Golden Saaz
Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery

Milky lemony honey that looked exactly like honey mixed with several ounces of milk. The turbidity and the pale gold color made this one of the most unique looking beers that I've ever seen. The eggshell colored cap was loose and unsticky (typical for a cask pour), but lasted for a bit and left surprisingly thick sheets of tattered lace.

The nose was wonderful. I've always thought that Saaz hops are lemony... sometimes barely so and sometimes impressively so. Golden Saaz's nose was like liquified candied lemon peel and made me excited to tip up the glass.

The flavor score is still up in the air. Sometimes I decide after the first sip, sometimes by mid-pint and sometimes not until the final swallow. Why can't 3.75 be an option just this once?

It's an obvious thing for a hophead to say, but with more hops, this American blonde ale would have earned the higher score with ease. The fact that the last ounce contained a wealth of hop particles and was nice and hoppy-bitter will probably tip it in that direction.

What tasted like almost 100% pale malt (with a small amount of wheat?) didn't contribute much in terms of flavor. The flavor came almost entirely from Saaz hops and was lemony, grassy and mildly appley (possibly from the yeast). The beer wasn't sweet at all and was only mildly bitter. Warming resulted in increased flavor, increased bitterness and a light spiciness on the finish.

The mouthfeel favored light over medium and veered toward frankly light on the swallow. As always, the 'barely there' cask carbonation made the beer very easy to drink, while providing almost no mouth energy.

If they would only give it a chance, most Rock Bottom R&B patrons should enjoy Golden Saaz. It has just enough going for it to pull in the craft beer aficionados as well. *Just* enough.