I just popped open the California Common I bottled last Saturday during the Strong Ale boil. It has only been carbonating for about five days now but I wanted to give it a try to see if it would be ready to take to the homebrew club meeting we're having Saturday. I opened it and poured it into my glass and to my pleasent surprise it is pretty well carbonated. I think it is pretty good. It has a sweet aroma, maybe floral which I think comes from the Northern Brewer hops, but to be honest it smells a little more like a malt sweetness. So, I'm unsure of the aroma as of now. It's fairly clear as you can see by the picture. The head was white and didn't stay around long. Not much lacing of the glass. I think this will make a pretty good session beer. Especially at only 4.55% ABV. One issue with this is the fact that there are so few commercial examples of the style it's hard to tell if I'm on the money with this one. I have a few Anchor Steam Beers in my fridge and they're ok, not my favorite. They don't taste much like this beer though, so I'm wondering if this is on the mark when it comes to style. I'll probably send this one off to the next competition when I enter one so we'll see what some BJCP judges have to say. The kit that I bought for this one from Northern Brewer came with 3 oz of NB hops. I ended up omiting 1oz of them because I was affraid it would be too hoppy. I think I'm glad I did now since the bitterness of this beer does seem to be inline with style, at least with the Anchor counterpart.