There are plenty of reasons for the folks at Temple to be happy these days. After a brief spell in voluntary liquidation, they're back in business and had one of their biggest nights ever on their first night back. They've got designers giving their East Brunswick home an overhaul. There are plans for significant expansion. And there are new beers. And, having dropped in to sample them the other day, it would seem that it's the last of these that, perhaps understandably, has co-founder and head brewer Ron Feruglio most excited, especially when it comes to the beer brewed to mark their resurrection, this pre-Prohibition style American Pilsner.
Think America and lager and it's generally not a good headspace to occupy, but back in the day things weren't so commoditised as they have become. Indeed, Temple's is the second beer of this style to come out of a Victorian brewery in the past few weeks, with Hargreaves Hill producing one too. This one is Temple's first lager and, like the Americans all those years ago, uses maize (ground corn) within the grain bill. The result is a bright golden, spicily aromatic beer with an initial malt sweetness that is soon overcome by a blanket of smooth bitterness that covers the palate from back to front before leaving a seriously dry and herbaceous - and corny! - finish that sits around for an age. We're told it's a once only, draught only release and, given how much its brewer loves it, that means it may not be around too long...
Published November 23, 2013 2013-11-23 00:00:00
