Monday 3 June 2013

#152: Shot out of the Green

When you're the kind of person that gets excited about beer, it's hard to beat new beer, especially when it's close to home. As such, I was delighted to try this pale ale from Ireland's latest craft brewery, Mountain Man. And yes, it's from Cork!

Green Bullet is the name, and from the get go I have to give top marks for the branding. The beer itself pours a surprisingly pale shade of gold, with a very short-lived head, looking rathe rmore like a lager than a pale ale. The nose is reminded instantly of Howling Gale Ale, with a similar tropical fruit character underpinned by a light sweetness, with the taste more or less following suit. However, what happens on the palate is a straight balance of gentle bitterness and soft sweetness throwing up tropical, citrus fruit hops here and sweet caramel malts there, before turning to a 'crisp' and 'clean' lager for the finish. I must say, the longer it goes one, the less I feel like I'm tasting. 

While not at all bad, Green Bullet leaves a lot to be desired in terms of flavour and, for the style, I'd be looking for around 4.5-5.5% ABV as opposed to the bordering-on-light-beer 4%. When Howling Gale Ale is the same price with a good fist more flavour and a nice full 5%, there's really no competition.

Still though, it's plenty drinkable and I look forward to seeing much more of Mountain Man.

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