Hauria
Croce Di Malto

Tap @ Il Punto, Bologna - Pours cloudy yellow with a medium white head. Medium carbonation. Aroma - malty notes, light floral hops. Taste - Crisp, refreshing, malty notes, light hop, light bitter finish. Nice enough thirst quencher on a hot day.

Pours a pale straw colour, slight cloud to it, with a large-bubbled white head. Interesting head pattern actually, very very pale colour. Nice kolsch.

Smell is very, very light. Slight fruity hops upfront but bone dry otherwise. Hops are citric in character and could really take more of a front seat at least in aroma terms. Not bad for the style but I'd like more inviting characters.

Taste is also very dry, bit bitter throughout. Very yeasty on the back palate, with a kind of uncooked bread dough character. Gives me a bit of a premature headache as I drink. Just too dry, needs more body and flavour.

Thinnish body, bit of carb, but again, too dry.

No, bitterness is just unnuanced and it feels like the beer is singlehandedly getting me dehydrated. Not a fan.

On-tap at the Local Taphouse in Sydney for the Italian SpecTapular.

Pours a mildly hazed pale yellow colour with a very light weight to the body. Head is white, filmy and spidery leaving some thin mild lace in its wake. Overall, yeah, not bad. Not great either.

Almost nothing on the nose. Mild light grain (perhaps) and a hint of lemon (that I'm probably imagining). Eh. Eh².

Taste is a little better, but still really quite dull. Light clean grain on the entry, with som mild sweet lemon characters that feel thin and watered down. Finish is relatively clean. At least the characters match up with what I thought may have been evanescent perceptions on my part on the nose.

Overall, it's bland, but it's OK. It's in style, mostly, and clean enough to drink without getting uncomfortable. No guarantees that you won't get bored, though.