Brooklyn Local 1

Brooklyn Local 1
Belgian Golden Ale
Brooklyn Brewery
9% ABV
IBUs?
OG: 18.5 Plato
750 ml bottle with no date poured into Duvel tulip.

    Hay colored rather than golden, and quite hazy, Local 1 poured with a huge white colored head. The head took forever to fall to chunks of foam floating on the surface, and left very good lacing.

    The aroma has notes that could be either from Pilsner malt or from Belgian yeast... tough to place for my novice senses. There is sweetness, but I doubt if it's the raw sugar. Some phenols  and esters come by with warmth. A minty freshness, that I believe to be from alcohol. Different, but just beer.

    I am not digging the taste too much either --- very generic to the class of beers this would belong to, if there's such a thing. I have only Duvel for comparison so I am calling this one average. It's not bad by any means, and not bland either, but doesn't have much to offer except the characteristic "Belgique" character (fruit, soft alcohol etc.)

    Mouthfeel is almost as good as any other -- dry and effervescent without being thin, and very very refreshing, with some bitterness at the back to balance the sweetness that high gravity beers invariably have. Warming.

    Overall, this is not a bad beer. Very classy looking and well crafted, but the soul is missing in my opinion. Suffice it to say that I will not drop $10+tax again on something that didn't impress me and hurt my liver. And yet it will be unfair to give it any less than 4/5. Maybe it's not the beer, but me. Probably me.

Scores: Appearance 5/5; Aroma 3.5/5; Taste 3.5/5; Mouthfeel 4.5/5; Overall 4/5