Bitter Battle
Pedernales Brewing Company

 

To be fair, the can was dated 4/25/17. Whether this was a canning date or best by date probably makes no difference. The can was highly carbonated, so it started to spill out quickly once opened. Poured a fairly clear amber color with a finger width foamy head. Head retention is mild. Lacing is good. There is an old hops aroma with some caramel and hints of a floral perfume. Has the potential to be a decent beer, but I think the age of it hindered a lot. Nice caramel backing that seems smooth, but you quickly get that bitter, grassy stale hops. More of a floral punch at the end. Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.

 

 

 

12 oz can. Pours clean copper color with two finger white head that leaves scattered lace. Sweet bread aroma with fruity notes. Taste starts out with malt sweetness which is interrupted quickly by tons of piney bitterness. Big resiny hops turn grassy in the finish with a little malt returning.

 

 

 

12 oz can pours a very clear copper color with a large cap of off-white head that shows really nice retention and great lacing. This is a good looking brew.

Nose is piney and zesty with a bready aspect - almost rye-esque actually. The aroma isnt much to write home about.

Taste picks it up a notch with lots of bready malt and leafy, bitter finishing hops. I wish there were some brighter, stronger flavoring hops in here though, and a lighter caress from the malt would be nice. It is a touch earthy...ok, more than a touch...so no West Coast comparisons here, but its not exactly East Coast or English style either. Its a pretty decent beer, a heck of a lot better than any other Pedernales beer I have tasted before. If this is a new direction for the brewery, things could be looking up for Lee, Peter and Steve.

 

 

 

Pour is transparent copper with a flat head, thin bubbly lacing. Smell is extremely wintery malt, while the taste is full bodied sharp crisp hop with a mellow (yet acidic?) malt finish. This beer turns the roof of your mouth into butterflies, or possibly a war zone? Very strange, nice go!

Giving this golden, semi opaque, orange hued beer a shot.

A little sweet smelling with the bread malts, slightly darker than expected. The hops are dank, cactus-like with their sharpness and character, with a wet-hopped, grapefruit and piney apples kind of flavor that wins in the end. Sour semi-dry finish.

Kept in check by the other factors in the drink, (malt, barley) something U.S. beers tend to forget about in their rush to throw in as many hops as possible. Nice barley oats helping to build up that sweeter bread malt.

Contrasts duly noted.

An acidic, but refreshing quaff to reckon with. A bitter, but good battle, indeed. Cool drank.