People Power
Union Craft Brewing Company

 

Union Craft is one of those few Maryland brewers that I instinctively try upon sight. Oat lager is kind of an interesting idea so I guess we will see what they do with it. Look and smells the part with a golden color and a fresh citrus and grass flavor to the nose. This is quite nice in flavor, with a mild malt and lemongrass palate. Definitely has a little more flavor and bite than many lagers, although the six percent may have something to do with it. Solid, solid lager either way.

 

An "oat lager" sounds like a disgusting fake British concoction that Thomas Pynchon would make up, but the folks at Union usually do good work so I figured I'd give it a try.

The pour is sparkly, filtered pale yellow with a retentive, bone-white head.

The aroma is lively, sweet barley and yeast complexities with floral nodes that are wonderfully variegated but not too intense.

The flavor is good, borderline very good, but a bit unbalanced. The opening barley complexities are borderline exquisite--sweet cereal with pleasant esters--the middle is smoothed out with some light American hops, but then the yeast at the end has a bit of a soapy character.

Overall, this is still a tasty and quenching lager that does a surprising job of masking its elevated ABV.

Nice crisp lager. Excellent appearance, really nice 2 finger head and lacing all over the glass. Aroma is mild grain. Taste is a standard lager, but ABV is a notch up. Overall and decent beer, good session beer but will sneak up on you.