Experimental dwarf hops (with dense cones) bring forth zesty lemon-polished grapefruit peel bittering, but unassuming Belgian wit influence and Seltzer-like phenolic fizzing may confound lighter thirsts. Floral-spiced herbal hops and sharp wood tones provide dry botanical backdrop for sizable citric spritz. Orange-peeled peach, apricot and pineapple fruiting adds depth. Aggressive carbolic fluff may denigrate salted citrus finish.
Tolerable dessert beer spreads dark toffee all over creamy brown chocolate, vanilla and coffee illusions. Chocolate pudding, marzipan, almond, pecan and hazelnut undertones further sweeten burnt caramel malting. But coarse hop-charred bittering counters with heavy-handed astringency.
Before America’s microbrew revolution swept the nation, this original Czech-based Budweiser product would rate higher. But competition’s thru the roof so its mild dark-roasted mocha malting and pleasant toasted hop bittering seem complacent by today’s standards. Dusty cocoa-powdered dark chocolate chalking, distant brown-sugared molasses sapping and slight chestnut-praline conflux pick up minor charcoal acridity for musty Old World moderation.
Moribund straw-hazed Ukrainian witbier suffers from indecisiveness. Sour lemon-candied navel orange desiccation and corn-malted white wheat blandness depleted by salty hop fizz. Gluey grout aromatics displace murky butterscotch, banana and coriander sentiments.
During a fantastic one-week sojourn to Joca, Costa Rica, a shanty-like Pacific Ocean inlet town with monstrous waves, found a few subpar beers, April ’14. But the food was always great, the fishing exciting, and the wildlife flourishing. A dozen macaws, several iguanas and a few lizards kept my wife and I comfort on our 25th anniversary at the beautiful Hotel Club Del Mar.
Listed below are the beers found in Costa Rica. None are recommended, but all suit the easygoing appeal of Costa Rica’s tropical climate.
Best selling Costa Rican beer on West Coast circa 2014 has to be this slightly cloy malt-sugared moderation. Sugar-caned corn sweetness outdoes astringent maize-hopped acridity, picking up cloy wet-papered stickiness if clear-yellowed light body gets warm. Friendly hop spritz coats white-breaded spine. Tinnier canned version loses luster.
Somewhat dull dark lager at least betters most nebulously drab schwarzbiers. Dark chocolate, toffee and cocoa tones get coarsened a tad by astringent light-roasted hop murk. Pecan, marzipan and burgundy illusions tease the soft mocha surface. FYI: go to elpedalero.com for coolest collection of Latin American beer labels.
Tepid German-styled pilsner retains dry-hopped wheat chaff and maize acridity to its buttered bread bottom. Cloying corn sugaring diminished by sudsy carbolic fizz.
Blasé light pils stays dull as doughy white rice neutrality and straw wheat acridity prove negligible. Fizzy hop pep fizzles in the air. Boring.
Daft pale-yellowed low alcohol drear recalls dryer Rheingold. Wheat-strawed maize astringency mires lightly toasted breading. And since the sugaring lacks, its bland finish is nothing but carbolic fluff.
Admirable golden-bronzed moderation boasts hot jalapeno chili peppering over subtle pilsner-like pale malts and delicate carbolic hop fizz. Constant peppery burn gives ‘beer with bite’ an aggressive edge, contrasting black peppercorn, cayenne and chipotle spicing against green bell pepper sweetness. But its clean-watered minerality lightens the mood despite the pleasingly throat-scorching heat.
Richly embittered full body tosses raw dark-roasted chocolate sludge and dry black patent malts at heightened oats-charred Blackstrap molasses influence. Dark-roasted hops coarsen harsh tar-like chewing tobacco acridity. Black coffee, dark cocoa, anise and walnut illusions add depth to monstrously robust dark ale memorializing dumbfounded doomsday prognosticators.
