Shift Happens DDH Lager
August Schell Brewing Company

 

Pours a clear bright corn yellow with a huge pillow of white head that refuses to yield. Beautiful lacing. Aroma is mild, yeast, malt, corn, hops. Flavor follows the nose, sweet up front with a bit of hop bite in the finish. Was expecting a bit more hop considering the double dry hop. Feel is light and a bit watery, could use more carbonation in my opinion. Overall a nice overpriced beer.

 

This beer pours a clear gold with a solid head. The aroma features liads of pine, grapefruit peel, orange peel, and a dirty earthy, almost meatu funk. The flavor features notex of pine, resin, brown banana, mango, and cooked apple. The mouthfeel is fairly full with foamy carbonation. Overall this is and odd one - a bit sweet, and with an odd cooked fruit quality that is just not super appealing.

I have a soft spot for big lagers and this falls into that category. It's not the best but it's a worthy contribution to the category. Semi-cloudy golden lager body with a pure white head that sticks around and laces very nicely. Mostly clean malt, esp. for a hoppy version of style. A little sweet with a slight alcohol hint.
The body is excellent on this. Nice soft and heavy lager feel. Smooth as silk with a sharp biting carbonation. Lovely.
Flavor is a nice mix of clean malt and herbal, grassy hops. Ample finishing bitterness that blends really well with the mouthfeel.
I like this enough to buy again, but not at $15 per 16oz/4-pack. Sorry.

 

On tap. White head. Lace.

Clear golden color. Bitter and resiny. Hoppiest Schells beer I’ve had. Earthy, weedy. Some citrus. Bready malts.

Can’t believe this is 9%. Scary drinkable. Nice and bitter.

Clear golden color with rising bubbles to a tall, thick and creamy white head with very good retention. It leaves heavy lacing behind as it recedes.

Pleasant, if somewhat subdued, aroma of bready malts and fruity hops - apricot, citrus, pine. The aroma doesn't knock your socks off, but it is interesting and inviting.

The taste is quite different for a pilsner-esque beer, as advertised with the "DDH" moniker. Fruits are first up, and not just citrus, but a mix of tropical flavors. As you take a sip, the aroma becomes a bit floral, and the taste is sweet fruits - apricot, perhaps pineapple, with a solid bittering beginning in the middle and growing through to the aftertaste. The aftertaste is a well-balanced presentation of the bittering off-setting the sweet floral body.

Mouth feel has a moderate to substantial heftiness (for the style), and is a bit sticky.

Overall, an interesting and well-brewed experiment by Schell's.

 

 

I am impressed with Schells releasing an interesting beer as this while Surly small batch releases is one sweet mess after another. This beer ain't cheap but it does pack a punch. I saw the hops used and I like all of them so it was worth it to me to taste what this was all about. I do not remember Schell's releasing 4-packs of 16 oz cans before.

Pours several shades darker and deeper gold color than Grain Belt with a lovely head that leaves plenty of lacing down the glass. Aroma is a bit lackluster but definitely bready with some pine and herbal qualities. Unfortunately a bit of sulfur shows up and spoils the party. But the flavor is clean. Slightly sweet as I am sure some residual sugars remained after fermentation with all this alcohol. This is DDH but I get the hops more in bitterness than either aroma and flavor. I just don't appreciate all the hops in lagers. The body is really where this beer shines. It is creamy with a full, rich body almost like it is on nitro.