The Company I Keep
Great Raft Brewing
- From:
- Great Raft Brewing
- Louisiana, United States
- Style:
- American Lager
Ranked #301 - ABV:
- 5%
- Score:
- 84
Ranked #31,754 - Avg:
- 3.55 | pDev: 22.82%
- Ratings:
- | reviews: 5
- Status:
- Active
- Rated:
- May 20, 2026
- Added:
- Mar 18, 2019
- Wants:
- 0
- Gots:
- 0
SCORE
84
Good
84
Good
For the most part, I get to brew what I want. I suppose that's only partially true. Juggling flagships, seasonals, and customer demands dictate a lot. But every once in a while, I can sneak in something that’s purely selfish.
When I get those opportunities, I tend to work backwards and think about where I want to be and what I want to be drinking in a certain setting. When I first started thinking about this beer, I was daydreaming about crushing lager in a lawn chair in the thick Louisiana humidity, while pondering the "duality of a Southern thing". This crisp and hoppy pilsner with a unique All-American dry hop is what I came up with.
So that’s how I want to spend my summer – sitting in a lawn chair drinking 16 oz cans of Company I Keep – a delicious lager with just the right amount of fruit notes with a clean, dry finish.
When I get those opportunities, I tend to work backwards and think about where I want to be and what I want to be drinking in a certain setting. When I first started thinking about this beer, I was daydreaming about crushing lager in a lawn chair in the thick Louisiana humidity, while pondering the "duality of a Southern thing". This crisp and hoppy pilsner with a unique All-American dry hop is what I came up with.
So that’s how I want to spend my summer – sitting in a lawn chair drinking 16 oz cans of Company I Keep – a delicious lager with just the right amount of fruit notes with a clean, dry finish.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Reviewed by bambiere from Pennsylvania
3.74/5 rDev +5.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
3.74/5 rDev +5.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
Pours a bright, light golden with a finger of bright white head from a 16 oz. can.
Nose of biscuity/crackery malt and herbaceous hops. Very subtle.
Mouthfeel is light with moderate carbonation.
Taste is clean and subtle, like the nose, with light sulfur in the end.
Overall, a solidly constructed very drinkable beer, but a bit on the tame/boring side.
May 20, 2026Nose of biscuity/crackery malt and herbaceous hops. Very subtle.
Mouthfeel is light with moderate carbonation.
Taste is clean and subtle, like the nose, with light sulfur in the end.
Overall, a solidly constructed very drinkable beer, but a bit on the tame/boring side.
Reviewed by SonOfPan from Louisiana
1.36/5 rDev -61.7%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 1 | feel: 1 | overall: 1
1.36/5 rDev -61.7%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 1 | feel: 1 | overall: 1
It tastes like grass.
When I had this I had just come back home from being in Europe for a couple of months, and Germany was where a majority of my time was spent. So I had gotten used to German style pilsners. Light, refreshing, delicious, and nice flavor profiles.
So when I saw this when I was in my grocery store, I said to myself " Why the hell not, let's see if I can get something similar from home. " I brought it for $3, popped it open, and immediately I was hit with a light crisp flavor followed by the overwhelmingly strong and unmistakable aroma of lawn clippings as the aftertaste. Having spent money I drank as much of it as I could, but by the time I had gotten warm I poured it out and never hoped to drink it again.
Im not experienced enough with beer to say what the culprit it, whether it be hops or barley or wheat, or even yeast. But I know whatever it was they put in there made it taste like a pile of molded over hay in a barn.
Definitely not a fan.
Aug 11, 2025When I had this I had just come back home from being in Europe for a couple of months, and Germany was where a majority of my time was spent. So I had gotten used to German style pilsners. Light, refreshing, delicious, and nice flavor profiles.
So when I saw this when I was in my grocery store, I said to myself " Why the hell not, let's see if I can get something similar from home. " I brought it for $3, popped it open, and immediately I was hit with a light crisp flavor followed by the overwhelmingly strong and unmistakable aroma of lawn clippings as the aftertaste. Having spent money I drank as much of it as I could, but by the time I had gotten warm I poured it out and never hoped to drink it again.
