REVIEW 138: MINT JULEP ALE

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  USA

BREWERY:  Flying Dog Brewery

STYLE:  Blonde Ale

ABV:  6.0%

PURCHASE:  Draft (pint), $7.50

SERVING:  Chilled pint glass. Initially heady from the tap, but served with the standard 3/4" head. Average to slightly better than average retention.

APPEARANCE:  Transparent blond-straw body. Almost looks like a pilsner--even an adjunct lager. The usual white head. Inconsistent, splotchy lacing. Bubbling visible, particularly early on.

BOUQUET:  Lives up to its name. Muddled mint leaf aroma above all else. Strain and you might pick up a bit of floral hop, a bit of malt, a bit of yeast. But it's difficult. Almost smells like mint gum, or Tic-Tacs. 

PALATE:  Not particularly filling; goes down like a minty adjunct lager. Normal carbonation. As with the aroma, strain and you can pick up traces of malt, yeast, and floral hops. The yeast asserts itself at the finish, but that mint just doesn't want to share the spotlight. It's not overpowering, exactly; it's more the brewmaster's doing than anything else. This is just not an ideally balanced beer. 

MUSINGS AND METAPHORS:  This beer is misnamed. Mint juleps are made as much with bourbon as with mint. Yet this brew had no bourbon character. At all. 

Intriguing idea, but so-so execution. Not exactly a miss, but nowhere near a hit, either. Hey, it'll freshen your breath!

NOTE:  This beer is only available while supplies last, as it has been "retired" by its brewery.



GRADE:  C-

An actual mint julep.