Jasmine Dragon
Bull & Bush Brewery

wildly unique beer, and so good to get back over to bull and bush after some years away! love this place! this is a cool lager, smoked, done with puffed jasmine rice, not sure if they smoke the rice itself or use some smoked barley malt, but its really interesting stuff, sort of a japanese german hybrid, the kind of thing we rarely see. it looks not much darker than a normal rice color, dim lit in here we all know, but still, looks awfully light, especially for the higher abv, which we will get to shortly. the head is high but not super long lasting, airy while its here, and then gone. the nose is almost peaty, its not a heavy smoke but its a unique one, and i cant help but think single malt whiskey, the rice maybe gives it a slight floral thing, and the yeast is delicate and springy and not at all neutral, very european to me, some pils malt in this too i think. the flavor is almost more of an alderwood smoke, low and slow and not acrid or bitter, although there are some hops on the back end of this. the smoke is awesome with the rice, the jasmine is there the whole way, especially at temperature too. such a clever combination, and this is really flavorful even though it also drinks light. additionally, it drinks dangerously, since the alcohol is mighty high for a rice lager, its not alcoholic at all and the body is minimal, but be careful with this one. one of the only beers ive ever had that i would call both smoke forward and also refreshing, pretty wild! another banger from these guys, who are somehow still under appreciated after all these great years...