Scrag Mountain Pils – Salt & Lime

Scrag Mountain Pils – Salt & Lime by Lawson’s Finest Liquids is being evaluated as a Czech Pils with salt and lime, which places it into the Spice, Herb, Vegetable category 30A (BJCP Style Guidelines 2015).

It poured a beautiful burnished gold with brilliant clarity. A small bone-white head was persistent. The nose prominently featured the additional ingredients with the base beer taking a bit of a backseat. Light floral hops mingled with restrained grainy, cereal, hay-like malt. The moderate lime has a pithy/bitter edge while there’s a noticeable salinity. However, this beer is cleanly fermented without any faults nor diacetyl.

Akin to the aroma, the flavor displays lime and then salt a bit more than the base beer but to a slightly lesser extent. Moderate floral, black pepper hops are balanced with cereal, grainy malt. The moderate bitterness has a slightly rough edge that the salt and pithy lime nature accentuate. Dry finish with lingering lime, salt, and hops. Medium-low-bodied with above average carbonation. No alcohol, creaminess, nor astringency were perceived.

Overall, Scrag Mountain Pils – Salt & Lime is a solid offering if you’re looking for something a bit different than many summer-time offerings and is quite easy to drink with plenty of character. However, the base could be one of many different bases including a few clean ales such as a blonde ale for example. I also thoroughly enjoy beers that have a fresher, bright, lime zest aspect to them.