Judge’s Review: 80 Rating – Sneaky Snake by Mountain Fork Brewing Co.

Belgian Golden Strong Ale | Year-Round | USA

By Nelson Crowle

Judges Rating: 80.00
Aroma: 19.00
Appearance: 4.00
Flavor: 34.00
Mouthfeel: 7.00
Overall Impression: 16.00

This beer was evaluated as BJCP 2021 Style 25C Belgian Golden Strong Ale. My steward poured aggressively but was only able to generate a small white head of tiny bubbles that quickly dissipated and was difficult to regenerate with aggressive swirling. The beer is almost clear gold in color. The first whiff produces medium low ripe apricot, medium doughy fresh baked bread, and moderate pome pear notes.There is also a medium low herbal and floral hop character.
Taking a sip, the grainy bready malt takes center stage with light stone fruit apricot and low pear and apple pome notes providing a moderate fruity direction, with a light black pepper phenolic character, low herbal hops, and low perfumy alcohol rounding out the taste. There is substantial alcohol but it’s smooth and clean… and devilishly sneaky! Medium low bittering doesn’t quite go far enough in offsetting the honey-like sweetness that lingers in the finish and gives this beer more body than expected.
This is a very tasty beer but doesn’t really match the style — it needs a lot more carbonation, and it should finish dry with more bittering. Again, quite tasty, but misses the mark stylistically. I would really enjoy this beer with a rack of St. Louis style pork ribs with a spicy dry rub — the very enjoyable sweetness and bready honey character of the beer would complement the salty spicy pork really well.