El Porto Pils
Barrique Brewing & Blending

 

Subtle complexity, bold flavors and premiere skill in lager making gives Barrique a comforting familiarity in taste but also with some gusto.

Bright and golden straw, Porto Pils shows off its streaming bubbles underneath a airy and frothy, stark white cap. With a hoppier than usual scent enticing the nose, the scent is redolent with citrus, peppery grasses, botanical herbs and a hint of cedar. Lightly sweet in taste, the firm but dry malt profile trends bready, honey-like and crisply of fresh kilned grain.

As the flavors roll along the middle palate, the taste seems nearly pale ale-like with the hops garnering command of the drying malts. Orange, lemon and grapefruit cast a hoppy profile onto the tastebuds before shifting acutely crisp with the pleasantries of grassy, herbal and peppery hops, finishing with cedar, balsa and spruce.

Medium-light in body, the barrel influence only helps to dry the beer with powder-fine tannins and hop resins. Crisp enough to qualify as pilsner but hoppy enough for pale ale, El Porto Pils is a near perfect blend of the two styles, right down to a moderately bitter aftertaste equipped with an afterglow of hemp and hay.