Pietniemi Pale Ale by Rocking Bear Brewers; the chamber of craft beer horrors of the good old 1990's revisited, part two.

Hazy, unfiltered stuff, 4,5% ABV. Watery, nonexistent body with harsh polyphenolic, mouth-puckering astringency in mouthfeel. Furthermore, overcarbonated. Lack of body together with that terrible mouthfeel alone makes this undrinkable to me, the blogger.

Whereas the mouthfeel was marked by astringent polyphenols, the aroma is prevailed by volatile phenols, presumably from various sources! Overwhelming is the clove-like one (4VG) with some pepper. This may well originate from the brewing yeast strain used. In the background, there is an unmistakable farmyard-type phenol (4EP) signature which is most likely to originate from brettanomyces wild yeast contamination. Moreover, the bewildering complexity of the blend of phenolic off-flavors in this non-beer or shit-bomb makes me, the blogger, even to think of the most horrible possibility of the involvement of wort spoilage bacteria...

This self-proclaimed "Pale Ale" makes the blogger's blood pressure rocket to dangerous levels. Just another warning example of crap hastily turned out by the ongoing craft brewing boom. Certainly got the kitchen drain treatment immediately after verdict.

We ought never to forget that in brewing decent beer we need, more than anything else, three assets: culture, experience and wit. Those are the main ingredients of the thing we call craftsmanship...