Artifexican Lager
Artifex Brewing Company

 

Clear golden brew with a subsiding head in the pint shaker. Fizzy mouthfeel with plenty of malt. The persistent corn flavor is joined by seed & stems to make an unwholesome flavor mix. The aftertaste is more sweet cornbread. A peculiar sort of flabby lager that doesn't make for such a peasant gulp. Not that it tastes like anything Mexican, either. On tap at the Artifex tasting room.

Type: 16-oz. can
Glass: Beer Nerd 12-oz. tulip
From: Windmill Farms in Del Cerro (San Diego), Calif.
Price: $2.99
Purchased: Aug. 2, 2019
Consumed: Aug. 3, 2019
Reviewed as: American Pale Lager
Misc.: Canned on June 19, 2019

Picked this up on the way out of my last trip to Windmill Farms because Mexican lager. Had only one of Artifex’s beers before, giving No Name IPA a 3.62 back on June 12, 2016. But I’m always up for a Mexican lager. Untappd description read, “Award Winning Mexican Lager. Light, clean & crisp with just the right amount of sweetness. GABF Bronze Medal Winner 2017, First Place Finish California State Fair 2017.”

Poured a gold-to-amber clear color with 4-to-5 fingers of off-white rocky head. Plenty of bubble streams coming up from the bottom of the glass at different speeds, kind of looking like a snow globe. Bad watery lacing. Below average retention. (Sight - 3.50)

Smelled dish soap, corn, Corn Pops cereal, grass, hay and sweet grain. A little better out of the can with some earthy malt added to it. (Smell - 3.50)

Tasted a little better than the nose. Got corn, Corn Pops, sweet grain, grass, hay and white cracker. (Taste - 3.75)

Light body. Creamy texture. Average carbonation. Clean, crisp finish. (Feel - 4.25)

This beer grew on me as it went down. A very good lager. (Overall - 3.75)

3.73 | 84 | B

On tap at the brewery. A crystal clear golden color with a medium sized frothy white head. The taste and aroma featured sweet Vienna malt and floral hops with a mild to moderate bitterness. Crisp, dry finish without any off flavors. Highly recommended.

Poured on draft at local taproom. Clear bright pour. Crisp, slightly prickly, and cold. It’s got a decent malt bill, pretty easy drinking. Malty sweet, hints of lemon, light cracker and some floral yeast characters. I dare compare this beer to an AB Mexican style lager but it does fit the style as advertised. I would fill a growler up and bring this to the beach no question. Squeeze a lime in there and it would accent it nicely. Accurate depiction of a Mexican lager, best served cold!

 

a flavorful and delicious lighter drinker here, not a vienna lager at all, a mexican lager or even cream ale type more than a vienna, that malt profile just isnt there, and this is definitely listed incorrectly. a really pretty beer, not quite perfectly clear but very light and bright in the glass with a high white fluffy head on top, excellent retention and lace. aroma is crisp and clean, minerals from the water, cracker elements from the malt, and a yeast i cant quite work out, not as distinctive as mexican lager yeast usually is to me, maybe because there is a little more going on with the grain, i dont know, and definitely with a cold conditioned character to it, but then does not have the kolsch yeast flavor, its mild and clean and delicious, and really makes this beer refreshing. there is a floral almost noble character to the hops, but they are also quite delicate. possibly multigrain, its earthy and dry with a light spiciness. fresh and snappy in the finish, highly carbonated, and infinitely drinkable. i love clean yellow beer like this that has such high capacity for refreshment. nice among the trees in a heavier beer session too! these guys have impressed me a lot so far in the handful of their beers i have had.