Cafeteria Bowling
Refined Fool Brewing Co.

Bomber purchased at the brewery; no packaging date. Served slightly chilled.

Pours a clear, brassy golden colour, generating half an inch of tight, creamy white head that sizzles off within ninety seconds or so. A bubbly collar of froth lives on, encircling some wisps on the surface; at first glance, I'd say it looks like a strong Euro lager. Bergamot orange on the nose, but not an intense blast of it or anything, just a pleasant citrus oily note underneath hints of tea, cereal grain and doughy sweetness.

This is a pretty solid flavoured lager: the tea is well-integrated, not at all coming off as cloying or artificial. The base lager tastes of grainy malts and cereals, with a little bit of breadiness and a touch of caramelized sugars. Flavours of bitter orange and tea arise by the middle of the sip, peaking before the finish, with light black tea bitterness persisting into a mildly bitter, grainy-sweet aftertaste; I might be imagining a hint of vanilla. Light-medium in body, with lively carbonation that gives a crisp, prickly bite to this lager's mouthfeel; as drinkable as any good-to-decent pale lager, that extra 0.5% is unnoticeable.

Final Grade: 3.74, a high B grade. While earl grey is usually my tea of choice, I'm more ambivalent when it comes to 'earl grey beer' - once you start adding sugar/lactose and other ingredients into the mix, I start to lose interest. Cafeteria Bowling is thankfully an understated beer - probably the best way to embed this flavour into a pale lager, as everything seems normal at first, but there's room for the bitter tea leaf and orange peel flavours to sneak up later on. Earl grey drinkers are the obvious target for a recommendation, but I think anyone who appreciates premium lagers could enjoy this one. Thumbs up, as a seasonal it'd be worth reviving (and imbibing) at least a few times a year.