I am an unreasonable person, and I am often afraid that I am being sold a story rather than a beer. When I saw “Est. 1874” on this bottle, I was ready to write it off. It’s important not to judge a book by its cover, or at least to arm yourself with enough knowledge about the cover. The Cotton Ball in Mayfield was established in 1874, and in late 2013 reimagined itself as a brewpub, and this is really great to see.

The more players in the game, the more varied it can be. I picked up this beer before others by Cotton Ball, as it claimed on the side to be have the best sides of Ale and Lager, while using ale yeast.

This seemed like a contradiction in terms, but so did “freeze distillation” the first time I encountered it.

First Impressions:

On first glance, this beer resembles an ale more than a lager. Although not cloudy, it certainly lacks the clarity usually achieved through lagering at low temperatures. On the nose, there are some nice citrus notes.

The head pours strong, dissipates quickly, with some lacing.

Second Impressions:

The beer is well carbonated, very malt forward in flavour but there is a little fruit playing around on the palette. This is the first point at which I understand what they meant by the best of lager and ale.

There is bitterness in the aftertaste.

Final Impressions:

I am very excited to try everything else that Cotton Ball have to offer. Every brewery needs to be constantly trying new things, and coming up with innovative ways to do things.

They might be selling a story, but it is their story rather than a marketing ploy, and they have the beer to back it up.