Elkmont Exchange | Table Beer
Our friends at Elkmont Exchange recently started canning. We’re big fans of cans – for a number of reasons – but more than anything else, it’s great to have another place in town packaging their beer. It makes it a whole lot easier to take a little local flair to a friends bbq, out in the woods, the lake or on a trip. Further, a six pack of cans means you can share with five other people, or two, or none….yeah, we know you were thinking it. On to the beer!
First things first, this beer was packaged on 5/17. I bought it on 5/19 and just opened it on 5/20. So I think we can chalk this up as “fresh!” Also, if want cans, ya gotta go visit the brewery. While you’re there, stay a minute, have a pint, order a sandwich, take a picture with the big bear in the skirt and coconut bikini….or whatever the bear was wearing.
Table Beer – typically a low ABV Belgian beer. I cannot tell you how many people have told me they dig this beer. As I type, this is my first time. At 3.5% this certainly fills in on the lower end of the spectrum – but don’t let that fool you. This beer packs a big aroma – the Belgian yeast has created some very fruity and sweet esters – I believe I’m finding a bit of pear. The body is tart but the brett that is used in this beer sweeps that tartness right up leaving the palate relatively clean with just a slight bitterness. There’s also a gentle hoppiness to this beer – a touch of melon perhaps that I’m having a little trouble distinguishing from the yeast characteristics – perhaps as they blend so well. This beer pours a straw color, has moderate to low haze and a bright white head when it is first poured.
Final snobs: I see why this beer is so popular. This is a very good, approachable beer that, while on the lighter end of the ABV spectrum, doesn’t lack in flavor and uniqueness. Very well done. This one won’t be my last, especially as I have five more. What? You didn’t think I was going to share did you?
Prost!