Emerald City Cream Ale
Ham's Restaurant & Brewhouse

A fresh growler pours a glassy-clear brew the color of pale golden straw into a footed pokal glass, and a grainy, glossy, bright white head towers atop the liquid. Fed by an ongoing storm of internal carbonation, the cap endures throughout the encounter, but the soft, bubble-fed nature of the lid manifests itself in a slumping carbonated topping that, despite leaning heavily on the sides of the glass, leaves only a few freckles and wisps of lacing behind.

The smell is softly grainy with a touch of light wheat toast and zippy spice. The aroma is mild, a touch herbal, and quite mellow, but right in line for the style.

The taste is powder-dry and crisp with a toasted twangy wheat-like note and a twist of oversparged malt juice that manifests itself as semisweet-semibitter apple peel. Alcohol is present as a drying, cleansing element that scours the mild malty brew off of the palate, leaving the parched drinker to seek thirst-aid in another swallow, failing, seeking another, and another, and another....

The drink is light and crisp with vivacious carbonation and superb drinkability. After an ongoing hit parade of badass hoppy brews that have amazed and delighted the masses, brewmaster T.L.'s latest is mild, crisp, dry, and utterly quaffable, even to the yokel macro-lovers and the slightly more adventurous malt-mouthed, hop-averse wannabe craft-minions....

This is one dry, quaffable sumbitch of a beer. Come get some.