The Big Pickle
Pals Brewing Company

my first beer from these guys. why have pickle beers gotten so popular? its insane to me how much this fad has proliferated. this one is a cream ale base which i think is a nice place to start, glad its not a kettle sour! blonde and relatively clear with an average white head on it, looks basic but clean. the nose is crazy, its super garlic forward, and i think this is brewed with actual garlic, which you dont think of as a beer ingredient, and it is indeed weird, but its honest and i like that, definite brine character with some added salt it seems too, and plenty of dill character as well, some base maltiness keeping it beery is appreciated, but pretty light at its core, added ingredients seem bold, perhaps overly so, but it sure approximates pickle juice pretty well, and i dont miss the vinegar element. the flavor is odd, its so garlic forward which might work as an accent but its over the top here, almost tastes like garlic breath, a little sweaty too, but the dill and salt aspects are great, and i honestly think this could work with garlic but it needs more, like it needs a fresher dill element, it needs maybe lemon, maybe more complexity, caraway, chili, more advanced pickle profile overall would flatter the garlic, but with the rest of this being rudimentary it stands out more than it should, and that really limits how much of this i want to have, as does the salt, this is drying and almost makes me thirsty after each drink i take. its not unappealing, but it almost needs a sidecar of tomato juice or something, the proportions arent quite right for a beer by the pint thats for sure, and as much as i appreciate the apparent authenticity of the ingredients, its a bit much as it is. cool effort, obviously a unique use of garlic in beer, not sure its for me...