Boomslang
Rogness Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poured into a chalice. This is a bright amber-gold color, with a dense finger's worth of foam on top of it. The aroma is very nice, with highly floral, almost fruity hops, and plenty of them. It's too bad that it's followed by a beer that's not all that interesting to drink. The malt is rather grainy and bitterness is not very high at all--not even typical Czech pils bitter, which is odd, given the designation as an "IPL". Hop flavor is the only saving grace, and it is nicely floral, lightly citrusy. The relative heaviness of the beer also doesn't fit in with the light flavors.

Oh well--it does smell nice!

 

 

Well here's the thing. This is a lager, but it's not an IPA, not a DIPA, not an imperial stout, and not a rare whale of a barrel aged legendary black beer with a clever name. So, I'm NOT going to rate it like it's one of those! In fact, as American pale lagers go, right away I know I'm going to like this one, just seeing it in the glass.

Appearance is really very nice. Orange, clear, with a great big head that eventually fell to about a quarter inch of dense foam on top, which remained for almost an hour as I finished the bomber. And I can't remember the last time I had a lager that left lacing on the glass. The beer is a bit darker than what one might expect from a pale lager, but I'm not dinging the beer for that.

Aroma is fairly light, floral, grassy hops come through, as does some grass and hay, maybe some biscuit or dried cracker.

Flavor is more pronounced and is very pleasant. Fruity hops are most prominent, but there's some citric and floral notes as well. A solid malt backbone backs it up and makes it drink more like a pale ale than a lager, but that distinction isn't something that's etched in stone, and I don't mind when breweries blur the lines between styles.

Body is very full for a lager, about medium overall, with a dry and lightly fruity/floral hop finish.

Really I think this is one very enjoyable beer. It's not what I expected, and given the name, will probably get some noise from the people who were expecting an IPA. The hop forwardness, combined with the fact that it's somewhat drawn back from a standard American IPA, gives it a great middle of the road quality, and a nice complexity. Good job on this one. I'll certainly but it again.