Hazy Helles
St Andrews Brewing Company

an unfiltered version of their house helles lager, so i suppose somewhat of a keller type, but its vastly inferior to the cleaner original, cool to be able to have both, i think its good in concept, but the reality is that id way rather drink the other one. weirdly, its not really hazy at all, pretty clear, about the same as the original lager i think, shorter head and less good carbonation, so less refined in another way other than clarity, but i guess it also speaks to good patient lagering, that its naturally this clear without filtration is perhaps a testament to the process, even if its misleading with this beer. still the full malt character of the original, perhaps a little more european lager yeast character to it, but its still not as german as say, a german made helles type, it lacks that specific water profile and also that crackery aspect, and this is a underwhelming overall compared to the original, oddly less fresh to me, like there is a little papery oxidation in here, and its at their own taproom, which obviously isnt great. the lack of carbonation and the slight unfiltered qualities both heavy it up a little so that this feels less refreshing and repeatable. still the same nice grain profile here and the bittering hops late, and its still tasty of course, but after having the superior original, this felt like a bit of a letdown. arguably my least favorite beer we had from this overall rather impressive operation. not different enough from the original, markedly less good.