Reuben’s Wild Sky – a Cascadian Pils in collaboration with Icicle Brewing
Reuben’ Brews was founded back in 2012 in Seattle, Washington and is named after the the owner’s first child. Reuben’s has three locations in the city these days – their production facility, their Ballard location (opened in 2015), and their Fremont location (opened just last year).
These guys are well known for making great beers…and in their first six years they racked up over 200 medals! That’s insane numbers!
Today I was able to find a collaboration they did with Icicle Brewing, which is located about 120 miles east in Leavenworth, Washington. The two teamed up to create Wild Sky – a Cascadian Pilsner, in honor of the mountains that separate the two breweries. They used Pilsner malt and then added a trio of hops – Luminosa, Citra, and HBC 586 – to add something extra to it. It has a modest 5.8% ABV and did cost a tad bit more at $7 for the 16-ounce can.
It poured a bright golden straw color with a bit of haze towards the top of the glass, although the bottom was quite clear. There was minimal head topping the brew off, as only about half of finger of pure white foam built up and quickly dispersed. The lacing was also quite minimal, just a few webs down the side of the glass.
The aroma was surprisingly juicy. There were big notes of fruits – mostly tropical and citrus with some light stone fruit thrown in. The grist added just a touch of cereal and breadiness but mostly the beer was packed with notes of peach, melon, berry, tangerine, and lemon. The hops added a slight dankness to it as well but it was pretty much fruit-forward.
Wild Sky was insanely light and crisp from the very first sip. The hops added a ton of flavors with out adding much bitterness. The honeydew led the way but peach and some berry characteristics were right behind.
As the sip progressed, there was an increase of lemon zest and juicy tangerine. It was an incredibly easy beer to drink. The dankness from the smell was barely noticeable in the taste, only appearing in the waning moments.
On the backend the beer does turn a bit dry. That dryness leads to some lingering citrusy pithiness, with tangerine peel and the aforementioned lemon zest being most prevalent.
Overall this was a super crushable beer. And one that lager lovers and hopheads will both agree on. It’s super light and sessionable but also has a ton of fruity hop flavors. You can go wrong with this one as an all day sipper. I know I wish I had more than just the one can. It was really, really good.
