Schell's Deer Brand
August Schell Brewing Company


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- From:
- August Schell Brewing Company
- Minnesota, United States
- Style:
- American Adjunct Lager
Ranked #65 - ABV:
- 4.8%
- Score:
- 75
Ranked #29,779 - Avg:
- 3.22 | pDev: 15.22%
- Reviews:
- 69
- Ratings:
- Status:
- Active
- Rated:
- Jun 03, 2022
- Added:
- Jul 10, 2002
- Wants:
- 11
- Gots:
- 17
SCORE
75
Okay
75
Okay


Notes:
Schell's Deer Brand was developed prior to Prohibition and has been Schell's flagship beer ever since. Brewed from 70 percent barley malt, 30 percent corn, and our unique 'Schell' yeast, Deer Brand is full flavored American Lager.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Reviewed by Poops from Minnesota
2.56/5 rDev -20.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 2.5
2.56/5 rDev -20.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 2.5
Feels full bodied. A little corn and bitterness stands out. Overall flavor is not very good and I don't know how else to put it. Sometimes a beer grows on me with repeated drinking, but I'm nearly finished with a case and it's not happening this time.
Oct 23, 2020Reviewed by TheLuckiestMan from Minnesota
3.86/5 rDev +19.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
3.86/5 rDev +19.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
This is a very good lager. I’ve tasted a lot of beer and have gravitated back to lagers as my preferred beer to drink. This is one of my preferred lagers. In the realm of Traditional American Lagers this is certainly a cut above. It’s crisp, easy drinking and has a really nice grassy, bitterness that I love. So often AAL’s are too sweet and thin...this has a more noble character. A perfect working beer, fishing beer, snow shoveling beer. IMO the definitive beer of the north!
Mar 13, 2020Reviewed by chitoryu12 from Florida
3.63/5 rDev +12.7%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
3.63/5 rDev +12.7%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
Look: Very dark gold. Two fingers of foamy white head with decent retention.
Smell: Sweet adjunct malt with a light spicy, peppery note.
Taste: Mild, bready adjunct malt with light bitterness. No real hop flavor.
Mouthfeel: Smooth and full body with good carbonation.
Overall: A slightly stronger taste than most macrobrews, but still quite sweet and corny.
Oct 08, 2019Smell: Sweet adjunct malt with a light spicy, peppery note.
Taste: Mild, bready adjunct malt with light bitterness. No real hop flavor.
Mouthfeel: Smooth and full body with good carbonation.
Overall: A slightly stronger taste than most macrobrews, but still quite sweet and corny.
Reviewed by marcobrau from Illinois
3.62/5 rDev +12.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 5 | overall: 3.5
3.62/5 rDev +12.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 5 | overall: 3.5
Pale yellow. Each sip leaves some lace and a thin collar of foam. Sweet nose of corn and malt. Crisp and balanced. Clean, cracker-like malt with a dryness perhaps from corn. Pleasing touch of bitterness in the finish. This is an exceptionally drinkable pre-prohibition style lager. More of a hop bite than I expected from this beer (I expected very little or no hop bitterness.)
Sep 10, 2019Reviewed by AdmiralOzone from Minnesota
3.3/5 rDev +2.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.25
3.3/5 rDev +2.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.25
Pours crystal clear watery light yellow. Small white cap, Aroma is light corn and bread. Flavor follows the nose with more hop bite in the finish than was expected from the nose. Feel is light and crisp. Overall a decent beer for a hot day.
Aug 23, 2019Reviewed by mngermanshepherd from Minnesota
2.41/5 rDev -25.2%
look: 3.25 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 2 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.25
2.41/5 rDev -25.2%
look: 3.25 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 2 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.25
A simple no frills lager that isn't great, not awful, just ok. Won't buy again, but wouldn't turn down if offered. Nothing memorable about it, Coors Banquet is much better.
