High Desert Drifter
Mother Earth Brew Co.

i now think west coast pils, until it gets its own style listing here on BA, belongs best as american lager, i mean its not an american lager per se, but west coast pils is a decidedly american lager type, if that makes sense, not all quadrilaterals are squares or whatever. anyway, this is a collaboration with alliteration and 10 barrel here locally, and its a rather dank as they say take on the style, done with terpenes, and like some other recent mother earth beers, a little too much of them to be as drinkable as it maybe should be, especially as a pils, this is almost novelty level bold, which is fun, but its also limiting. the pour is deceivingly light, real pale yellow and nice and clear with an excited inch plus of white head from the keg, peppy carbonation throughout, looks much much lighter than it drinks. the nose is weedy and intense, but its also my favorite part, very obviously terpene spiked but its appealing too, grapefruit and grapey sativa, zested lemon and a hint of herbal gin, a little bit chemical but neat, cooling like menthol almost, very light pils malt underneath, not real european there or anything, and any lager yeast input is run over by the terps, and also the hops, which are compatibly bold here as well. the flavor loses a little something compared to the nose, the terps really stick to the tongue early and define this, despite a neat hop complexion and a tidy lager overall, they could tone this back next time and have a way more drinkable and still very original brew. citrus abounds, kiwi fruit too, white florals to the point of almost perfume. i like the simple clean grain a lot and there is still crispness to this, but the terpenes permeate and last, and its a bit much, good as it is. light body, high carbonation, all the intangibles are here, and the terps do make this unique. fun collaborative project, neat end product, wish i wanted to have five of them, its close to that, some slight tweaks in a second batch would have this lit, dig the bit of bitterness on the finish too.