taste is medium sweet, orange, caramel/bread, light earthy/mint. Light-medium body.

12oz bottle. Poured a medium and slightly hazy amber color with a small sized off white head. Aromas of toasted malts, grass, caramel, and bready. Tastes of caramel, bread, and a had a light grassy finish.

Clear dark caramel hue rapidly becomes headless. Strangely spicy nose has a mild leafiness from its hops, but also something that might resemble cinnamon or ginger – quite out of place really. It’s hard to identify, but there is something out of context in there, the closest I can think of is pencil shavings, but it’s not accurate, there is a faint rooty tang also.. quite dry awkward note anyway and unfortunately, it grabs all your attention simply because there is not much else to be studied. Light bodied, hesitant carbonation, faint leafy finish. Plain poor.

growler–pours an off white head that laces and copper color. Aroma is medium malt-sweet, secondary hops. Taste is medium malt-very sweet-caramel, nut, fruit secondary hops. OK/mild carbonation.

Bottle... Clear, deeply golden lager with a small, creamy, white head. Decent retention. The lactic aroma hints at oxidation and caramel malt with an insinuation of perfume. Light to medium-bodied with a prickly mouthfeel. Leans only a touch toward the bitter side of balance. No residual sweetness; thin and very dry. Short, crisp, meekly bitter finish. Thanks go out to mcbackus for providing this bottle!

My Bottom Line:
This flaccid Vienna offered but a few biscuity base malts to munch on, and a few citrusy, herbal hops throughout the yeasty apples. Surely, it wasn’t in prime form, but there is no apparent date on the bottle...

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A thin veil of foam skirts the clear pale amber.
-That obvious fruitiness was disturbing at first for the style, but then comprised most of the remaining flavors, so I got used to them.
-Hoppiness was definitely not "distinctive" in the aroma, which the commercial description suggests.
-The body was frail and carbonation very low, making its mouthfeel quite watery.
-There is no way to tell if this bottle was fresh or not, which is a shame, but after reading other ratings, I have a feeling that it wasn’t. How was I supposed to tell?

Bottle.

Pours copper with a nice white head. Smells of sweet fruit (strawberries...), some buttery hints, toasty, earthy. Tastes sweet and fruity with a crisp finish and a nice balance of carbonation