The Session: Local Brew

Its the first Friday of the Month, and you beer lovers know what that means...its Session Time. The time for a virtual tasting, where beer bloggers the world over gather around a common theme for a beer tasting. The host this month is Gastronomic Fight Club, the theme is Local Beer, within 150 miles. Well, from the moment of the announcement, there was no question I was going to go with Houston's own Saint Arnold's Brewery. The only question that remained was which beer to taste. I thought briefly about going with the current seasonal, their very tasty Summer Pislner, but I settled on going really local. Getting a local beer that I could only get from a local pub, not a store.
The Beer: The beer in question is Saint Arnold's Elissa Cask ale, served at my favorite beer joint, The Gingerman's (recently mentioned in the latest edition of DRAFT Magazine). I am a fan of St. Arnold's regular Elissa IPA so I was excited to try the cask version. It pours a nice light hazy amber topped with a creamy thick off-white head. Nose of grapefruit, citrus, herbaceous notes. The mouthfeel is thick, creamy with grapefruit, herb's, spices, and some slightly sweet malty notes to give it a bit of balance. The beer was thick leaving a beer-stache as I drank. It was smooth, served the appropriate temperature of just below room temp. Incredibly good beer, this is what I imagine good Cask Ale tasting like. The ending bitterness wasn't over the top, just subtly flowing over the tongue. A very good beer that I'd give a strong B+.
Now head over to Gastronomic Fight Club for the round up.