Latitude Pale
Atlas Brewing Company

I've been trying to sort out Atlas Brewing from Atlas Brewery and its being bought by Sinclair 12 years ago and whether the name is still used and decided that I didn't have all night.

But I do want to say this is nice bitter and I'm glad they brought it back with a bit of an APA kick to it. There is no telling how much a recipe changed from when BA entered it in 2002 and today and through various owners... so no long description. Just "I'm glad it's not a bitter bitter."

 

 

500ml bottle. Pint glass. Notes dated on agt´11. Bright pale straw in color. White, rocky froth. Good retention. Floral & citrics hops to the nose. Gentle bitter flavor well balanced by malts. Medium body. Hops in the middle provide citric finish & dry bitterness on the aftertaste. Refreshing. Above medium average of the Style.

500ml bottle bought from GapWines, Belfast...

Poured a light golden colour. White head poured thick and foamy with a pock marked topping then faded to light covering with thick edging... some light carbonation bubbles drift slowly to the surface... light lacing...

Aroma - Some juicy tart fruits with maybe some tropical hints (peaches, lemons and limes, pears,), quite grassy, floral honey, light sweet grainy malts, talcum powder traces, herbal, peppery hops...

Taste pretty much mirrors the aromas... decent citric and peppery hop bitterness, quite floral, some hay, metallic hints, light sweet biscuit malts, mouth watering fruits (lemons, apples, limes), some saltiness, faint floral honey sweetness...

M&D - Fairly sharp and dry... light bodied... very sessionable brew at only 3.6%...

Overall - A decent enough if slightly uninspiring brew... nothing groundbreaking but fairly drinkable...

A really nice colour, remnicent of the summer nights in Scotland when I'd drink this stuff.
A really nice bright, straw colour, with a nice bubbly head.

The smell I remember being quite floral. The taste was really light and crisp, but I remember it being very warm on the pallette too.

Echo the sentiments that this beer is very Drinkable. Used to serve this in my pub, and we'd always get a cask of it for our New Years Party

This is not actually Latitude Cask Pilsner. This is from a bottle labeled "Highland Pilsner" that was carried back with some other bottles from the UK by a friend (What a swell guy!). I wasn't sure what to make of a Scottish Pilsner, but Atlas has done a fine job. It's not surprising that soft Highland water would be good for Pilsner, and as an enormously popular style, just about anyone is liable to have a go at it. The clean, crisp, refreshing lager here is clearly a very studied approach that ends up being utterly drinkable. Upon the first gulp, I felt like I could easily down a gallon of the stuff. It goes down quite easy. The aroma is pleasantly perfumey with floral hoppy and malty-grainy notes. The flavor is nicley balanced between bitter and malty-sweet, but with a dry snap in the finish that you expect from a decent Pilsner. Good stuff. I wish the dang dollar was stronger so I could do some beer-touring. Stupid US trade and economic policies.

This one is called a Cask Pilsner by the brewery as it's brewed with Lager Malt and Styrian Golding hops... although flavor-wise it's more like a bitter. It's a clear deep golden color with a thin white head that left a fair amount of lace. Aroma is a mixture of passion fruit, floral notes and some bread-like maltiness. Flavor is much the same, beginning sweet and fruity, then moving to floral and earthy tones and finishing with a mild but lingering bitterness. The mouthfeel is slick and carbonation is quite low (as most cask conditioned beers are.) This is a lovely beer that is excellent as a session beer. I think I could drink this one everyday and not get bored with it.

Sampled at the Tailrace Inn, across the street from the brewery, Kinlochleven, Scotland.

Labelled as a cask pilsner. Hmm. Interesting. Not sure I'd call it that, but what the hey.

Pours a straw yellow with a bubbly head. Faint malt are dominated by a strong citrusy hop nose. Some biscuit malt in the taste but mostly the citrus hop bitterness which continues through to a nice long hoppy finish. Nice smooth mouthfeel from the cask conditioning although a little thinner than most. A highly drinkable session beer, particularly in the summer (or if you've just walked 21 miles from Bridge of Orchy that day). A refreshingly hoppy beer from the land of wee heavys and malty 70/- and 80/- ales.