Knops California Common

Knops
Brewed at Traditional Scottish Ales
Style: California Common
Edinburgh, Scotland

Serve in Lager glass, Shaker

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Aroma: Weak aroma of citrus, wood and pale malt.

Appearance: Clear amber body with a medium white head that slowly fades. No visible carbonation. Good lacing.

Taste: Summer fruits - strawberry and peach - with flavours of grain and caramel. Low bitterness.

Palate: Thin body with an oily mouthfeel. Flat carbonation.

Overall: A reasonable beer but not one I’d seek out to have again.

Lively golden beer with a frothy head. Aroma is quite hoppy and the flavour is a mild, slightly underwhelming honey. Pleasant enough but nothing spectacular.

Bottle at home in London. Pours lightly hazy, yellow-gold with a fine, white foam head. Some bready malts in the nose with a bit of ham. Medium sweet flavor with a lot of smoked ham, some bread, touches of honey, very mellow leafy bitterness. Light to medium bodied with average carbonation. Fairly sweet to finish with some more ham, lightly toasted bread and smokey malts, faint cereal, low bitterness. This kind of tastes like a rauchbier (honestly!) and in that regard it is actually pretty good. I’m really not sure what’s going on. But it’s pretty alright.

Thin and pale bodied beer. Fairly clean malty aroma, quite a woody taste with further malt highlights. Quite a soft and easy drink.

This was a brilliant and adventurous first realise beer from this brewery. The trick is that it’s really temperature dependant. If it’s too cold then it tastes like a light golden ale. But if it warms up a little you get a stunning toffee/praline character. Too warm and it get the stuffing knocked out of it. So it’s not to be treated as a traditional style ale. It’s a lager/ale hybrid in in the context of serving temperature.

I’m really interested in how the steam beer or California Common (as it is perhaps more commonly labeled, no doubt due to trademark issues) has spread so widely. Well, here we are, with a Scottish version, and not even the first that I’ve had on my 10 day trip through the UK. Simple golden color. Mild bitterness follows the toasty/bread and caramel flavors. It finishes quickly. Not much to recommend, I’m afraid. But well done for trying. (cask at Scottish Real Ale Festival, Edinburgh, June 2012)

A light texture but with a deep taste which is mainly its bitterness. Wheat based aroma with a lingering aftertaste.

Cask at The Queens Arm, Edinburg. Slightly cloudy deep golden, 1/2 finger of stable white head. Butter, toffee, light citrus in the nose. Taste is buttery and light sweet toffee and light to medium light fruity hop bitterness. Sweet garbage-can note. Watery texture, light body, flat carbonation. Drinkable, but has got nothing to do with a California Common.

Bottle from Alesela BBE Apr 2012
Amber, clear, thin frothy white head
Aroma of light spicy hops, hint of lager saaz hop, pale malts, light caramel malts, hint of biscuit
Taste of light caramel malts, light spicy bitter hops, touch of honey, bit yeasty.
Palate - medium carb, quite thin body, light bitter malts, slightly oily texture. Finish - moderate bitter, bit of biscuit
Overall - The bottle was near its BBE, wasn’t fresh tasting, taking that into account it seems quite a reasonable beer...needs a re-rate

Bottled. A golden beer with a white head. I really struggled with this. Didn’t enjoy it and found it hard to describe. Very biscuity and very bitter. A cereally nose. Odd and not to my taste.