Im not experienced enough with beer to say what the culprit it, whether it be hops or barley or wheat, or even yeast. But I know whatever it was they put in there made it taste like a pile of molded over hay in a barn.
Definitely not a fan.
Reviewed by russpowell from Arkansas
3.94/5 rDev +11%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
3.94/5 rDev +11%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Pours a light effervescent gold with a thumb of eggshell colored head. Slightly better than average lacing & less impressive head retention
S: Bready, grainy, some grassynotes
T: Follows the nose, crisp & dry up front, a little lemony hop presence up front. Dry, grassy, a little sweet as this warms, some lime hop bitterness. Finishes dry, with bready sweetness & limeyness
MF: Medium body, crisp carbonation, good balance
Solid take on the style, pretty drinkable, doesn't pull together for greatness, but I could destroy some of these on a float trip or doing some fishing
Feb 27, 2022S: Bready, grainy, some grassynotes
T: Follows the nose, crisp & dry up front, a little lemony hop presence up front. Dry, grassy, a little sweet as this warms, some lime hop bitterness. Finishes dry, with bready sweetness & limeyness
MF: Medium body, crisp carbonation, good balance
Solid take on the style, pretty drinkable, doesn't pull together for greatness, but I could destroy some of these on a float trip or doing some fishing
Reviewed by Jugs_McGhee from Texas
3.25/5 rDev -8.5%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25
3.25/5 rDev -8.5%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25
CAN: 16 fl oz pull-tab. Black label with colored artwork depicting a lawn chair with a beer can atop. Canned 01/16/20 (1 week ago). $10.99 USD per 4-pack plus tax at a beer store in New Orleans, LA.
"Unapologetic American pilsner." 5% ABV.
From their website:
IBU 50
TYPE Hop Series
MALTS German Pilsner, Oats
HOPS Mosaic, Citra
Served at fridge temp into a nonic pint glass.
APPEARANCE: ~2-3cm head height. White in colour. Retention is good; this lasts a good ~8 minutes.
Body is a pale copper of above average vibrance. Tranlsucent and transparent though not clear per se. I see no yeast/lees within...appears filtered.
Looks a bit dark for a pilsner proper, but given the IPL/pils hybrid they're after it's a nice looking brew.
AROMA: Hoppier than most pilsners, tipping its hand that it's probably actually an IPL if we're being fair. Tropical and citrusy with a scintillla of Mosaic's signature subtle blueberry.
Citra and Mosaic have long been one of the most harmonious hop marriages, and this aroma is only further testament thereto. Its fruity aromatic emphasis lifts it far from the traditional grassiness you'd find in a true pilsner and lands it squarely in IPL territory in my view, "American pilsner" nonsense aside.
Pilsner malt is present inasmuch as a neutral light malt sweetness is present, but in a blind taste test I wouldn't know it wasn't merely 2-row/pale malt.
Aromatic intensity is well above average for the declared style, but average for an IPL.
TASTE & TEXTURE: Coating and soft though it has a sharply carbonated crispness as well. Smooth, wet, a bit thin, medium-bodied.
Hop bitterness bends the beer far into IPL territory, with the pilsner malt proving no match for the hop onslaught (to the detriment of its balance and approachability). It comes off too neutral malt-wise and too thin mouthfeel-wise, succumbing too easily to the whims of the hops with no marriage of texture and taste to be found. Floral, citrusy, slightly tropical...Citra's juiciness and Mosaic's signature blueberry get lost in the mix, making it somewhat disappointed for a Citra & Mosaic hopped beer.
Depth of hop flavour could be better, but it does need a more robust malt backbone.
OVERALL: Judged as a pilsner, it's rather poorly executed (which is to say it departs from tradition so egregiously it's not even recognizable as an expression of the style). Judged more accurately as an IPL, it's enjoyable albeit a bit weak...like the brewers wanted to brew a pale ale but went with lager yeast and pilsner malt just so they could stand out from the masses and make it sell better as an IPL dressed up as a pilsner.
In terms of overhopped Americanized pilsners, I'd much sooner reach for Victory's Prima Pils (which happens to also be more affordable and more widely distributed than this), but this isn't a bad brew by any stretch. They did pack a nice amount of flavour into a 5% ABV lager, and that alone makes it worthwhile (and worthy of the implications inherent in the beer's artwork), but while it's a nice lawn chair brew it certainly isn't top tier regardless of what style one insists on designating it.
