Bards Tale Dragons Gold

Brewed by Gordon Biersch Brewing Company
Style: Specialty Grain
Palo Alto, California USA

Gold, with a good sized but lose fizzy head. The aroma is a bit off. Smells fairly grainy, almost like smoked corn (?) The flavor is sweet and the body is medium. Weird flavor, likely the sorghum. While it’s not so off that I’d pour it out. But, it somehow doesn’t taste like a beer. Well, I lied. After a few more sips, I had to pour it out. What ever that flavor was, it becomes overbearing.

Bottle marked bottled on 05/30/06. Small white fizzy head that mostly diminished, sparse lacing, visible carbonation, transparent, and a gold hue. Nose was malty, grainy, sweet and hoppy. Flavor was sweet, acidic, hoppy, syrupy, somewhat thick, and refreshing. Tingly mouthfeel. Light-medium body.

This lager pours a yellow gold color from a 12oz bottle. Small sized white foamy head. Aroma is grain and cereal, a touch sour/lactic but not in a bad way. A medium to light bodied Pale Lager. Malts are grainy and cereal. Hops are mild and kind of spicy. Flat carbonation. Very Budwesier like yet it has a slight sour/lactic flavor to it. I am assuming that is from the sorgum than a brewing fault. It doesn’t have the crisp rice flavor that Bud has so that one point in its favor. But its still a fairly generic tasting Pale Lager. Mouthfeel is full. Finish is crisp and clean. Aftertate is slightly bitter.

Bouteille de 12 oz achetée chez Beverage Warehouse (Winooski, VT). Arôme: Odeur de levure et de fleur. Apparence: La couleur est blonde orangée avec une faible densité de bulle. Présence d’un mince col mousseux et d’une fine dentelle sur le verre. Saveur: Goût d’houblon avec une touche d’agrumes. Courte durée de l’arrière goût. Apparence: Le corps et la texture sont mince. Faible effervescence en bouche. (Rating #641)

Light golden liquid with a thin lid of white bubbles. Hints of herbal honey tea. Some berries and cream also in the nose. Interesting light honey and fruit flavors. But then again it does have some sweet lager characteristics, that while not that appealing, Actually quite a bit better then the few other sorghum brews that I have tried.

12oz, Bottled on 07/25/06. Hooray, fresh! Pours a pale amber with a miniscule off-white head that dissipates to nothing--reminds me of the water Marty got in Back to the Future III. Aroma is quite sugary sweet, with an aroma I can only assume is sorghum (I’ve never had it). Smells kind of like a melting sugary candy on a hot day. Very light anise in the background--also a bit grainy. Tastes the same with a tiny bit of paper addition. No hops to speak of except for a small amount of bitterness midway through. Thin bodied, light carbonation. This got a couple points for being a little different from anything I’ve had thus far. OK beer to try once, but I don’t think I’ll make a habit of getting this.

Plenty of hops in the aroma here. They really jump out. Flavor is a mix of corn, honey and grapefruit and there is a slight bitter aftertaste. There is slight carbonation visible in the glass but it seems to create bubbles in the mouth.

Copper color with lots of bubbles and a small beige head. Sweet grainy aroma. Flavor of grain and some bitterness.