Luminous Lemon Ale
Right Brain Brewery

 

 

 

 

 

 

Refreshing summertime ale. Poured from can to pint glass. Bright and glowing lemony-yellow color, with a few fingers of fizzy foam. Aromas of fresh squeezed lemon, biscuit and cracker, and a touch of honey. Flavor is lemon juice and zest balanced nicely against the malty cream ale base. Slightly sweet and not too sour. Great alternate to typical summer shandys.

16 ounce can into pint glass, canned on 6/20/2018. Pours slightly hazy medium golden yellow color with a 1-2 finger fairly dense and fluffy white head with good retention, that reduces to a thin cap that lingers. Light spotty lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Good appearance. Aromas of big lightly tart/tangy lemon juice, zest, cracker, corn, white bread, light pepper, and herbal/grassy earthiness. Very nice aromas with good balance of lemon juice/zest, pale malt/corn, and light earthy hop notes; with great strength. Taste of big lightly tart/tangy lemon juice, zest, cracker, corn, white bread, light pepper, and herbal/grassy earthiness. Mild herbal/grassy/zesty bitterness and citrus tartness on the finish. Lingering notes of tart/tangy lemon juice, zest, cracker, corn, white bread, light pepper, and herbal/grassy earthiness on the finish for a short bit. Great robustness and balance of lemon juice/zest, pale malt/corn, and light earthy hop flavors; with a great malt/bitter/tartness balance; and zero astringent flavors after the finish. Moderately crisp/clean finishing. Very clean and not yeasty. Light-moderate increasing dryness from bitter/tartness and carbonation. Medium-high carbonation and light-medium body; with a very smooth, moderately bready/grainy, fairly sticky, and lightly acidic balanced mouthfeel that is great. Zero warming alcohol as expected of 4.5%. Overall this is a great fruited cream ale. All around great robustness and balance of lemon juice/zest, pale malt/corn, and light earthy hop flavors; very smooth, crisp, clean, and refreshing to drink with the mildly tart/bitter finish. Very flavorful and not watery for the ABV. Great balance of vibrant citrus and clean pale malt/corn flavors; with mild earthy hop balance. I really liked that this kept the base style character intact, and added the fruit on top of it. It doesn't feel like a shandy like I expected. A very enjoyable offering, and spot on style example.