Schell's Deer Brand
August Schell Brewing Company

Schell's Deer BrandSchell's Deer Brand
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From:
August Schell Brewing Company
 
Minnesota, United States
Style:
American Adjunct Lager
Ranked #77
ABV:
4.8%
Score:
75
Ranked #27,528
Avg:
3.24 | pDev: 16.05%
Reviews:
78
Ratings:
174
Status:
Active
Rated:
Mar 10, 2024
Added:
Jul 10, 2002
Wants:
  11
Gots:
  17
Schell's Deer Brand was developed prior to Prohibition and has been Schell's flagship beer ever since. Brewed from 70 percent barley malt, 30 percent corn, and our unique 'Schell' yeast, Deer Brand is full flavored American Lager.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Photo of vette2006c5r
Reviewed by vette2006c5r from Minnesota

3.86/5  rDev +19.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Schell's Deer Brand pours a clear, golden color with a long-lasting, medium lacing head. The aroma has a fresh farm malty note. The flavor has a slightly sweet grain, hints of bread, clean and crisp feel. Overall, it's a very solid lager. It's not fancy, but it has lots of flavor and is enjoyable overall.
Mar 10, 2024
Photo of blkgeorge
Reviewed by blkgeorge

3.35/5  rDev +3.4%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
This used to be served at a college bar as part of a selection of beers that were $4 all you could drink. When Busch Light and Natural Light were the only other choices, this was the go-to. Twenty years later and I'm trying it again with a different mindset. It's a standard American adjunct lager that is on par taste-wise with a Budweiser but with a creamier, heartier mouthfeel and without the cloying syrupy tongue-coat of many AAL. It also has the "pre-prohibition recipe" nostalgia factor going for it and it's local out here. You could do worse.
Dec 16, 2023
 
Rated: 3.52 by cbcrunch from Wyoming

Sep 27, 2023
Photo of Taybeh
Reviewed by Taybeh from Minnesota

3.72/5  rDev +14.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
Slightly hazed bright pale gold, with a slight pull white head, no lacing. Seems tough to rate an AAL to style, since in terms of flavor profiles, there isn’t all that much variation — all in all, I think this is very well made, it’s wet and refreshing, with a nice balance of starchy corn notes and sweet grainy malt, and a light kiss of floral hops…some mineral notes, too. I can’t pick much up from the yeast. Fairly smooth and almost creamy (for the style, maybe it’s the corn). Nice moderate but lively bitterness at the edges. There is a little almost metallic aftertaste, but it doesn’t bother me.

This is from the 3rd tall boy of a 4-pack, purchased from 44th and France for $6. No complaints.
Aug 28, 2023
Photo of MonDak_Joe1953
Reviewed by MonDak_Joe1953 from Minnesota

3.57/5  rDev +10.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
12oz can. Stamped on can bottom is '060323'.
Clear, Pale gold colored body. Brief one finger white head. Keeps a very thin ring fed by rising bubbles. No lacing.
Aroma of malt, corn, and floral hops.
Taste is slightly fruity, with corn, honey, and floral hops. Bit of sulfur. Brief aftertaste.
Medium mouth feel. Feels very wet. Crisp and clean finish. Good carbonation.
Easy drinking without being too sweet. Slight bite. Quite full of flavor for the style.
Jun 29, 2023
Photo of defunksta
Reviewed by defunksta from Wisconsin

3.51/5  rDev +8.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5
Appearance: Pours a completely clear, light golden color with a strong white head that is pillowy and lingers. SRM of 7. (4.00)

Aroma: Relatively strong aromas of pale malts, corn adjuncts, mildly sweet with hints of yeast. (3.50)

Flavor: Moderate flavors of pale malts and corn sweetness upfront. Some mild breadiness in the middle, but then gets enveloped by more corn flavors and finishes with faint yeast and a mild corn/adjunct sweetness. (3.50)

Feel: Medium-bodied, lower than expected carbonation. Mildly sweet. (3.25)

Overall: A decent adjunct lager. Corn adjuncts are appreciable. No bitterness, but not really sweet either. Low carbonation and pretty standard for an AAL, but I think I've had better. The "Pre-Prohibition" tag doesn't add much here. Very nice can art though. (3.51)
May 07, 2023
Photo of cardfan212
Reviewed by cardfan212 from Minnesota

4.74/5  rDev +46.3%
look: 5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5
Drank from a 16 ounce can. Scores are based on the style.

Look - Oh boy, this can. Stellar, beautiful, perfect, a work of art. The colors, the fonts, the logo. This is beer.

Smell - Gorgeous concoction of malt, corn, and some indistinct herbaceous matter. Intoxicatingly fragrant, incredibly inviting, absolutely fantastic greeting for this one. Really gets the mouth watering.

Taste - Boggles the mind. My brain is scrambled. This beer is too good. Perfectly balanced, perfectly amplified, perfectly presented. A mystical allure unlike any other. Quite possibly the best AAL I've ever tasted, and I've never seen it mentioned anywhere before now.

