Crisp Chinos
Rockwell Beer Company

 

 

I picked up a four[pack of this beer when we recently visited the brewery. From a tall aluminum can, it pours a pale straw color...mostly clear. It sports a clean white head...dense and lasting. The aroma has grass and lemon peel scents. The taste is dryish with a nice hop flavor and a little astringency that may come from the rice. I like it. It is crisp, refreshing, and flavorful.

 

On draft. Poured out a clear, straw-yellow color with a small, off-white head of foam. It left sudsy trails of lace on the glass. It smelled of bread, caramel, toffee, grains and a subtle spicy aroma. Sweet caramel taste with bread and a mild, spicy bitterness.

 

Pale yellow and hazy. There’s plenty of floaters at the bottom of the glass. I’m guessing from the rice? There’s a fingernail of eggshell white around the rim and and covering half of the top. The aroma is of rice and faintly grassy hops. I’m tasting rice and faint grassy hops, which becomes more pronounced after the finish. The mouth is light, crisp, and smooth.

a collaboration with kcbc if i remember it right, an excellent rice lager, more hoppy than is traditional, by quite a lot, but its brisk and clean still and drinks easy if you like your lager with lots of flavor. i usually think of rice lagers as minimal beers, and this is to an extent. the malt side is very light, the rice really is mild here, the body is as light as they come, and there isnt much more flavor to it than a little bit of crackery pils character. the yeast is also very mellow here, and i can only taste it as lager yeast because of how simplistic the grain is, any more substantial malt and the yeast would be covered up, there is delicate balance there. thats why the hops caught me off guard so much, its not overdone or anything, but they stand out quite a lot in the absence of more robust contributions from the other elements. strong citrus and leafy green character to the hops, not messy at all, but study, with a bitter pop at the end, some orange and lemon essence, and a very organic vibe, they beef the beer up a bit, but i like what they do here. it may have been to hoppy for my father in law, who would never say so, but didnt find this as drinkable as i did. i think the beer is really professionally made, a highly refined lager, and i dont think the hops are too much, it just makes it very modern. high carbonation and good intangibles. i could drink a lot of this one, but still preferred their hoppy pils to this. summery.