South Shore Herbal Cream Ale

Brewed by South Shore Brewery/Wilmarths Deepwater Grille
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Ashland, Wisconsin USA

12oz bottle acquired in trade with DavidP (thanks!). Poured a medium and slightly hazy yellow color with a huge, huge (6+ finger) sized head. Aromas of floral, honey, light citrus, peppers and spices. Tastes of honey, lighter citrus, and some spices. Body was thin and watery.

Straw colored with what appears to be a slight hint of pint. Small, but dense head of snow white bubbles. Aromas of dried autumn flowers with hints of goldenrod and Vicks. A big malt backdrop makes this an interesting, if not that pleasant (IMO) of a nose. Sweet pale malt balanced by a true herbal bitterness. Decent balance. Quite chewy, but with enough spritz to keep it lively. Mild flowers with sweet basil and rosemary come to mind. I’ll see how this settles in the old stomach.

12 oz bottle, purchased at Woodmans on Gammon Road, Madison (Oct 05). Pours a very clear and pleasing light gold, moderate lasting smooth white head...subtle herbal/grainy nose is never overpowering but potent enough to waft across the room after I set the bottle down for a bit, hints of rosemary, thyme and white pepper...body is quite clean, fairly sweet initially but dry herbal qualities do show up briefly at midpalate, only to disappear quickly in the honey-sweet, creamy smooth finish. Quite nice if you take your time with it; doesn’t really make an impact without some work.

Slightly hazy gold colored body. The aroma is perfume and apples. The herbal content is there, but I am having trouble placing what exactly which herbs. The taste is funky cheese with some maple. The taste also has some weird citrus character. Rosemary is the only herb I can pick out. Certainly a unique experience. The body is a little thin. I don’t think that anyone would want very many of these.

Picked up a single bottle from Cellars Wine & Spirits in St Paul, MN. Pours a cloudy pale golden yellow brew, very nice fizzy white foam. fast dissolving to a fine film and little lacing. Strange aroms of yeast, champagne, and citrus peel. Taste is just as different. Very light and carbonated on the tongue, fairly smooth with citrus flavor. The "herbal" may be some spice, but hard to figure this one out. Palate is thin and citrus finish.

Tasted at the Deepwater Grille. Light gold color with no head. Wheaty aroma mixed with a sudsy like presence. Bitter malt taste along with a pinch of wheat. This actually is not quite bad at all. It’s not complex by any stretch, but a solid session brew for sure.
Earlier Rating: 11/21/2004 Total Score: 3.6
Hazy yellow color with no head. Man... what can I say about this? It has a very herbal aroma followed by a very herbal taste. It doesn’t horse around with anything else. I definitely do not have the skills to nail down the different herbs, unfortunately. Tasty and a little odd.

Pours a light golden color with a frothy white foamy head which dissipates to nothing. Aroma is ginger spice, earth, flowery, and pepper, with lemon hints. Light flavor with slight corny hints and more lemon peel and lemon grass with ginger root. Spritzy and high carbonation leads to a light and weak mouthfeel.

12 oz bottle. Poured a clear golden color. head was two fingers high and white. There wasn’t much lace on the glass at the end. Smelled of nutmeg and vanilla ice cream. Modest malty sweetness on the tongue. Flavor is similar to the aroma with a lingering graham cracker note at the end. Interesting.