Vienna Lager
Grand River Brewing

A: Deep bronze, off-white head, thin ring of retention, slight lace.

S: Light caramel & toffee, nuts & noble hops.

T: Grainy bread, nut, floral, grassy & peppery. Slight sweetness with a restrained bitterness.

M: Smooth, moderate body.

D: A decent drinker, I'm looking forward to trying some bottles!

On cask at C'est What?.

Pours a clear amber, some orange highlights, very thick white head forms, drops down to a thick layer, leave some spots on the glass, looks pretty good. Smell is real neat, lots of toasty malt and biscuit, caramel sweetness, quite grainy, vanilla, very malty, very clean. Taste is similar, big vanilla and biscuit, grainy middle, caramel, toast, clean malt character with a nice balanced finish. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with low carbonation, very drinkable stuff. Pretty cool take on a vienna lager, big and malty, and I dig the vanilla character.

I sampled this at C'est What but then went back for a full pint the next day to get a better read of it. Pours a light amber with a finger of white head that falls to a film but does leave some decent lace. Very prominent vanilla aroma mixed in with toasted malts, flowers and spicy oak. Good toasted flavour (as it should be), but perhaps a little too heavy on the vanilla. If this was held in check a bit more I think it would allow the underlying flavours of flowers and grass to come through and make for a more balanced beer. Body is medium-light, as is the carbonation - good texture from the cask.

I quite liked this as an easy drinking lager, and its nice to see one done on cask. A few tweaks and I think this could be a go-to.

Reddish hue, with a Caesar head. Toasted aroma, with toasty taste. Lagerish and thin, still drinkable. The distinct Grand River taste is there, than is minerally and off-bitter, and that may impede this as more of a malt job. Not my favourite Grand River, but worth a try. Cak at C'est What.