Dry amber-coppered ale bestows earthen vegetal whiff on funky peat-smoked rye exertion, musty malt acridity, and toasted honey nut fluctuation. But dank orange sourness and dovetailed grapefruit astringency sabotage any promise.
All posts by John Fortunato
HIDDEN RIVER PALE ALE
Clean watered pale amber maintains vegetative nose, but spiced hop doze and dull mocha malt woes deaden impact. Tinny finish disrupts ester-y fruit hind and dry barley bind.
HIDDEN RIVER BLACK & TAN
Weird, abstruse, dim amber-hued b&t places unexpected dry orange sourness above roasted barley and spiced hops to sullen finish. Too light and vaguely defined for its class.
HEVELIUS KAPER
Hefty strong Euro lager (9%ABV) placates sweet barley-roasted caramel malting with sullen citric-herbal wisp, initially disguising its ethanol alkalinity. Despite undeniable strength, bronze-hazed Pol needs more pronounced black tea musk, lemon-peppered spicing and sweet bread serenity plus better all-around distinction. Miserly green apple tartness, scant white grape mustiness and slick malt liquor pastiness don’t help matters.
HEVELIUS CLASSIC LAGER
Washed-out soapiness spoils inconspicuous 6.8% alcohol-soaked pale yellow Pol. Cereal biscuit theme cannot overcome bland honeyed malt prompt, leaving barest grassy hop finish to tend for itself against prickly carbolic acridity.
HERRN RADLER LEMON BREW
Bavarian beer-lemonade mix undeniably leans closer to the latter as spring water freshness, honeyed ginger ale flow, and juicy lemon tang get fizzy-hopped spritz. Grassy hay and leathery horsehide dryness drape lemon-candied sourness. Serve as mild summer afternoon indulgence. Traditional lager heads need not apply. Fine alternative for lame Zima-Tequiza crowd.
HEROLD TRADITIONAL CZECH LAGER
Timid moderate-bodied golden-paled bohemian suffers from musty yeast stench, soured crystal malt scourge and vacuous corn-sugared butterscotch trifle, allowing floral wheat backbone to tail off. Fresh-cut grass, hay, and horsehide earthiness lost in the balance.
HEROLD PREMIUM BOHEMIAN LAGER
Strident soft-watered barley tone and lightened corn astringency gently sway tangy lemon-kissed midst, but leafy grassy-hopped vegetal finish weakens. Overall, musty Czech lager lacks resilience. No longer brewed as of 2006.
HEROLD BOHEMIAN WHEAT LAGER
Immediate ripe banana sweetness welcomes silken wheat overlay. Floral clove-mint accents, mild grapefruit zest, and slim banana bubblegum illusions benefit further from strategic wood-burnt emphasis. Reminiscent of mildly acidic butterscotch-licked German weisse.
HENRY WEINHARD’S NORTHWEST TRAIL BLONDE LAGER
Tinny grain bitterness and intrusive phenolic fizz disrupt slim honeyed lemon sourness, fresh cut maize dryness and husked wheat backbone of bland moderation. But brisk mineral water flow nearly saves it from indistinction.
HENRY WEINHARD’S HEFEWEIZEN
Supposed “honey brewed” lager lacks German wheat essence, finishing bland and paper thin as plodding grain-malt sweetness drowns in a sea of watery boredom.
HENNINGER PREMIUM LAGER
Slim grassy hop fizz and buttery malt creaminess meet honeyed oats sweetness for uninteresting medium-bodied Munich helles lager. Skunked cabbage-like aroma disrupts vegetal corn-husked earthiness.