The smell is not overpowering or delicate, just a strong balance of whiskey noted malt, and gentle fresh hopping. The colour is the very definition of beer, a light golden brown.
The initial malt is very distinct, its like a familiar face that you know but can’t place, it reminds me more of fine whiskeys I’ve drunk than of beers, with its unique tangy sweetness. The middle demonstrates glimpses of biscuit and fruit, and leads you like a kind maître’d to the finale. In keeping with what’s preceded it the finish is, well, polite. Its not an overstated crescendo of hops, nor a brash American IPA, its a perfectly measured hop bittering to compliment the malt that came before it. Slight floral undertones dance with the initial malt.
Its like the spinning top of beer, an example of equilibrium away from the battles of malt vs hops IPAs.
7/10 An example in balance, the dictionary definition of beer. If the Russians had won the cold war, this would have been the beer of the Communist States of America.