Feel - Somewhat chewy, if that makes sense. A bouncy mouthfeel. On the verge of too much carbonation. Its thickness keeps you from drinking it too quickly, and I could see it being a bit exhausting as a session beer, but as a single or double dose, it's wonderful.

Overall - This beer crushes it. Nearly flawless, more people need to know about this one. An incredibly appropriate companion for watching The Last Waltz, something about this beer fits right in with Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and Bob Dylan.
May 06, 2023
Photo of Victory_Sabre1973
Reviewed by Victory_Sabre1973 from Minnesota

3.57/5  rDev +10.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
From a can:
This beer is very clear looking, and light golden in color. It looks like there's a tornado of carbonation rising in the glass that produces a 1 finger white head. The head has small bubbles and looks frothy. There's almost no lacing on the glass.
Very slight grain/biscuit nose. Not much else to report.
This is a malty beer. Up front is is the grain biscuit flavor. This turns a bit sweet, but not too sweet on the back with a honey flavor.
The carbonation really shows up in the body - this is a very bubbly feeling beer. The bubbles tickle my tongue, and my throat. The body is light, though the back seems thicker than the front.
If you're expecting a top notch (insert style here) beer, you're going to be disappointed. If you're looking for a well made AAL, well, I'd say you're in luck. This is good for what it is.
Apr 30, 2023
Photo of dnmyrick
Reviewed by dnmyrick from Minnesota

4.02/5  rDev +24.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
This is my idealized version of the "70s Dad" beer. That means something like this was probably the best beer available to my Dad. I'm not gonna do "tasting notes" and all that bullshit, because this is simply not that kind of beer. It's just a damn solid lager. On a scale of 1 to 100, I give it a solid 85!
Apr 23, 2023
 
Rated: 3.78 by craigbelly from Iowa

Apr 11, 2023
Photo of Eriepa76
Rated by Eriepa76 from Minnesota

1/5  rDev -69.1%
look: 1 | smell: 1 | taste: 1 | feel: 1 | overall: 1
Tastes like Miller genuine draft. Corn heavy. Sickly sweet and a wicked hangover. Confirm.
Dec 10, 2022
 
Rated: 3.9 by Bunuelian from Minnesota

Jun 03, 2022
Photo of LesDewitt4beer
Reviewed by LesDewitt4beer from Minnesota

3.58/5  rDev +10.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
12 oz bottle exp date 2/22/24 into a Becher glass.
L: SRM 2 Pours crystal clear light pale grain yellow with a fizzy white head that immediately goes to medium-thick edge foam, very steady carbonation bubbles, light spooky lacing with some holes.
S: A hop note, buttery caramel Pilsner malts, very gently floral.
T: Lightly sweet malts, a gentle hop bite, caramel malts, a touch of yeast, gently bitter, a background note of buttered bread, grains, a hint of corn in the aftertaste. Malts are slightly on top of the hop note.
F: Lightly crisp & clean with a snappy little light body that has a fast and lightly drying clean finish.
O: Aroma & taste are quite similar here. Lovely caramel notes topped by a light hop expression. I enjoy the taste and lighter body of this beer. A nice fast beer that is very easy to drink and it is good in its style.
**I first tried this beer in 1987. I appreciate it more now.
Nov 26, 2021
 
Rated: 3.68 by DownyIsHungry from Minnesota

Aug 16, 2021
Photo of Poops
Reviewed by Poops from Minnesota

2.56/5  rDev -21%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 2.5
Feels full bodied. A little corn and bitterness stands out. Overall flavor is not very good and I don't know how else to put it. Sometimes a beer grows on me with repeated drinking, but I'm nearly finished with a case and it's not happening this time.
Oct 23, 2020
Photo of TheLuckiestMan
Reviewed by TheLuckiestMan from Minnesota

3.86/5  rDev +19.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
This is a very good lager. I’ve tasted a lot of beer and have gravitated back to lagers as my preferred beer to drink. This is one of my preferred lagers. In the realm of Traditional American Lagers this is certainly a cut above. It’s crisp, easy drinking and has a really nice grassy, bitterness that I love. So often AAL’s are too sweet and thin...this has a more noble character. A perfect working beer, fishing beer, snow shoveling beer. IMO the definitive beer of the north!
Mar 13, 2020
 
Rated: 3.65 by SargeC from California

Jan 04, 2020
 
Rated: 2.5 by Demi from Minnesota

Nov 01, 2019
Photo of chitoryu12
Reviewed by chitoryu12 from Florida

3.63/5  rDev +12%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
Look: Very dark gold. Two fingers of foamy white head with decent retention.

Smell: Sweet adjunct malt with a light spicy, peppery note.

Taste: Mild, bready adjunct malt with light bitterness. No real hop flavor.

Mouthfeel: Smooth and full body with good carbonation.

Overall: A slightly stronger taste than most macrobrews, but still quite sweet and corny.
Oct 08, 2019
 
Rated: 3.8 by LostHighway from Minnesota

Sep 16, 2019
Schell's Deer Brand from August Schell Brewing Company
Beer rating: 75 out of 100 with 174 ratings