Two lonely lagers

Usually, Lineman releases new beers in multiples. When I saw Reflector for sale during the summer I figured that a companion beer wouldn't be long behind it. However, in the months since, the brewery has been concentrating on the return of older recipes so this has been left sitting on its own in the back of the fridge. It needed opening.

Reflector is a pilsner of 4.2% ABV. While it's a beautiful amber-gold colour, it took a bit of coaxing to get a head to form on it. Luckily, the beer isn't at all flat and has a perfect refreshing sparkle on a light body. "Zesty Motueka" is what the can tells us about the hopping, and it ain't kidding. This has the citric blast of an American pale ale, zesty and bitter in a way that's delicious, but not very typical of pilsner. A slight dry and grassy bite on the finish is its only nod in that direction, othrwise it's all the lemon, lime and grapefruit. If I'd known how much this depended on its fresh hop taste, I would have opened it sooner. While it may not win too many points for style fidelity, it's a beaut.

Some months later, Ballykilcavan dropped a hop-forward lager too: Clancy's Cans #13: 1904 Hüll Melon Lager. The year isn't explained, but I'm guessing it's a recipe from then. It's even darker than the previous one, bright orange rather than any shade of gold, with a sizeable head. I didn't get much of an aroma from it, while the flavour, too, is rather understated. Dry cracker and crisp grain husk are the principal features, with the hops bringing little other than a hard and waxy bitterness. I didn't get any of the strawberry and melon promised by the can. It's fine, overall, but not very interesting and not the fruity hop showcase I was hoping for.

These two feel a bit like they've been switched: what I expected would be a plain pilsner was hop dynamite, while the one wearing its hops on its sleeve was quite the damp squib. It just goes to show the importance of drinking all the beers.