Feliz Navidad
Devils Backbone Brewing Company

Review written from notes taken at the brewery taproom the other day.

Nice light golden color, pretty clear, with plenty of rising bubbles. Nice layer of foam on top, which shrinks down to a thickish layer on top within a couple minutes, leaving a ring on the glass in its wake. As I drink my way through the beer it leaves quite a bit of lacing behind.

Mild, but the thing that stands out the most is some smokiness. Interesting. I'm curious to find out what this tastes like; never had a smoked version of any pale lager before. Later sniffs around the halfway mark have some sweetness in the background, almost fruity?

The smokiness definitely carries over to the flavor; it seems to be the most prominent thing going on there, too. There's also a sweetness mingling in with it. Maybe something a little fruity? The smokiness blends with it so much that it's hard to tell exactly what it is. After a few sips I'm definitely noticing a nice sweet maltiness in the background too, hiding behind the smokiness; almost reminding me of sweet corn at times, much like in a lot of the actual Mexican lagers. I wonder if they actually used corn in the brewing process here, or if they managed to pull off that flavor with just the malt? Smokiness lingers for a few seconds after a drink, then mostly fades away. Just a bit of hop bitterness going on; I didn't notice it much until my tongue adjusted to the smoke and then it popped out a bit on the end. Burps are a bit fruity and smoky. Toward the end of the glass, the lingering flavor is like sweet corn roasted over an open fire; those smoky/sweet/corn flavors all mingled together.

Light, bubbly, but soft; the bubbles are there but there's no harsh prickliness to be found. Very pleasant feel to this one. Probably my favorite feature of the beer, which is saying something because I don't think there's anything I DON'T like about this beer!

Never had a beer quite like this one! Another taproom exclusive brewed in collaboration with another brewery (Three Notch'd), and I believe the sales go toward a charity though I'm not entirely sure which off the top of my head. Glad I finally got around to trying this one, and not just because they let you keep the glass! I'm a fan of Mexican lagers and smoked beers, but I never thought of combining the two; I'm glad somebody here at the brewery did, though, because the result is an interesting beer that I've really enjoyed drinking a glass of today.