Coney Island Lager

A Lager from Schmaltz Brewing (the same folks responsible for the He'brew line of beers)..., this one dedicated to helping preserve the the Coney Island Museum, etc. (Official Site)

MSEyeChart spotted this odd -- and let's face it, down-right scary! -- looking bottle at Windmill Farms, one of the few independent grocery stores in the San Diego area. She called me up to see if I was interested, and I said sure. I've never really been disappointed with the Schmaltz/He'Brew stuff before.

Well....

Let's just say that I think they need to finesse their Lager-making techniques some. This Märzen-esqe beer has some rather notable flaws, that might have been smoothed over with perhaps some extended lagering, for example.

Has something of a weird muddy character in the finish -- almost like honest-to-gosh dirt in the mix. Now, that's not to say that I really think that there is soil in this particular beer...., but the flavor sure suggested it!

Didn't help much that this wasn't hopped to my liking. Tended to fall a bit too far sweet for my tastes -- even for a Märzen, that is.

Having this with some food helped mitigate this beer's several flaws -- but not enough to keep me from pronouncing this beer to be rather crappy and just plain wrong.

Maybe my gut reaction to this beer's label -- I admit it, it scares the fuck out of me -- skewed all future impressions of this from thereon? But really, I tend to think that I would have given this a thumb's down even it were coming straight off the tap -- or the bright tank, for that matter.

Enough. Avoid.
//TB