Paddle Board
Highlands Hollow Brewhouse

a strange take on the style, not real well refined, and not my favorite beer in here. i like their classics, think they are underrated by the beer nerds locally, and often find the old school craft nature of their stuff quite endearing, but it turns on them a little with this one, and it comes across poorly refined, weirdly designed, and not quite what i am after in the style. its got some color to it, deep golden even pushing light copper, and its definitely unfiltered and not super well carbonated. it smells fresh and with some crackery european pils type grain to it, but it also has some heft, a kilned warmth, baked or nutty character in the center, and that is true in the flavor too, its off dry, but presents as malty and kind of dense nevertheless. the lager yeast isnt quite there for me either, it does try to crisp this up but it lacks any real flavor, certainly not as robust as in the best examples of the style, and it makes this a little saggy and one dimensional to me. i also think its a little too lightly hopped for the style, im missing the finishing bitterness this needs. this almost hits a little fuller, slightly generic and less clean and refreshing than it could be, still not a bad beer, but its not even all that obvious as a lager, i think this could use some updating and upgrading, but its one of their few beers i havent liked too well. this one is a bit of a miss, but these guys remain underrated here...