This is another brew brought to me by Wes’ girlfriend Christina. As previously mentioned, she went to SoCal over the Christmas holiday and brought me back a bevy of brews to enjoy that I don’t get here in the Chicagoland area. One of the brews I asked her to keep her eye out for was some Maui Brewing Company and I really didn’t care which ones…I just wanted to get my hands on some. I believe it was last August that Steve received a Big Swell IPA from Maui Brewing Company from Billy & Mel . He was kind enough to split a 12oz can with me and aside from being extremely grateful, I was stoked to be enjoying this brew from an Island I can only dream of ever having the opportunity to visit someday. Upon receiving a sixer of this brew I knew that I had a total of 5 to enjoy and 1 to review. As you can guess, I have one left. I’ll reserve my thoughts for the end of the review as Maui Brewing Company’s Bikini Blond Lager is poured and ready.
Maui Brewing Company classifies this brew as a Munich Helles Lager and their website briefly describes Bikini Blonde Lager as, “Our filtered Munich Helles Lager brewed with floral hops and Pilsner and Munich Malts. This is the closest thing to an American lager from Maui Brewing Co. but not skimpy of flavor. Bold, smooth and refreshing!” Bikini Blonde Lager is a 2008 Silver Awards Winner at the World Beer Cup.
Bikini Blonde Lager pours a crystal clear golden yellow color with a bright white 1 ¼” head. The aroma is bready malts up front with accompanying scents of lemon and banana as well as sweet malts and some additional fruit.
For those of you that don’t know, I much prefer ales to lagers. That being said, when it does come to lagers, I’m either one way or the other, I like it or I don’t. I’m hoping that my reaction to Bikini Blonde Lager would be that of my reaction to a Blonde in a Bikini…something’s about to swell. That would be my taste buds swelling with flavor happiness. This is a great lager. What I really dig it that it has a TON of flavor which I don’t typically find in most lagers. Bikini Blonde Lager starts out with a sweetness that is bready, fruity and has a slight hint of honey and then transitions to a faint citrus/lemon zest flavor and then finishes you off with a slight hop bite. Not to mention this brew rolls in at a highly sessionable 4.5% ABV so knocking back a few will have no effect on your game. In addition, I love the fact that this ain’t no skinny broad, she’s got some shape as the body of this brew has some meat to it and isn’t your typical watery lager. If you’re lucky enough to get your hands on this one, I highly recommend taking her out for a date or two or ten.
ABV: 4.5%
Consumed: Godfish Head Signature Glass
Verdict: Buy A Twelve Pack
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 5:32PM | by 