Hustle Red Lager
Rhinegeist Brewery

 

Look - fantastic thick red auburn color with a slight white head
Smell - malty sweet caramel toffee
Taste - sweet caramel toffee roasted pecan malty
Feel - light body but medium carbonation
Overall - pretty good!

12 ounce can into lager glass, canned on 3/16/2017. Pours slightly hazy deep orange/copper color with a 1 finger fairly dense and fluffy off white head with great retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings down the glass, with a moderate amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Aromas of big brown sugar, brown bread, toasted biscuit, nuttiness, light roast/pepper, and herbal/grassy earthiness. Very nice aromas with good balance and complexity of bready malt and light earthy hop notes; with great strength. Taste of big brown sugar, brown bread, toasted biscuit, nuttiness, light roast/pepper, and herbal/grassy earthiness. Mild herbal, grassy, spicy bitterness on the finish. Lingering notes of brown sugar, brown bread, toasted biscuit, nuttiness, light roast/pepper, and herbal/grassy earthiness on the finish for a while. Very nice complexity, robustness, and balance of bready malt and light earthy hop flavors; with a nice malt/bitterness balance, and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Perfectly clean on lager flavors, with zero yeast notes present. Minimal dryness. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth and moderately bready/grainy/creamy mouthfeel that is nice. Zero warming alcohol as expected of 4.8%. Overall this is a delicious amber/red lager. All around nice complexity, robustness, and balance of bready malt and light earthy hop flavors; very smooth, clean, and refreshing to drink. Spot on for the style. Feels like a less bitter Vienna Lager. Clean and flavorful malts, with just enough hops to balanced the sweetness. A very enjoyable offering.

With a hint of cracker jacks ballpark snacks in its toasty malt character, the 2017 rendition of Hustle commemorates the start of the baseball season with a beer that's somewhat Irish but also somewhat Ohioan.

Hustle pours a deep amber color, suggestive of red and a hint of crimson and brown. A creamy off white head builds on the beer and the scent of caramel, toast, nuttiness even a hint of coffee rises above the glass. Maltiness is the name of this game as the early palate is greeted with a creamy toasty sweet taste of caramel, honey and gently charred sugars.

A firm nougat body and the sweetness of toffee and caramel roll onto the middle palate, bringing its coffee, pecan, bread crust and deeply caramelized taste along with it. Mild hopping rates carry a light peppery, woodsy and broad bitterness that coats the throat in a herbal manner, allowing the senses to think that its from coffee-like or cocoa bitterness.

Malty and semidry, the beer's character favors the toasted grains, a hint of roasted barley and the sweetness that both of them carry. Its caramelized taste, peppery bitterness and soft, drying finish makes it ideal for those ballpark foods like nachos and bratwurst.

 

 

Pours a deep amber with copper highlights. One finger off white head that lingers. Nice lacing with legs. Smells like a good lager should with a sweetish lager yeast on the nose. Smooth mouthfeel with some bite at the end. Compares with Samuel Adams Lager but much more drinkable without the SA bitterness. Very good session beer with its smooth drinkable qualities that leaves one looking for another.

Can dated 3-7-17. Sam Adams glass.

A: pours a slightly hazy deep amber with one finger khaki head and roiling carbonation. Head fades quickly to a scum of bubbles on top.

S: smells like an amber should; loads of sweet, toasty, slightly dried fruity malt. Some lager yeast smell.

T: lighter than I expected; arrives with a slightly sweet and toasted breadiness, that starts off strong and then eases up, turning slightly crackery, and a little toasted sourdough at the end. A little lingering yeasty breadiness on the finish. This is pretty spot on to style.

M: lighter side of midweight, lots of carbonation, but by no means excessive.

O: If comparing this to Eliot Ness, it is way light and less hoppy. But this is a pretty perfect Vienna lager, as far as I am concerned. This and basically any food on earth are a match made in heaven. This is on par with Devil's Backbone, and eats Negra Modelo's taco lunch.