Cave Dweller

Ghost Town Brewing — Oakland, CA

12 May 2022 · Stephen

West Coast Pilsner Ghost Town Brewing

5.6% ABV

40 IBU

Pale golden Color

Contributing Factors

Presentation ✓

Character ✓

Experience ✓

Return –

3 / 4 I'd recommend trying it

Competition Medals

GABF 2022 Silver India Pale Lager

Tasting Notes

Appearance Pale golden to light straw, clear with lively carbonation and a white head. Clean and luminous in the glass — the West Coast pilsner tradition demands clarity, and Cave Dweller delivers it. No haze, no ambiguity, just a confident bright pour.

Aroma This is where 100% Mosaic asserts itself completely. Papaya and cantaloupe lead — that distinctive tropical melon quality that Mosaic produces unlike any other hop variety. Blueberry comes in underneath, softer and sweeter, adding a berry dimension that keeps the aroma from going purely tropical. The resinous, slightly dank quality that's Mosaic's signature sits in the background, giving the whole nose a West Coast edge that reminds you this is a pilsner with an attitude. Dank... in a great way.

Palate Crisp lager body with a medium-light feel, lively carbonation keeping everything fresh and snappy. The papaya and melon carry through the middle exactly as Ghost Town promises — bright, tropical, and surprisingly substantial for the ABV. The 40 IBU bitterness is assertive for a pilsner, building through the mid-palate with a resinous quality that's distinctly West Coast in character. Clean drinkability — clean fruit aromatics, crisp finish — which tracks perfectly with what single-hop Mosaic does in a lager context.

Finish Dry, moderately bitter, and resinous. The Mosaic dankness and blueberry note linger on the back end, longer than most pilsners, with the cantaloupe sweetness fading first. At 40 IBU the finish has real presence — this is the West Coast in the West Coast Pilsner name, assertive and dry and doing exactly what it says. Clean but not short. Satisfying but not heavy.

The Verdict

A single-hop pilsner built around Mosaic's most expressive qualities — papaya, cantaloupe, blueberry, and dank resin on a clean lager canvas. Cave Dweller is Ghost Town doing what they do best: taking a familiar style and finding the most interesting version of it. Primitive recipe, anything but primitive results.

— Stephen · Contributing Factor Brewing · 12 May 2022