Montandy
Red Lodge Ales

 

Poured from a bottle into a pint glass
Appearance – The beer pours a very lightly hazed yellow color with a one finger head of fizzy white foam. The head fades slowly over time to leave a light level of foamy lace on the sides of the glass.
Smell – The aroma of the brew is heavy of a lemon smell mixed with a little bit of sweeter candied sugar smells. Along with these aromas comes a little bit of grass and hay.
Taste – The taste begins much less sweet than I would have anticipated. It begins with a wheaty and lemon flavor that has just a light level of sweeter lemonade flavor. The lemonade gets slightly stronger as the taste advances with some other more grainy and herbal hop tastes coming to the tongue. With a little bit of hay and grass that comes at the end one is left with a lightly sweetened lemon and wheaty taste to linger on the tongue.
Mouthfeel – The body of the brew is light and thin with a carbonation level that is on the average side. It is a rather nice and easy drinking feel overall and good for the style and tastes.
Overall – A nice simple sipping brew that would be great for some summer sessioning!!

they say this is a wheat beer infused with lemon peels, not a blend of lager and lemonade as is the traditional shandy. wit that, i like this a little less, not because its not made in the classic way, but because lemon peels arent sweet, yet this beer is real sugary, too sweet to me refreshing, at least for my palate. i wonder if they cut off the fermentation early to try to balance any bitterness or acidity from the lemon, or even if they back sweetened this when it was done. i can taste and feel the wheat, this isnt as neutral or watery as a lot of shandy types in the game, but the sweetness is a distraction, and it almost makes the lemon seem candied rather than in its natural state. the lemon isnt subtle though, its definitely the lead flavor element in this, and its good with the dry earthy wheat. i just wish this was dried out a bit more, it doesnt exactly serve the normal purpose of the style for me, but the beer is well made like everything from red lodge always is. it didnt warm up real well either, so drink fast! i had higher hopes for this on a warm fall afternoon on their patio at the brewery...