I used a recipe by Charlie Papazian which was a bit higher in alcohol and had a much more significant level of hopping than I wanted so I cut these back significantly - brought this beer in at 3.28% ABV with only bittering hops. The recipe leverages a new variety of malt - Double Roasted Crystal 120L which sounded compelling to me. This beer, as light as it is, will be a showcase for that malt.
Been drinking these for the last month or so and am about half way through the batch. It was good young and it's continued to be tasty.
Tasting Notes:
- Aroma:
- Sweet graham cracker and caramel malt. A little roasty and slightly chocolaty. Also sort of reminds me of burnt marshmallow. Pleasant aroma. No hops and no yeast character come through.
- Appearance:
- Very deep amber color. Good clarity. Pours with 0.5 finger head which settles down to a thin layer and lingers. Leaves some lacing on the glass.
- Flavor:
- Malt flavor dominates with a light bitterness rounding out the finish. Malt is slightly roasty with biscuit/cracker and caramel flavors. No hop flavor. It has a nice, malt slanted, balance. The flavor dissipates very quickly on this one.
- Mouthfeel:
- Medium bodied with a bit of sweetness on the backend. Smooth and easy drinking with no astringency.
- Overall:
- I think this is a nice easy drinking beer with plenty of flavor. Really aren't sacrificing any flavor with this being such a light beer. It's very nice to mix these in on weeknights as I can have 2 or 3 and, at 3% ABV, there's really no effect. The late hopping the original recipe called for would have been nice but the beer really doesn't need them. It's a nicely complex malt flavor that stands up well on it's own. I think the double roasted crystal is a nice product that I wish I could get more easily - it definitely brings a bit more flavor to the table than normal Crystal 120L.
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