I wouldn't buy it again (mostly because of its high price), but it's a nice brew for what it is.
High C+ / ABOVE AVERAGE
Jan 27, 2020"Unapologetic American pilsner." 5% ABV.
From their website:
IBU 50
TYPE Hop Series
MALTS German Pilsner, Oats
HOPS Mosaic, Citra
Served at fridge temp into a nonic pint glass.
APPEARANCE: ~2-3cm head height. White in colour. Retention is good; this lasts a good ~8 minutes.
Body is a pale copper of above average vibrance. Tranlsucent and transparent though not clear per se. I see no yeast/lees within...appears filtered.
Looks a bit dark for a pilsner proper, but given the IPL/pils hybrid they're after it's a nice looking brew.
AROMA: Hoppier than most pilsners, tipping its hand that it's probably actually an IPL if we're being fair. Tropical and citrusy with a scintillla of Mosaic's signature subtle blueberry.
Citra and Mosaic have long been one of the most harmonious hop marriages, and this aroma is only further testament thereto. Its fruity aromatic emphasis lifts it far from the traditional grassiness you'd find in a true pilsner and lands it squarely in IPL territory in my view, "American pilsner" nonsense aside.
Pilsner malt is present inasmuch as a neutral light malt sweetness is present, but in a blind taste test I wouldn't know it wasn't merely 2-row/pale malt.
Aromatic intensity is well above average for the declared style, but average for an IPL.
TASTE & TEXTURE: Coating and soft though it has a sharply carbonated crispness as well. Smooth, wet, a bit thin, medium-bodied.
Hop bitterness bends the beer far into IPL territory, with the pilsner malt proving no match for the hop onslaught (to the detriment of its balance and approachability). It comes off too neutral malt-wise and too thin mouthfeel-wise, succumbing too easily to the whims of the hops with no marriage of texture and taste to be found. Floral, citrusy, slightly tropical...Citra's juiciness and Mosaic's signature blueberry get lost in the mix, making it somewhat disappointed for a Citra & Mosaic hopped beer.
Depth of hop flavour could be better, but it does need a more robust malt backbone.
OVERALL: Judged as a pilsner, it's rather poorly executed (which is to say it departs from tradition so egregiously it's not even recognizable as an expression of the style). Judged more accurately as an IPL, it's enjoyable albeit a bit weak...like the brewers wanted to brew a pale ale but went with lager yeast and pilsner malt just so they could stand out from the masses and make it sell better as an IPL dressed up as a pilsner.
In terms of overhopped Americanized pilsners, I'd much sooner reach for Victory's Prima Pils (which happens to also be more affordable and more widely distributed than this), but this isn't a bad brew by any stretch. They did pack a nice amount of flavour into a 5% ABV lager, and that alone makes it worthwhile (and worthy of the implications inherent in the beer's artwork), but while it's a nice lawn chair brew it certainly isn't top tier regardless of what style one insists on designating it.
I wouldn't buy it again (mostly because of its high price), but it's a nice brew for what it is.
High C+ / ABOVE AVERAGE
Reviewed by donspublic from Texas
4.4/5 rDev +23.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
4.4/5 rDev +23.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Labeled as Lager, probably should be considered an Italian Pilsner. Poured from tap into shaker pint, 2 finger soapy cream colored head, good retention and lacing. Clear bright golden in the glass, slight chill haze. Biscuit malt on the nose, slight grassiness and lemon also. Taste is slight sweetness, grassiness, citrus and a good semi dry finish. Good drinking beer, 4 pack went quick. Would seek this out if they ever make it again.
Updating this review as this is a beer I keep coming back to when I can get my hands on it
Jun 09, 2019Updating this review as this is a beer I keep coming back to when I can get my hands on it
We love reviews (150 characters or more)! Check out: How to Review a Beer. You don't need to get fancy. Drop some thoughts on the beer's attributes (look, smell, taste, feel) plus your overall impression. Something that backs up your rating and helps others. Thanks!