Mucho Oro
Barkerville Brewing Co.

 

 

 

473ml can, a brew that they claim 'mucho' resembles the California Common style, in keeping with their Gold Rush marketing theme, I suppose.

This beer pours a clear, bright medium golden yellow colour, with one finger of puffy, weakly foamy, and somewhat fizzy dirty white head, which leaves very little in the way of lace near the glass as it quickly abates.

It smells of grainy cereal malt, musty yeast, a bland domestic citrus and baked apple fruitiness, and some very tame earthy, leafy, and weedy hop bitters. The taste is more of the same - grainy pale malt, wet cereal and the box that it came in, bordering on phenolic yeast, browned (in the forgotten in the fridge sense) apples, and some still plain leafy, herbal, and dead floral hoppiness.

The carbonation is fairly understated in its gently rendered frothiness, the body a solid middleweight, and so-so in the way of smoothness, as more than a bit of that wayward yeastiness creates a pithy pallor here. It finishes trending dry, both the cereal malt and apple-forward fruitiness heading that way, it would seem.

Overall, I can't disagree with the label's assertion that this offering has something in 'common', with the current Steam beers on the market (fuck Anchor and their lawyers) - it has that uncertain yeasty component that has never once floated my particular boat. Not bad, but I guess just not as crisp and refreshing as purported (no, really?).

 

Pours a slightly translucent golden colour with a thin white head that dissipates quickly. The nose is very malt forward, along with some citrus fruit. I swear I smell apple. I don't get much in the way of hops in the smell. The taste brings much of the same with a nice pale malt, some brown sugar, apple and an ever do slight hop bitterness on the finish. The carbonation is just right. This was a surprising refreshing beer. Quite enjoyable.