NAME: Jack’s Abbey Hopstitution Hoppy Lager
TYPE: Lager (XPL)
ORIGIN: Framingham, MA
ABV: 5.5%
REVIEW: Golden color, white foamy head, subtle floral and pine notes. Crisp, bitter up front with a little lemony taste, bittersweet finish. Good bowling beer if you want to up your game!
goodwilltasting grade: B-
NAME: Great Lakes Eliot Ness
TYPE: Amber Lager
ORIGIN: Cleveland, OH
ABV: 6.2%
REVIEW: Rich, full-bodied amber lager. A little smokey initially, faint hop nose, smooth sweet finish. Pretty good.
goodwilltasting grade: B
NAME: Heavy Seas Small Craft Warning “Über Pils”
TYPE: Strong Pilsner (Bock Lager)
ORIGIN: Baltimore, MD
ABV: 7.0% ABV
REVIEW: Golden brown color, sharp, bitter hop taste with a sweet malty finish, bubbly mouthfeel.
goodwilltasting grade: C+
I have a confession to make. I know next to nothing about European beers. Shameful, I know, but there it is. So this year, with the start of my blog as motivation, I’ve made it a point to try many more European beers. A noble New Year’s resolution, I’m sure you’re all thinking, so thank you. I’m excited to try new beers from historic breweries, as well as beers from the growing number of European craft breweries. So here we go!
NAME: Radeberger Pilsner (Draught)TYPE: German Pilsener
ORIGIN: Radeberger Exportbierbrauerei
ABV: 4.8%
REVIEW: Golden color, minimal head, smells a little sweet, a little like wheat bread, subtle barley and oat flavors when sipped, watery mouthfeel, a little flat. Kind of a boring, standard pils. I paid $7 for this and I kind of feel like I got the shaft. Save yourself $7 and just have a MGD.
goodwilltasting grade: C-
NAME: Anderson Valley El Steinber (Can)
TYPE: Dark Lager
ORIGIN: Boonville, CA
ABV: 5.5%
REVIEW: Drank straight from the can. Grassy, piney, roasted smell. Dark cola color from what I saw on the lip of the can, malty, burnt toast taste, a little tinny, good carbonation, fuller mouthfeel. Kind of an ashy dark lager that’s interesting but not exactly good tasting. Or should I say good will tasting. Is that a joke? I don’t even know.
goodwilltasting grade: C+
NAME: Brooklyn Brewery Brooklyn Lager
TYPE: Pre-Prohibition Style Lager
ORIGIN: Brooklyn, NYC
ABV: 5.2%
REVIEW: Pours amber with substantial head, fresh smelling, nice citrusy hoppy aroma, malty and clean tasting with a nice hoppy kick at the end. Slightly biscuity mouthfeel. Really nice, drinkable lager to wash down some greasy Chinese food.
goodwilltasting grade: B
goodwilltasting 