Review: Brooklyn Lager

Review: Brooklyn Lager by Cody La Bière
I've tried Brooklyn Brewery's Black Chocolate Stout and also their Pale Ale, so will I enjoy their lager. I actually tried the beer before, but I forget what it tasted like, so another time to try it again!

Generally, I won't buy a lager, unless if I'm at the bar and my only options are Coors or another lager, but usually I would just opt for a Coke or water instead.

Appearance: Hmm, When I think of lager, I think of clear piss-coloured yellow water with white foam and billions of micro-bubbles. This isn't what one would consider a traditional lager. It pours a rich hazy caramelly brown with a bit of beige foam thickness.

Aroma: This looks like it will be a very hoppy beer, for a lager, but is it? It does have noticeable citrus hop aroma in it, but certainly not even near as much as I thought. I expected an intense aroma of hops, but instead, it's a just a hint. Not bad if you're a bit fussy. Also, there's a bit of a toasty malt to it.

Taste: A bit of a citrusy floral hoppy taste to it. Somewhat bitter, somewhat sweet. I like the amount of hops in this beer - that's likely the #1 theme to the taste. It feels like it's missing something, but I can't put my finger on it. I guess my taste buds are wanting more of an IPA than a lager.

Overall Thoughts: Not a lager in the traditional sense, but compared to a good IPA, much lighter in flavour. This isn't a beer that will bore you at all as the hops give it a nice zing. Do I recommend this? Of course, as Brooklyn Brewery made a damned tasty hoppy Vienna style lager. It costs around $2/355mL bottle and has an ABV of 5.2%. Compared to Alexander Keith's "India Pale Ale", this is much more of an IPA than any Keiths ever will be.

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2 comments:

Kinthelt said...

Wow. That *is* very hazy for a lager. I thought lagers were supposed to be very clear (not necessarily light in colour).

Cody Lobreau said...

That could also be said about Pale Ales, but now you are seeing pales that are much darker than anything Keith's has ever released, and in some cases, hoppier than some standard IPAs.