Cervesa Limon
Appalachian Brewing Company

 

I'll start with the announcement:
"This crystal clear light Mexican style lager is crisp, refreshing and brewed with a special twist. Late in the brew process natural lemon zest is added to give this very drinkable beer a hint of lemon. Cervesa Limon has a mild tartness with lemon flavors that make it a perfect hot afternoon pre-siesta beer."

This description is completely misleading. Lemon zest bears little resemblance to the odor emitting from this brew; strong perfume strength lemon cleaner. If the original beer was drinkable it was lost during the process. The beer poured a yellow color with some head that disappeared shortly after being served. The taste may have been like fruit flavored cereal to the younger reviewers but I liken it to adding lemon candy to a typical light beer; candy sweetness and aroma over a background of thin malt flavor.

One of these was plenty.

"This crystal clear light Mexican style lager is crisp, refreshing and brewed with a special twist. Late in the brew process natural lemon zest is added to give this very drinkable beer a hint of lemon. Cervesa Limon has a mild tartness with lemon flavors that make it a perfect hot afternoon pre-siesta beer."

On tap at the Harrisburg location served in a mug. This brew appears a lightly hazed straw yellow color. A finger of white head forms across the top and rapidly recedes leaving a very faint amount of spotty lace on the glass. After a swirl, hardly more than a thin coating of bubbly lace sits atop this brew.

The smell of this brew is absolutey insane. It is a perfume bomb of lemony assault on the nose. There is nothing natural smelling about this. I feel like I was just sprayed in the face with mace but instead of pepper spray, they filled the aerosol can with lemon pledge. To call this natural smelling is an insult to lemons across the world, Mexican or not.

The taste of this brew is, who would have guessed, lemon filled. It is borderline oily with a perfumed lemon flavoring that is reminiscent of lemon pledge or lemon pine-sol. Considerably solvent and spicy in the mouth for a 4% offering. After your tongue concedes to the lemony mouth rape it just endured, a cereal grain sweetness emerges tasting like yellow fruit loops or fruity pebals cereal. So strange of a combination and not that enjoyable.

This is light bodied with a modest level of carbonation that seemingly evaporates once inside the mouth. It is somewhat oily in the feel yet watery at the same time. Looking back on this brew's description, they pretty much failed at all characteristics described. It is not tart nor very drinkable. There is no hint of lemon, this is a lemon assault. The base "lager" is completely absent. I was not a fan and found the lemon to be way too aggressive which distracted from the overall experience.

On tap @ ABC Harrisburg on 8/12/11. Served in an oversized mug. This was described as a Light Lager that was brewed with natural lemon zest.

Pours a clear, paler gold, with a finger of bright white head. This retains with a thin creaminess, which leaves back a foamy cascade of light spotty lacing behind. The aroma smells is HOLY SHIT strong with notes of fresh lemon and lime flavored zest that have a bit of a citrus peel bitterness to it as well. There’s a grassiness to the edges here that lends this enough of an airiness in the nostrils, to the point where this combines with the citrus flavors to give this a bit of a Lemon Pledge feel in the nose (which is a first for me!).

That lemon zest is a bit more controlled up front of the flavor than it was in the aroma but then strikes back with some fierceness in the backend. There is a firm hop bitterness to this that is coming off as ½ grassy and ½ citric on the palate, while sweet grains are pretty much resigned to the back of the profile. The finish is dry here, with an odd lingering citric fruitiness that has some residual sugars from the malts mixed in as well. The mouthfeel has a lighter medium body on it and is pretty much sharp feeling the whole way through and keeps this crisp on the tongue. That 4% ABV fits this feel just about right and does aid with the overall drinkability of this.

I understand what they were shooting for this, trying to create a fuller flavored Craft version of a Corona with a lime in it, but man, did they overdo do it with the lemon zest here! I can’t say that it was horrible or anything as my palate did eventually become used to the flavors and this actually did have a certain amount of thirst quenching ability to it but they do need to dial things back a bit (or actually a lot) if they choose to revisit this one.