Brave & Adventurous
Matchless Brewing

 

vienna lager with rye in it, designed to pair with some kind of whiskey i dont know anything about, but i could see why this hits that objective well, a nice lager and a richer beer, perfect for fall, crushable but cozy in a way so few beers really are, something with many culinary applications, and im excited for the other three cans in the fridge. clear middle amber colored beer with a head that is pure white, starts an inch plus high, but is gone rather abruptly, fine carbonation the whole way though, slowing to some degree, which adds length to this, no critique. the nose is graham cracker and toffee, lager yeast and very subtle pale rye and almost english malt too, real fresh but its not really hoppy to me once i settle into it, minerals, yeast, simple and subtle, good but understated, sometimes i expect matchless beer to slap me right away and this is on a delay a little bit. the flavor is nice, malty, honey forward, mellow rye, i think i feel it more than i taste it, like it could have been more prominent in here, and thats true at temperature too, some sweetness that i think is unexpected but flattering, enriching, short of decadent but not by much. hops are light in this but add a little late balance even without this having any tangible bitterness. smooth and lingering but crushable too, handled really spicy clams with a heap of garlic and fennel very well, each part had synergy from the herbal spice to the actual heat to the punchy garlic, maybe better with food like this than on its own, the next few cans will be the judge of that...

Pours a light coppery shade. About a finger of wet bubbles initially, but they fade pretty fast. Carbonation is big. Like as in size, not as in tenacity. Mostly clear.

Nose begins with a lot of banana-y esters, which is not what I was expecting, and personally isn't my favourite manifestation. Creamy and a little bit of sweet brown bread.

Flavour follows suit. It's rounder/creamier/sweeter than I was expecting/looking for. A nice little bitter balance kind of on a fade, but I don't get the spicy rye flavour I was expecting. It kind of comes in on the back end iwth more of a bitter/souring flavour that almost reminds me more of wheat.

Honestly my initial impressions weren't very strong, but then reading the style descriptor again for VL, I realized that this is actually a decent representation of the style, I just don't find it hitting my notes quite right at the moment and that's more of a personal thing than a brewer thing.