So for Christmas this year, I asked for fancy beer glasses because I was trying to be a little bit cooler this year. Put the beers I try in the correct type of glass when I try them to give them a proper chance when I review them. The set I picked out was from
Spiegelau and my aunt got them for me from Amazon. I got them about a week and a half ago and was very excited to use them. Turns out, the jokes on me and I put this beer in the wrong glass, but alas, I digress.
Last week I had the opportunity to try a beer from
Smuttynose Brewing Co., their Star Island Single. This is a Session Ale. I've also seen it listed as a Belgian Pale ale and at first glance, tomato tomato (which works much better when said aloud). However, after a bit of research I discovered that session ales are beers that are very drinkable with an alcohol content that is below 5.0% ABV. This definition disqualifies Star Island Single as a session ale by just a touch as its alcohol content is 5.1% ABV. Almost only counts in horseshoes and hangrenades, after all. The other part of the definition, however, is a beer that is well balanced in both malt and hops making it very drinkable to all parties. In this, Star Island Single succeeded.
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This beer, on a whole, was unoffensive. I don't like coriander much as a spice and I could definitely tell coriander was used in this beer so it took away from what could have been a perfectly fine session ale for me. The beer poured a very pale gold color with a bright white head. The new glass I used was the lager glass instead of the tulip glass which was a rookie mistake (I'm sorry). The glass did show off some very nice lacing of the head, which was well retained throughout the beer's duration. The nose was very yeasty with some light floral and citrus notes. The flavor of the beer was very well balanced. It drinks a bit like a pilsner. It was also very yeasty and the coriander notes were evident here in the citrus notes of the beer. The finish was clean, no flavors really lingered.
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| Sorry for the fuzziness, it didn't look like this on the camera |
As we all know, I can take forever to finish a beer. This beer was the same in flavor from start to finish with no remarkable changes as the beer warmed up. Overall, it was a solid beer. I didn't particularly care for it because of the coriander but I think its a very accessible beer otherwise. This beer I bought at
Half-Time Beverages of Poughkeepsie. Their address is linked in the location and their website is in the name.
