Snakebite
Gigantic Brewing Company

 

 

Pours a murky light reddish-orange with a foamy beige head that settles to a partial film on top of the beer. Thin streaks of lace form around the glass on the drink down. Small chunks of sediment are seen suspended in the beer after the pour. Smell is of grain, apple juice, and berry aromas. Taste is much the same with apple juice and berry flavors on the finish. There is a very mild amount of earth bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a lower level of carbonation with a slightly crisp mouthfeel. Overall, this is an above average beer that is drinkable, but it tastes more like a cider than a beer to me.

Serving type: bottle.

Pours a light straw colour with a minimal head that quickly leaves a ring around the glass. The smell leads with a lot of cidery fruit; apple, pear, and grapefruit rind. There is a earthy floral hop presence but it is only on the edge. The fruit is a bit more subdued on the taste. I get a little sweet malted grain and a bit of a grassy note followed that tart grapefruit rind. The mouthfeel is very light with minimal carbonation.

 

12oz glass at the Underground's 'tap takeover' for Gigantic, which consists of three brews.

This beer appears a slightly hazy, medium apricot amber colour, with one skinny finger of wispy, weakly foamy, and mostly soapy dirty white head, which leaves a bit of stringy paint splatter lace around the glass as things quickly progress.

It smells of tart red apple, indistinct stone pit fruit, white grapefruit rind, grainy pale malt, and soft earthy, floral hops. The taste is musty applesauce, dried peach and nectarine, gritty, grainy pale malt, a touch of further caramel sweetness, plain Pez candies, and fading leafy, weedy, and floral hops.

The bubbles are pretty low-key in their struggling frothiness, the body medium-light in weight, and yet quite smooth, in an unsurprisingly fruity manner. It finishes on the sweet side, as the guest cider comes fully round to bear, and it's just not that dry.

Not quite sure why anyone would package such a thing (unless they didn't trust the beertenders of the world), since it does very much seem like they mixed cider with a basic grainy 'ale' - apparently the base beer is a Kolsch. Anyways, nothing special, in the sense that I'm now in the mood for either a real beer, or a straight hard cider.

Poured into a Blanche de Namur small pint glass. Pours a medium golden amber with a light coppery tint, much like cider with a half finger white head with good retention and light lacing. Aroma of biscuit malt, mild wheat and fresh apples, pleasant and inviting. Flavor follows, with appropriate biscuity malt of a kosch and fresh apple cider, some apple skin mild bitterness and a hint of white grapes. Medium bodied with good carbonation. This is almost exactly what I'd expect a kolsch / cider hybrid to taste like. The malt base is mild and to style with good biscuit flavors. The cider is surprisingly like fresh, unfiltered cider, but not as sweet and with a light tartness and bitterness. The two flavors don't quite totally meld together, but the fresh apple in the aftertaste is quite nice. This works surprisingly well, although taste felt odd at first because it was too apple juice forward for a kolsch and too dry and mildly bitter for a cider. I did look forward to each taste to get the nice flavor transition. Interesting and fun to drink.