Tropical Light
Matchless Brewing

all of a sudden there were a bunch of matchless four packs of pint cans in my local grocery store, way cool! somewhat randomly selected this one, out of season but when is a new zealand hopped lager not appealing, am i right? a little more color in the pour than expected, not malty looking but not yellow either, golden to even brassy, with a high rising but quick fading white head, looks flat after a few minutes. to me it almost immediately seems like it has to be flavored beer, at least dosed with terpenes or something, like if this much tropical fruit is coming out of these hops alone, these guys have figured out something nobody else has so far, and that is true in the flavor too, especially right up front, its hoppy yes, but its more than that, blue back starburst candy in aroma and flavor, strawberry and coconut and mango and peach and orange, like flavor bursted somehow its super intense, and really not hoppy in the traditional sense, even though notes of white grape and melon and kiwi fruit are present from the hopping of adeena, wakatu, and waiiti, a wicked combination, especially in a beer this objectively light, but it certainly also seems fruited in a not from whole fruit kind of way, i wish i knew more about how this was made. i guess i have to stop dissecting it and just enjoy it, rather unique and complex beer overall, berries abound, sweet citrus but the beer is not objectively sweet really, and i do pick up some lager yeast in aroma and flavor, a little staleness in the malt actually and just a bit more cereal grain flavor and body than i think i was expecting. crazy flavor here though, red berry, lime, muskmelon, honeydew, grapefruit, really pretty good, definitely summery, beachy, but im not sure the base lager is amazing on its own, even with this awesome hop profile. something seems fishy, like this cant all be hops, if it is, i should rate it higher, seems almost impossible though. fine carbonation although more would not be out of place, off dry to finish. enjoyable beer, ill have to have another can here and see if i can figure it out a little better. cant remember the last light lager to get me thinking like this, even challenged, glad to have these guys around!