Songbird Maltina Yuzu and Vanilla is a 6% Belgian bruin style beer from Brewery Songbird, based in Chiba. Without wanting to rehash the Songbird Maltina review, it’s part of the limited edition range of beers and first came out in October 2015. As it’s part of their seasonal lineup of beers, like the rest of their beers, the only identifying tag on it is the label attached to it at the neck, so make sure you get that before you pick it. It has been flavoured with yuzu, or Japanese citron, and vanilla.
Faint flavours of yuzu and vanilla but nothing spectacular.
Songbird Maltina Yuzu and Vanilla Aroma and Taste
I was very apprehensive about drinking Songbird Maltina Yuzu and Vanilla after their Songbird Lavender pot-pourri mess of a beer put me off of their range of beers. It was only when I found this bottle lying in the fridge and was desperate for something to drink besides the Aomori Ji-Beer range that I can’t seem to finish that I finally opened Songbird Maltina Yuzu and Vanilla. It poured out a deep brown colour with some flecks of red when held up to the light. What head there was was minimal and quickly disappeared in on itself. There was some hints of citrus yuzu and some vanilla in the mix as well but not much.
Songbird Maltina Yuzu and Vanilla wasn’t too dissimilar to the original Songbird Maltina which was “were more malty than sour, with absolutely no hops detected in the body. While present, the sourness was far more toned down than the aroma as was the yeast pungency though some esters were detected. It finished off quite sweet in the aftertaste that had a little bit of sourness to it.” The yuzu and vanilla came through but were pretty weak in comparison – perhaps a good thing considering.
Songbird Maltina Yuzu and Vanilla The Bottom Line
Songbird Maltina Yuzu and Vanilla is an interesting mix of a beer but the flavours just didn’t develop enough nor were they strong enough to break through the malty flavours.
Where to Songbird Maltina Yuzu and Vanilla
Songbird Maltina Yuzu and Vanilla was a limited edition beer. If it comes on sale in 2016, check the online store here.
