Cerveza Viejo Pino
Elder Pine Brewing & Blending Co.

 

Mostly clear golden body with plenty of carbonation feeding an eggshell white head. Lemon curd, corn, mildly toasted grain, and grassy hops. Taste is lead by lemongrass hops, corn and cracker, with sunny crisp malts backing. Feel is crisp and bright, hops adds up a bit but lager yeast softens

16oz can purchased from the fridge as a single for $4.60. I purchased this a while ago (I think in May 2023). According to Instagram, it was released on March 15, 2023 so that means that this beer is almost 16 months old. Better late than never!

Look: Nice appearance - it has a medium gold color with nice clarity. There is a nice effervescence rising up the glass. There was a thick yet rocky whitish head on the pour that ultimately crumbled to a thin layer. The steady effervescence is retaining the head well. The bottom third of the can has a bit of unfiltered haze.

Smell: On the nose, I get a nice crackery malt along with the earthy, slightly floral Czech Saaz hops. It smells a bit sweet (canned corn kind of note), yet it's really inviting and refreshing. There's not much else to say. It kind of has a "beer-flavored beer" aroma, in a good way. It perhaps has a mild skunky aroma, also in a good way. I traveled to Mexico many years ago and drank a lot of cheap beer there (Dos Equis, Sol, Corona, Negra Modelo) and the aroma of this beer is actually taking me back to some of those memories.

Taste: It's actually super delicious and really chuggable. It's really flavorful, which I often cannot say about other Mexican lagers. Up front, it's very clean with great floral notes and malt character. The finish is super crisp and has a mild bitterness, nice earthy Saaz hop character. On the finish I am getting a bit of white grape vinous character that is reminiscent of a Kolsch or Kellerbier, especially while drinking the unfiltered portion of the can. There's also more bitterness there. Overall, it's interesting and brings an added complexity to the beer.

Feel: Light to medium bodied. Even though this is a relatively light beer at 4.7% ABV and it's a pale lager, it has a nice body for its size. I think that the use of the Vienna malt and the flaked corn help to make it a bit heftier and very smooth.

Overall: I'm kind of blown away by this beer and kicking myself for not trying it last Summer. Then again, I don't see Elder Pine beers in these parts often. It sounds weird, but this beer kind of reminds me of a cross between a Kolsch and a Czech Pilsner. It's really tasty and I hope that I can get more of it. These guys continue to impress me with everything that I've tried so far from them. I've picked up everything that I've seen on the shelves locally from these guys. I hope that we can get more distribution from them in the future!

From Instagram:
CERVEZA VIEJO PINO
Mexican-style Lager
4.7% abv

Cerveza Viejo Pino is our classic Mexican-style Pale Lager brewed with the finest floor-malted pilsner malt, Vienna malt, flaked corn and lightly hopped with Czech Saaz. Mexican Lagers aren't quite as bitter & hoppy as pilsners, so this easy drinking Cerveza is ultra crisp & clean with a delightful thirst-quenching effervescence.