Mikkeller In May
11. Mikkeller / Revelation Cat Brewing Cream Ale 5.0%

Here's a concept. Let's take a beer based on a top-fermented ale, that's cold conditioned like a lager and brew in in partnership with Revelation Cat, a brewery that does not even physically exist. I feel this typifies more than any beer that I have had so far this month, the whole ethos of Mikkeller and possibly what makes their beers so good.
Cream ale is a style that was prevalent in pre-prohibition America and is generally finished with a lager yeast. The malts used are Pils, Pale, Vienna and Munich, and while malt and hop character is generally subdued, I feel this may not be the case here with the addition of Columbus, Amarillo and Challenger hops.
It pours a wonderfully translucent bright straw and glorious orange with the head a shock of white golden foam. A big mandarin orange marmalade aroma is tempered by lemon and grapefruit with a slight vanilla essence just at the back, trying to peek through the crowd of delicious hoppiness. It dances daintily over the tongue, quite thin and light-footed before a big wave of creamy dryness sweeps in. This crashes down with a grapefruit and peachy lemon citrus, the sensation of which is like having your mouth filled with the essence of these fruits encased in a nebula, drying bitingly on the tongue and intensifying into the finish, before drifting away like a spectre dissolving in the ether.
It's the incredible lightness of the whole experience that stuns me here, it is both beguiling and unexpected. I had this half in my mind to have tonight and this was cemented after several conversations, both at work and with a fellow blogger, and sometimes a beer just fits the moment absolutely perfectly. Tonight this is that beer, and it may well be on many more occasions. It's simply beautiful and restful and I can't recommend it more highly than that.