Petra Stark Bier - Cervejaria Petrópolis

fmccormi

New York

3.83/5  rDev +14%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Straight pour from 500ml pry-off bottle to a large wineglass. Freshness date of January 25, 2013 is clearly printed in black ink along with some batch info above the barcode on the back label (“25/01/13 32002464 3”).

Appearance (3.5): This beer pours a vibrant, orange-golden color—seriously like the definition of “golden”—in the crystal-clear body. It gives rise to about 1 ½ fingers of bone-white head, a mix of fat and fine bubbles, which dies relatively quickly to a thin ring on the edge but nothing on the surface of the beer.

Smell (4.0): A clean, sweet, bubblegum-like fruitiness comes out of this beer and mixes with a distinctly floral hop character, which is unexpected but very nice. There’s also a rich, toasted bread scent on the side that adds some depth and gravitas (yes, gravitas) to the beer. Nice.

Taste (4.0): There is a very interesting malt character going on here—surprisingly very fruity, actually, following the nose, but missing a lot of the floral hop character that I was digging so much back there. It’s like the sweetness of sugar plums and red grapes, mingling with a somewhat strong, toasted, biscuity character here. It’s nice, maybe on the sweet side but not in a bad way. It finishes with the odd, slightly metallic bitterness that comes out in some lagers, mixing with a mild, grassy hop note, but that grape-bubblegum flavor just pops wide open toward the end of this beer. Really full-flavored, actually. It’s an odd one, but I dig it.

Mouthfeel (3.5): A bit slick, not heavy but on the full side of medium, with active, prickly carbonation. Doesn’t particularly “wow” me, but it’s solid, for sure. Finishes surprisingly dry, considering the sweetness on the palate.

Overall (3.5): This is an interesting, unique beer—I’ll give it that. I’m enjoying it though. I think it could use some more hop character, because an emphasis on the floral grassiness of the hops in the nose would really balance it out more and add a nice, complementary dimension to the palate, but hell. This is interesting, and I dig it. Another surprisingly solid entry from Cervejaria Petrópolis’ Petra line.

Serving type: bottle

07-29-2012 01:38:35 | More by fmccormi