Pillar of Salt pours a clear straw with an abundant and persistent white head that laces the glass profusely. The nose is spicy citrus—spicy from the rye and citrus from the hops—that is delicate, perfume-y, and slightly grainy, while flavors open with a touch of caramel and spiciness before heading into citrus and bitterness in the middle. The spiciness picks back up in the final third, and there is a fair amount of bitterness in the finish that lingers on the palate. I also detect a touch of herbal hop flavor to complement the spice, bitter, and resin flavors that round the beer at the end. The carbonation is bright and lightly spritzy; it matches well with the beer, even though the description of flavors may not seem to back thus up. The medium mouthfeel is slightly creamy with a slight tackiness on the tongue. The lighter malt bill does allow the rye flavors to overwhelm the beer a bit too much—it is not as clean and crisp as we might like it to be; even with the brighter carbonation and hop bitterness in the finish, it is a bit muddy across the profile. Nonetheless, Pillar of Salt is an interesting beer, and certainly a different take on traditional rye beers. Congratulations, Two Brothers, on the 15 year anniversary, and here’s to many, many more.
From the bottle: “This one off beer was produced in 2007 as the antithesis of Cane & Ebel. We produced an Imperial Cane & Ebel batch a couple of months earlier and thought we should finish the trifecta with a light colored version. Pillar of Salt is a White version of our Red Rye ale that uses no coloring malts and different hops. The resulting beer is still boldly hoppy, but with a strong citrusy dry hop.”
ABV: 6.8%
IBU: 68
P.S. When I first saw the name of this beer, I thought “Hot damn! Two Brothers brewed a gose!” But then I got closer and read the fine print on the label, and was disappointed. Maybe some day. And if you need a diagram to get the joke, you can go talk to this guy.
(5/30/2012)
No comments:
Post a Comment