Together alone

I'm all in favour of small breweries diverging from the ubiquitous craft styles, but a Rotbier, Rascals? I'm not, generally, a fan of Nuremberg's totemic red lager. This example at the Rascals taproom, Pilot #155, is 5.2% ABV and immediately departs from the Franconian standard by being a gorgeous clear shade of copper. Clean look, clean taste: primarily crisp with a hint of near-Schwarzbier toasted grain. Only then does the caramel and red liquorice creep in, and while that taste profile does not make me jump for joy, it's subtle enough here to be non-problematic. Hooray for non-problematic. This has just the right balance of unusual features versus standard well-made lager. I had a couple of pints on the terrace on a sunny Friday afternoon and I can tell you it is exceptionally well suited to that use case. Down at the Altstadt they could pick up a few tips from this.

York brewery Brew York had not crossed my path before, though they've been in business for ten years. As part of the birthday celebrations it collaborated with Rascals on a New England IPA called Kindred Flame. It's a middle-of-the-road 5.7% ABV and only wanly hazy, going for witbier translucency over beaten-egg emulsion. Both aroma and flavour, to my mind, lean more to the west coast. Azacca, El Dorado, Krush and Mosaic are tropical-candy hops one and all, yet there's a sharp Citra-like bite at the front of the flavour here, all lime peel and lemon zest. It's slightly softer behind this, but soft like lemon meringue pie, rather than juicy mango or pineapple. It's not a bad beer, by any means, but doesn't taste like a high-end hazy IPA for the joyless grumps who idolise Trillium and The Alchemist. You know the sort. I'd like to say it's a best-of-both-worlds situation, but I would prefer if it went one way or the other. This middle space, vanilla-but-citric, is a little lacking in positive attributes. It's fine, but a guest-assisted birthday beer ought to be more impressive.

It seems Rascals is at its creative best when left to noodle on its own pilot kit. Maybe if Brew York came over, they might learn about making interesting beer.