Millpond Brewing and Incubator Dunkes Bier

Aroma: “Rising pizza dough, noble hops character—sweet, light floral, and earthy, wet forest. Low sulfur.” Flavor: “Delicate malt flavors, light matzo-cracker notes, sweet biscuit and bread flavors that are cut through by moderate floral hops bitterness. Low sulfur, as on aroma. Slight lemon flavor that grows through the finish. Bitterness doesn’t linger.” Overall: “A clean, easy-drinking beer with a really nice finish. The carbonation is spot on. Perfectly crisp and balanced. This beer is nuanced enough that it could be dissected and over analyzed but is good enough just to be enjoyed. Nice job!”

Loads of Noble hop character with a lovely sulfur character as expected in German-style pils, however...the quality of the hop character itself is perhaps not in its finest form. Pleasant cracker and bread notes in the aroma blend well with perfume and lightly grassy hop notes. The lightly sweet, almost corn-like malt body is nicely balanced by a clean, floral bitterness creating a snappy and refreshing sip. Fermentation is squeaky clean and well-lagered but that sorta-Noble, sorta-not-Noble hop note raises questions. The finish is lightly bitter creating a nice cripsness that, despite needing just a touch more carbonic bite, sets things up well for the next sip.

“Deep brown and brilliant; good head retention. Intriguing aroma; chocolate malt embraces woody hops—floral, cocoa, coffee. Each sip, in turn, starts with the caramel/toffee malt, then fades down to a mix of lightly burnt roast malt and cocoa. Well-balanced with the hops, which build and linger. Clean, drinkable crispness. In the finish, touches of ash, warmth, and a mineral edge.”