3.5 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 14/20
12oz bottle from Armanetti’s. Pours a crystal clear, amber-gold colored body with a finger-width, frothy, off-white head that dissipates slowly and leaves a nice lacing. Aroma is clean, medium-sweet pale and caramel malts with some crystal and bread. A good amount of floral citruses with a light pine. Flavor is similar. Very clean caramel and pale malts with a nice, moderate sweetness as well as a touch of bready crystal. A balanced, floral hopping with some pine and a hint of toast. Finishes clean and dry with a medium-light, piney bitterness that is balanced nicely with a clean, toasty, caramel malting. Lengthy aftertaste following a medium body and a soft, moderate carbonation. Overall, a pretty solid beer. Very clean malt backing with a nice sweetness all balanced well with a solid hopping. Much better than my initial expectations.
3.7 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 15/20
Aroma is bread, yeast and some esters. The flavor is clean and has a decent malt/hop balance. Solid lager, more complex than others due to the brewing temperature.
3 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 12/20
This is my second beer from Argus and it is more or less identical to the first, which is the California Common. Like that, this seems to be more of a pale ale than anything, though w/ a maybe a slightly more subdued aroma this time around. It has floral and citrus accented hops and maybe a bit to strong of bitterness in the finish. It’s an easy drinking beer and pretty tasty.
3.5 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 14/20
12 oz.bottle, $1.50 loose @Binny’s. Bought this in March, added the listing here in April, and I’m still first to rate this. Poured in a glass handled mug. Kicks up a big stiff head over an amber body, well filtered so there is nothing to see but busy bubbles. Smell is a little faint, but lets some lighter Crystal malts through, and a bit of American bittering hop. Actual drinking is pretty easy. My expectation of steam beers is that there is usually bittering only, like with Northern Brewer hops, and little aroma hop, and that’s what this has. Clean malt package kept puckery by those hops. A big and slightly unrefined flavor to put you in mind of a frontier tavern beer.
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