Ungurio Kojos (Eel Legs)
Raudonų Plytų Alaus Dirbtuvės (Brick By Brick Beer Workshop)

Shared 330 ml bottle at local tasting, as Brick Eeel Legs Unfiltered Lager. ABV is 5.3%. Golden colour, white head. Sweetish industrial aroma, some malts and dust. Boring flavour, some malts, slightly sweet, bland. Would not buy again.

 

 

 

It pours a very grayish amber with a small head that lasts only a few seconds and leaves no lacing. Aroma is grainy, sweet and caramel-like, with notes of honey. The taste is ever so slightly sweet, with more honey and no bitterness at all. The mouthfeel is smooth and the carbonation just right. Medium body.

Poured into a Seattle Beer Week pint glass. Pours a hazy caramel orange with a thin white head that dissipates to a thin film with slight lacing. Aroma of sweet caramel malt and mixed fruit; berries and light stone fruit, toffee and a hint of grassy hops. Flavor starts with sweet pale malt, berries and light fruit, then dries out to slightly tart earthy fruit and a mild spicy note. Finish is rather stark with hop bitterness without much herbal hop flavor and a lingering light tartness. Medium bodied with good carbonation. The initial flavor is interesting, almost a hopped Belgian profile leaning towards a Belgian IPA. The finish is astringent and uninteresting, however with the light tartness, which is not supported by the malt. There are some intriguing fruit and earthy flavors here, but overall not well balanced. It is, as advertised, as odd as an eel walking on a jetty. Worth a try, but not a repeater. This is a strange brewery project. Their dubbel tasted to me more like an earthy old ale and this amber/red ale tastes more like an experimental Belgian IPA. I'm lost here.

Raudonų Plytų Alaus Dirbtuvės "Eel Legs"
11.2 fl. oz. brown glass bottle, "Best Before: 28.07.16
$2 @ Wegmans, Collegeville, PA

"Brick By Brick Beer Workshop" is the translation of the name of the brewery given on the bottle, although a more straightforward translation might be "red-brick brewery".

"Ungurio Lojos" is translated as "Eel Legs" on the bottle, but it could also be taken as "eel feet". Regardless, it's a pretty weird name, but only a slightly unusual beer - "Different, but not daunting. Like an eel trotting along the jetty." It's an unfiltered lager that's hazy but not cloudy with a deep golden/amber body beneath a short cap of bright white foam. The head retention and lacing are average.

In the nose you'll find an interesting fruitiness that the brewery has called "black currant", and I totally agree. I'm not sure I've ever smelled that so strongly in a beer, and to make it even more unusual, they're using Millenium and Cascade hops, neither of which would impart that, so it must be coming from the yeast. Beyond the fruitiness you get a clear note of grainy malt.

In the mouth it's medium-light in body with a delicate caress of the tongue due to a fine-bubbled, seemingly natural moderate carbonation.

The flavor opens up a bit beyond what the aroma suggests, adding some delicate caramel character, and some spicy and grassy hop notes. Perhaps they're no longer using Cascade hops as I don't find any citrus (?) although the bottle reads that "Cascade hops are also added to the beer during the aging process." Regardless, it's interesting on it's own. A median bitterness balances it nicely, and it finishes with lingering berry, grass/leaves/herbs, and a dusting of spiciness.

Interesting to be sure, and certainly unique. It comes across to me like a combination of a German Kellerbier and an American amber lager. It's intriguing, making me wonder how it all came together. Is the fruitiness coming from Vienna malts?... it does have a bit of that juiciness they can impart. Or is it hops? I've gotten blueberry notes from Mosaic, although they're apparently not used. Getting back on track and simply looking at the beer as is, it's flavorful, refreshing, and almost compellingly drinkable. Highly recommended!

 

 

 

 

"Legs of Eel"
Good but not essential amber lager.