Autumna
Hill Farmstead Brewery

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mostly clear and quite pale gold with a dense and creamy white head retaining wildly thick while leaving defined layers of lace after each sip.

Through the head of cloudy fluff lies an uncannily delicate lager that's perhaps a little more florally bitter and dry than I expected, possibly from the oak and a touch of fine minerality, though I now realize it's a festbier. An even more delicate and subtle presence of malt, like white corn or wheat, imparts a very pale quality in the background.

The medium body has a fine carbonation and finishes bone dry.

 

 

Growler from the source. Basically the same as Poetica for me -- which means I was a big fan. Gotta love HF's dedication to the craft. The closest you can get to the real deal this side of the Atlantic

88/100

Growler filled at brewery on 9/30/22; consumed on 10/6/22

Pours a crystal-clear, vibrant straw-gold body capped with two fingers of delicate yet firm white foam; great head retention yields a finger and a half of near-creamy cap, moderate, frothy ring of collar, and myriad chunks of webby lacing spread across the walls of the glass.

Aroma highlights a pillowy lager yeast base steadily espousing notes of grain silo alongside an undercurrent of delicately floral lemon; prickly minerality develops over time, and focused tones of white toast and distant honey are borne from a solidified malt structure.

Taste offers an introductory touch of honeysuckle sporting deepening grassy, floral accents, with a contrast of freshly baked white bread harmonized over the mid-palate; the back end of the profile presents a distant minerality and residual straw finishing.

Mouthfeel brings a light body, delicate and flaky in texture, along with an effortless fluff of full carbonation easing to a taut, wispy grit preceding a steady crispness and level dryness throughout.

Astounding lightness borne from an almost ethereal grain structure; a delicate hand fuses the focus of a well-maintained Helles with a festbier spirit steeped in toasty bittersweetness; an achievement in touch and balance.

 

 

Side-pour draft into a mug at the source.

An inch-plus foam cap of white with a golden body with a slight haze. Lightly bready and malty in the nose. Medium bodied with a soft mouthfeel. Light malt on the palate with a firm bitterness. Finished dry with lingering bready malt.

 

 

 

 

Malty, slightly bitter, wood. Great!