Gin & Lime Pilsner
Fuggles Beer

 

Hazy gold-straw color. Poured a short head that was very persistent - it took a couple of minutes before it became a thin skiff. Left a patchy lacing. Very low flow of tiny bubbles rising from the bottom of the glass.

Strong lime scent with something perfumed and sweet I couldn't identify. Just a touch of malt showing through. Swirling the glass kicked up a lot of lime and a slight yeasty funk.

Juniper and lime dominate the flavor. Some floral gin botanicals fill in. The bitters (from the hops?) make it taste like there is some tonic water in the mix. The juniper fades away in the back half of the flavor. The aftertaste is mostly lime with a light bitter.

Quite flat. There is a little bit of sparkle, but not enough to build up any foam. Some astringency builds during the aftertaste and lingers for a while after.

Interesting experiment, but not entirely successful. The lime is very clean and distinct, but the gin doesn't work. Perhaps a sub-set of gin botanicals (especially without juniper) would work better. Very much not a Bohemian Pilsener; I think I would have called it a Fruit and Field Beer with the dominant lime.

The first few sips take a bit of getting used to. However, if you like gin and tonic, this beer is for you.

 

473ml can - infused with something called 'Unruly Gin'. Oh, and fresh limes.

This beer pours a hazy, pale golden straw colour, with a teeming tower of puffy, finely foamy, and somewhat bubbly off-white head, which leaves some striated cirrus cloud form lace around the glass as it slowly but surely sinks away.

It smells of lime juice, muddled green botanicals (not quite juniper), gritty and grainy cereal malt, a faint lager yeastiness, and some ethereal earthy, musty, and floral hop bitters. The taste is grainy and crackery pale malt, overripe lime flesh, subtle juniper berries, a faded lager yeast thing, and some plain earthy, leafy, and grassy green hoppiness.

The carbonation is quite restrained in its innocuous-seeming frothiness, the body a decent medium weight, and generally smooth, with nothing really getting in the way of a good time here. It finishes off-dry, the mixed fruitiness and malt exhibiting some mild lingering chutzpah.

Overall - while both the titular promises are duly delivered upon, there's something that just doesn't pop with this offering. The lime flavour seems a tad off, like all the zinginess has been drained out of it. At any rate, not bad, but kind of boring at the end.

Fuggles & Warlock is a brewery that always likes to be quirky, and in the trade of craft beer that's something hard to pull off considering the competition. Such is the case with their Gin & Lime Pilsner. Where most breweries wait for sunshine to sent their fruity drinks onto the masses, "Fuggs 'n' Wuggs" just got too excited. If you like citrus beer, then you should be excited, too.
This pilsner poured, like any other liquid, downward due to gravity. As it filled my glass, the golden flood created a stunning froth, rising to the top like a new summer hit on the radio. I leaned in and was greeted by a citrus scent that I couldn't wait to tingle my tonsils with.
The first sip was an energizing song of flavour. Lime took most of the spotlight with Pilsner dancing in the background to a routinely rehearsed choreography, occasionally stepping forward to entice the crowd but only for a moment, and then heading back to let Lime finish the performance. Meanwhile, Gin arrived late to the show and forgot most of its lines. In addition, Gin's microphone wasn't working so you could barely make out what it's message was.
The prickling mouth-feel were arousing winks sent by Lime, smoothed over by a friendly wave of Pilsner to keep it PG.
For a fruity summer beer that towers over others in alcohol content, this Gin & Lime Pilsner is a great choice, as long as you don't rely too much on the presence of Gin.