SMaSH Ale
Lakefront Brewery

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lakefront Brewery, Inc. "SMaSH Ale"
12 fl. oz. brown glass bottle, "Best By: 24 JUL 2017-B7" and sampled on 28 MAR 2017
$1.83 @ (Wegmans) Cherry Hill Wine, Liquor & Beer, Cherry Hill, NJ

Notes via stream of consciousness (because it's easier): I've always enjoyed Lakefront beers, they're not the best but they're good, so why not? Nice label, a little basic but it catches your eye - seems to have a kind of summer theme. It pours a cloudy deep amber with golden highlights beneath a frothy head of off-white. I can only assume it's completely unfiltered. The aroma expresses toasty malts and lemony and subtly herbal hops, which makes complete sense as the label reads "BREWED WITH ONLY VIENNA MALT & LEMONDROP HOPS". That made me a little nervous when I first read it as I'm not sure that's a great combination, but let's see... it's not bad. It would have been easy to over-do the Vienna malts but they haven't. I got the toasty malt quickly, immediately followed by the bright lemony hops which overtook it, and then a return to the malt followed by a blend of the two going into the finish. There's also a bit of a regular fruitiness to it, and some leafy, almost tea-like character. I still don't think it's a great combination, or at least not a very good one to showcase either the lemon drop hops OR the Vienna malts but somehow it works. It's not particularly bitter which helps, and yet it still finishes dry, at least in part because of the citrusy character of the hops, and the lingering combination of fruity, toasty, and somewhat citrusy is nice - kind of like tea with lemon... maybe I was wrong about the combination? In the end it's pretty nice; a quaffable pint that I'd enjoy more than one of when out with the lads. Medium in body and delicately crisp then smooth with a fine-bubbled, moderate carbonation. Decent head retention and very good lacing.

 

 

 

 

My father in law gifted a bottle of this to me at Christmas time, along with a couple other beers from Lakefront. This one happened to not get imbibed during the Christmas holiday so it made it home with me. Finally getting around to doing the review...

This beer pours a golden hue with a cloudy appearance with sediment easily visible as well as light carbonation. The head is an off-white, slightly orange tinted, creamy/thick frothy appearance that dissipates incredibly slowly. 4/5 The aroma is quite strong and definitely focuses on the citra hops as the bottle indicates. Despite the obvious amount of hops used, the aroma is quite sweet from the Vienna malt which results in notes of caramel, sweet Hawaiian bread, mango, and papaya all coming through to make for a very enticing aroma. 4/5 The intensity of the flavor is not near that of the aroma but it still gets its point across. The hops are somewhat muted but noticeable, and present as tropical flavors of mango and papaya. The malt is muted initially but comes out more strongly with time and presents as sweet Hawaiian bread and a light caramel. A bit of breadiness comes through as an undertone too. There is a very light bitterness that does not linger at all. 3.25/5 This is a light bodied APA that is slick but not coating. It is more wetting and thirst quenching than anything. The finish is quite short and faint, but slightly sweet rather than bitter. 3.25/5 Note to any future drinkers of this beer: let this baby warm up about 10 degrees. I first did my review just a few minutes out of the fridge but then as the beer warmed the flavors really came out more strongly and it became a better beer. This is a well balanced APA that is really well crafted, especially by only using a single malt and a single hop variety. 3.5/5