Carinthia Helles Artisan Lager
Privatbrauerei Loncium

330ml bottle, with strange BrewDog-esque label stylings (sans the textual attitude).

This beer pours a hazy, fine sediment-strewn medium straw colour, with a multitude of tight foamy, free-air-reaching white head, which leaves but a few edifices of lace around the glass as it duly settles. It smells of slightly underbaked white bread, mild citrus cream, and soft earthy honey. The taste is crackery, somewhat astringently bready grain, more earthy, musky honey, a subtle yeastiness, and very faint grassy hops. The carbonation is moderate, providing a mild zing here and there, the body a decent medium weight, somewhat fruity in bearing, and just short of smooth. It finishes off-dry, the grainy malt still well sticky with that lingering honey essence.

Not a bad helles, as the brewer oddly calls it; as a kellerbier, it is indeed more aptly classified, and agreeable - I do like the pronounced honey character, as I just mulled over 10 kinds of beeswax candles while Christmas shopping for a certain someone. A sense of apophenia slowly seeps in...

Helles - Kellerbier as for the beer style. Unfiltered, pretty clear - Lagerbeer with white head and light carbonation.

Malty body with notes of honey and some citrus. Floral hop aromas, not to dominating, well balanced, very good drinkability.

Smooth mouthfeel, light bodied with some bready notes.

Aftertaste, lightly hoppy hints - pretty nice beer

Thanks to Jim at Sherbrooke for the sample. From a 330 ml brown bottle. Labelled as a Helles Kellerbier. Pours out a cloudy yet bright straw colour, similar to a Hefe, which to my eye seems to be on form for a light Keller. Starts with a loose, creamy white head that settles to a thin frothy cap.

The nose delivers some bready malt, mild citrus notes, as well as some fresh yeasty funk. Even some alcohol warmth tickles the nose.

The flavour is very clean for an unfiltered lager. What flavour there is. Very mild bready malt, some spice from the yeast and some alcohol warmth rise up in the middle and linger towards the finish. When all is said and done a spicy alcoholic warmth is left in the throat, which I honestly can't remember the last time a beer has produced that sensation. Straight Whiskey yes, beer, no. Some mild tart citrus rind/pith character develops on the finish as this warms.

Considering the carbonation level is very low, this unfiltered lager still has a smooth and rounded medium-bodied mouthfeel.

More of a curiosity than anything else at this point, as I've never had the chance to sample a pale Kellerbier until this point. This is much cleaner than I would have expected, yet on the flipside much more mild in flavour as well. Worth checking out if you come across it, although I wouldn't call it a regular style I'd want to revisit.