Blue Collar Lager
Al's of Hampden / Pizza Boy Brewing

4/5  rDev +3.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

First and foremost, this is for the new blue collar lager, not the old version.

A - Pours clear golden yellow with a small half finger tall white head, dissipating down to a light film, leaving spotty streaks of lace down parts of the glass.

S - Smells of lightly sweet grain, bready pils malt, spicy and citric hops and not much else. A little slow at the beginning it starts to come out once it warms up. Smells really fresh and inviting.

T - Starts off with some of the sweetness from the malt and some of the spicy hops quickly giving way to some dulled fruitiness and the chewy pils malt. Quite balanced throughout with nothing standing above anything else. Finish is pretty clean with only a bit of lingering chewiness. Like the nose it just tastes like a nice, refreshing lager.

M - Light body with moderate carbonation. Smooth, mildly hoppy feel throughout. This stuff is way too easy to drink, my glass disappeared super fast on this hot day.

O - I liked the original version but this is even better. It is just as easy drinking but the lighter body just works better. No one flavor dominates making it disappear quite quickly. Another lighter option in a sea of big Pizza Boy beers.

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4/5  rDev +3.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Draft offering at Pizza Boy served in a tulip shaped pint glass. The brew appears a pale golden yellow color with a thin white film for a head. Spotty lace sticks to the glass and a swirl revives a white cap.

The aroma is fresh with a scent of cereal grains almost like wheat mixed with a lemony hop aspect that is somewhat reminescent of zythos. As it warms up, it gets a mild fruity tinge. Overall, clean and unique smelling for a lager but without fault.

The taste is also fruity and grainy like the aroma suggests. There is a bit of sweetness with a contrasting hop bite that is like lemon zest and a bit grassy to herbal in character towards the finish. This finishes clean and crisp.

This is a light bodied brew with a modest amount of carbonation. The overall drinkability is downright crushable. I dont think I have ever had a lager that was so well balanced but has a very distinct freshness about it's underlying grain profile. This "maintenance beer" fills the void perfectly as something you can throw a few back and not feel guilty about. People visiting Pizza Boy who are not all that into craft beer and big flavors will have no problems consuming a few pints of this. I enjoyed it enough that I would get a growler or so to have for doing yard work in the summer. Nicely done.

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