Walleye Chop Lager

Today I'm drinking a Walleye Chop Beer from Bank Beer Company in Hendricks, MN.  This is a seasonal brew with a charitable cause behind it - a portion of the proceeds goes to the Pheasants Forever Build a Wildlife Area campaign, which is a foundation that acquires lands and then preserves them as hunting and recreation areas.  The can depicts a pastel-like painting of a fisherman catching a walleye.  It also includes a brief description that states this is a "hand-crafted hop lager", not exactly sure what that means but I guess we'll find out!

The beer is a pale golden color, clear, with a nice layer of creamy white foam that holds strong long after the pour.  The aroma is full of pale malts, some wheat, and a hint of corn mash.  Light noble hops are also present, which bring a sort of earthy, sweet bitterness to the nose.  The flavor starts off with a sharp ping of bitterness that completely took me off guard - unripe pears and apples come to mind.  The middle levels off with a combination of pale/wheat malts and some funky yeast character.  The finish takes a turn in the wrong direction - some corn and rice adjunct flavors come through, along with a strange tin-like flavor that is....cringe-inducing.

Overall Rating:  This beer has some nice characteristics up front, it's reminiscent of a german style vienna lager, very malt forward and fairly tasty.  That is, until the finish.  The metallic, adjuncty finish actually leaves me with a bitter-beer-face.  C

Lucky Bucket - Pre-Prohibition Style Lager

Tonight I'm going to sit down for a session brew from Lucky Bucket Brewing, based in La Vista, Nebraska.  You may remember my recent post of their Lucky Bucket IPA, which was our first foray into this brewery's arsenal, and a very nice brew.  The Pre-Prohibition Style Lager is Lucky Bucket's flagship brew - the goal is to bring back the tasty, flavorful lagers that were available before that foul prohibition period.  This beer is built for the session...a light, flavorful, lower alcohol beer that you can sit down and drink 1 or 2 (or 4), and not fall over when you're walking out of the bar.  This lager is 4.5% alcohol, and dry-hopped with West Coast hops, bringing it to 20 IBUs.

The brew comes in a short 12oz bottle with a screw cap...this always worries me a little bit, you tend to see more skunked bottles of beer when screw caps are involved.  The beer is a clear, golden yellow color with a slim layer of of white foam.  The aroma is malty, bready, maybe a little bit of lemon pine-sol.  Not a whole lot beyond that.  The taste starts off sweet and malty with corn and cereal.  A touch of dry hops come through to help balance out the malts, doesn't add much flavor, but brings a little bitterness into the picture.  The finish, well, there's some adjunct in there.  Definitely some budweiser corn-rice flavors that are a little off-putting.  The mouthfeel is light, with a hefty amount of crisp carbonation.

Overall Rating:  I appreciate the intention of Lucky Bucket with this brew - unfortunately I don't think they achieved their goal of making a really good session brew.  This was an average lager, easy drinking, refreshing, but still exhibiting some of those adjunct off-flavors that you find in the big corporate rice-waters.  C+

Brooklyn - Lager

Tonights brew is of another from Brooklyn Brewery.  After having a very enjoyable experience with their Local 1 I was excited to get back on the Brooklyn bandwagon and give their flagship lager a go.  Brooklyn's website, which is quite nice I must say, gives me some solid information about the roots of this brew.  Aside from learning that this is their original beer the brewery was based on, I also found they use a Vienna style base for their lager. These tend to be very malt forward and silky smooth.  However, reading further into their description I find they dry hop with a mixture of European and American hops; Hallertauer and Cascade as an example.  Brooklyn also accentuates the bitterness as well.  The good news is that they aren't fooling themselves which what this beer actually is - an American Amber Lager.

My glass fills with a brilliantly clear amber color, who would have thunk?  An egg shell white foam lingers around after settling into my pint.  A sweet malt supported by subtle floral and citrus notes create a very inviting aroma.  I had to take a few sips before I was able to figure out how to describe this lager.  The best I can do is a slightly sweet, slightly bitter, smooth finisher. Some bready notes mix in with a subdued citrus flavor put forth by the hops.  Medium carbonation smooths out the finish.  Alcohol is hiding in here somewhere but I cant find it.

Overall - I don't think I've tasted a lager quite like this before.  I definitely like it.  I wouldn't mind going back to the fridge for another.  Although, I was hoping to experience a little more of the Vienna lager characteristics of the bready, toasty malt and I ended up getting more hop bitterness than I wanted.  Now that I know what to expect I think the other five left in my six pack will be more enjoyable than the first.  Certainly worth a try and something I can see myself purchasing again.