The Beer Critic

Brewery Website: http://www.brooklynbrewery.com

Type of Beer: American Amber Lager

Alcohol Content: 5.2%

Beer Review -

Appearance: Clear golden-amber color with medium carbonation giving a beautiful fluffy white head that leaves behind walls of lacing.

Smell: Smells just like what you would expect an American craft lager to smell like; clean beer essence with sweet malts and some flowery hops.

Initial Taste: The first flavor to cross the tongue is bready malts followed up very quickly with a hop bite with some grainy finish.  There  is a nice contrast between the spicy hops and sweet malts yet the balance seems to be pretty hop heavy. The aftertaste is bitter, crisp, clean and refreshing.

Thoughts: This lager is the flagship beer for the Brooklyn Brewery. This is their interpretation of a Vienna style lager. It is complex yet smooth enough to be a session beer without question. I do have to say that there were a little more hops than what I expected to find in an American style lager. This is not a bad thing…just something out of the ordinary. The positive thing about making this beer hoppy is that the bitterness helps to clear the pallet and leave you longing for more beer! Always a good thing. If you’re a fan of Brooklyn Brewery then you must check out this lager. Like the rest of their lineup, this lager does not disappoint.

Type of Beer: American Amber/Red Lager

Alcohol Content: 4.90%

Beer Review -

Appearance: Pours a beautiful golden honey. Looks just like what you would expect a honey beer to look like. Nice white head with decent lacing.

Smell: Almost strictly honey scented. There is not mistaking this beer for anything else. I could not pick up any other scents other than a very little hops.

Initial Taste: Honey! There is not much else to say except the honey flavor overwhelms the beer. Due to the crazy amount of honey flavoring in this beer not many other flavors can make themselves apparent.

Thoughts: I’ve always been a fan of honey beers. I enjoy the Full Moon honey and have been known on occasion to drink HoneyBrown when the mood strikes me. But I just can’t seem to get any enjoyment from this particular honey infused concoction. It feels as though Michelob tried too hard to make this beer a honey beer and ended up making it taste artificial and overly sweet. If they could restrain themselves a bit and lighten up on the honey flavorings…they may have a drinkable beer. But until then I suggest you stick with the other honey offerings out there in beerland.