Lucy
On tap at Beer Run, Charlottesville, VA. Described as a "spiced English summer ale." Served in a 10 oz. nonic. Appearance: A clear pale golden with tons of bubbly, active effervescence rapidly speeding upwards towards the fast-fading, white, bubbly head. The lacing is streaky, running down from the original ring with a decent if not incredible amount of stick. Decent. Aroma: You can only faintly detect the spices here - it mostly just smells like a solid, simply pale, and citrusy/leafily-hopped English pale. That is to say, it's pleasant, but doesn't really indicate what's to come. Taste: A very interesting taste. The "beer" itself is fairly solid here, almost like a toned down version of their traditional pale ale - it's biscuity, fairly dry, but with just enough sweetness to keep it pleasant. There's also a faint leafy hop presence and accompanying bitterness, fainter than in their Pale but nonetheless detectable. What's really prominent about this one is the spice addition - it's very tart, citrusy, with a big "lemon peel" quality, along with a fair number of winter spices, coriander, clove, and perhaps nutmeg. I'm now being told that it's lime zest, coriander, and ginger - I was close, eh? Mouthfeel: Expressive carbonation and a relatively thin body make for a big explosive mouthfeel, crisp but still soft. Drinkability: This beer does largely become all about the lime, which is unfortunate as I think there's a largely solid, sessionable, interestingly-spiced English mild underneath. Perhaps letting off the zest a little and letting this one be itself would be nice. Still, interesting, and worth a try.