After going out with my wife for my birthday last night, we went out with my kids and dad this evening for dinner. I had a great time last year, when the five of us went to Bayern Stube for my birthday. However, college football was on, and I kinda wanted to get home after dinner to watch the game. Medici has a lot of good craft beers on tap, and has some nice brick oven pizzas, so that’s where I chose to go to dinner tonight.

Location: On tap and served in a regular pint glass at Medici in Normal, IL

Numbers: 6.7% ABV, 67 IBUs, 12º Lovibond, ~ 200 Calories

Ingredients: Grain: Golden Promise, Gambrinus, Munich, Belgian Aromatic, Crystal 60L; Hops: Columbus, Amarillo, Cascade, Spalt; Yeast: House yeast

Appearance & Aroma: It was dark copper in color, and slightly hazy. There was a thin creamy head on it that left some great lacing on the glass. The aroma was hoppy with some citrusy and grassy smells.

Taste & Feel: The body was solidly medium, and despite the creamy head, the mouthfeel was fairly crisp. There was a sweet honey and citrus hop flavor up front, which continued into the middle, where a malty fruitiness entered the picture. The odd fruitiness came through more in the finish along with a good dose of citrusy hop flavor and bitterness. The citrusy bitterness lasted for a brief time in the aftertaste, along with some grassy-floral bitterness in the background.

Food Pairing: There was a good amount of sweetness and citrusy flavor to this beer, and it went perfectly with the hand-tossed, stone oven baked pizza I had. The pizza had a good amount of breadiness fron the crust, which helped to cut down and through the flavors in the beer, and the mix of meats and veggies contrasted nicely with the citrusy bitterness.

Overall Impression: I enjoyed the honey maltiness up front, along with the citrusy hop flavors and bitterness. However, I felt that the fruitiness in the middle was a bit odd and out of place. It did finish nicely though with an enjoyable citrusy bitterness, and the added complexity of grassy-floral flavors was nice. Overall, it had a complex mix of flavors, but I gave it a bit lower rating for the weird bit of fruitiness that popped up in it and felt a little out of place.

My Rating:

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