Snow Bike White
Matanuska Brewing

 

my first beer from these guys, always hard to judge a brewery when your first impression is an airport pint, especially in pandemic times, but this keg tastes like its been on tap since last march, really stale, sweet, oxidized, maybe even poured through a dirty line, the whole whammy, but its an airport, so i am prepared to forgive and reserve judgement until next time when i have a chance to try their beer, and this white ale, in a better context. that said, this is close to flat, smells and tastes cheap to me, and really misses on some key aspects of the style. there is a lot of honey character in it, a confection sort of sweetness too, lots of orange in it, and an overly estery belgian yeast that seems maxed out to me. pretty golden color to it, some nice nutty coriander in the background, and some wheaty body in tact as well, enough good to suggest this is actually solid in a different setting. i will not score it too harshly for now, as it was context more than anything that brought this down i suspect. i will be back in the state later this summer and will make a point to find this locally for a proper experience with this one. a shame that the airports so rarely handle these beers correctly, its a bad thing for these breweries trying to get their name out there...

edit: a lot better the second time around, more of a classic blue moon vibe, a little lighter in body and on the wheat, but with similar spiciness from the yeast and notes of coriander seed and citrus, off dry, without the tiredness it had the first time, bright and fresh this go. clean for the style, lively carbonation, not over spiced but very flavorful, faintly metallic at the end but still quenching. improving scores considerably from the airport experience...