The week (ish) of Sun King continues! I mentioned in Monday's post that I tried each of the seasonal/ specialty beers that Sun King had on tap when I visited. The Naptown Brown, the Indians Lager, and this one, Sky Cake. I enjoyed all three, but this one was by far the most interesting. Sun King has dubbed this beer an aleger. Sky Cake (what a great name) is a beer fermented with lager yeast at ale temperatures. Ale + lager = aleger! Now to know what exactly this means you need to know a little bit about brewing and fermentation. Ales are usually fermented at warm temperatures. Ale yeast ferments best at temperatures around mid 60s to mid 70s degrees. Lager Yeast ferments at much cooler temperatures. Since this beer is fermented with lager yeast at ale temperatures it combines the characteristics of the two. To the beer!
Sky Cake pours a crystal clear tawny brown color with a finger of bubbly white head. Very inviting looking.
The aroma on this beer is very well balanced. The biscuity malt notes hit first but they're backed by a really nice floral piney hop aroma.
OK, once you taste this beer you can really see the whole ale + lager = aleger thing. Sky Cake has a light lager body, with a big full ale body. This beer is very crisp. The creamy floral piney hop flavors are balanced by a biscuity crackery malt character. The balance in Sky Cake defenitely tips toward the hops but that just lends to the bright, crisp, refreshing flavor.
This beer was very very tasty. Flavorful malt balanced with crisp refreshing hops. This would make a great late spring early summer beer. Awfully appropriate for late May! I have no idea as to the availability of this beer, whether this is a taproom exclusive or if it will be shipped out around Indianapolis in Kegs. I saw Sun King's tap room seasonal/ specialty beer list on twitter last night and Sky Cake was already off. If you do happen to find this beer out in the wild check it out. I love it.
HD
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