The Hobbit: Gollum Precious Pils

This 9.0% ABV imperial pilsner is part of the line of beers inspired by the Hobbit and made by Fish Tale Ales, the Fish Brewing Company, of Olympia, Washington. This beer also has a whopping 85 IBU's. If you have not read the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, you are really missing out (and the movies aren't too bad either).

The beer pours a light amber in color. There is over an inch of thick, foamy, slightly ragged off-white head that leaves very thick and sticky lacing on the glass. The aroma is bread dough, caramel, with a bit of fruit. The taste follows the aromas to a point, but then there is a bit of dish water tartness, followed by a massive bitterness that is incongruous to the fruity sweetness of the malt. If this was a dry, grassy, straw type of pils, the high bitterness would work better. The beer drinks nicely carbonated, with a refreshing feel on the throat.  This is an amber lager that tries to be a pils through bitterness alone, and overall it doesn’t work for me.