Feb 26, 2019Reviewed by beergoot from Colorado
3.42/5 rDev +6.2%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25
3.42/5 rDev +6.2%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25
Pale yellow body; lively carbonation but only a thin, wispy head. Light malt and grassy smell. Bright, light malt flavor; pretty good hop bitterness. Medium-light body; crisp; primarily dry finish with just a smidge of malt sweetness.
A decent little lager overall that won't really stand out in a crowd but is good enough for quick and easy thirst quencher.
Sep 13, 2018A decent little lager overall that won't really stand out in a crowd but is good enough for quick and easy thirst quencher.
Reviewed by pat61 from Minnesota
3.75/5 rDev +16.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
3.75/5 rDev +16.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
L: pours brilliant straw with streams of bubbles rushing to the surface to refresh a 1" white cap with a very fine bead and good retention
S: very low with light grain, some spice, white flour and very faint sulfur
T: starts slightly sweet with light cracker and light fruit. It dries slightly on the finish with a moderate hop bitterness
F: light body and high to medium high carbonation.
O: drinkable fizzy yellow beer.
Aug 27, 2017S: very low with light grain, some spice, white flour and very faint sulfur
T: starts slightly sweet with light cracker and light fruit. It dries slightly on the finish with a moderate hop bitterness
F: light body and high to medium high carbonation.
O: drinkable fizzy yellow beer.
Reviewed by Squire from Mississippi
3.6/5 rDev +11.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
3.6/5 rDev +11.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Light yellow color with small white cap and lacing.
Mild aroma of clean grain and touch of floral hops.
Medium level grain flavors with just a wisp of hops. Clean, solid beery taste if a bit simple. Finishes clean and quick.
Medium texture with balancing carbonation.
Very clean, easy drinking traditional American Lager that doesn't have the rough edges of some commercial AALs. Versatile food and company friendly.
May 22, 2016Mild aroma of clean grain and touch of floral hops.
Medium level grain flavors with just a wisp of hops. Clean, solid beery taste if a bit simple. Finishes clean and quick.
Medium texture with balancing carbonation.
Very clean, easy drinking traditional American Lager that doesn't have the rough edges of some commercial AALs. Versatile food and company friendly.
Reviewed by rodbeermunch from Nevada
2.34/5 rDev -27.3%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2.25 | taste: 2.25 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5
2.34/5 rDev -27.3%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2.25 | taste: 2.25 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5
Well its funny when a smaller brewery wants to make a product to compete with the macro BMC AAL stuff. This is such an effort, replete with straw yellow color, lots of water dilution and a soapy white head that quickly wipes itself out.
Aroma was kind of funny. When you want horse blanket in your macro AAL, think, Schell. Ok serious though, there is some weird barnyard going on here, totally unexpected, not to style. Taste did bring a 70% barley malt bill, so it wasn't insubstantial but above malt liquor. Lacking hops, bitterness. Somewhere between a light beer and an AAL.
Would not bang again.
Apr 24, 2016Aroma was kind of funny. When you want horse blanket in your macro AAL, think, Schell. Ok serious though, there is some weird barnyard going on here, totally unexpected, not to style. Taste did bring a 70% barley malt bill, so it wasn't insubstantial but above malt liquor. Lacking hops, bitterness. Somewhere between a light beer and an AAL.
Would not bang again.
Reviewed by RonaldTheriot from Louisiana
3/5 rDev -6.8%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
3/5 rDev -6.8%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
Schell’s Deer Brand has a thin, white head, almost no lacing, and a clear, straw appearance, with some lazy, ascending bubbles. The aroma is of sweet, somewhat sharp, grain aroma, and the flavor is of grain, some sweet bread, very mild hop bitterness to round out the end of the sip. Mouthfeel is light to medium, and Schell’s Deer Brand finishes crisp and easy going.
RJT
Aug 27, 2015RJT
Reviewed by lwillitz from Wisconsin
3.24/5 rDev +0.6%
look: 3 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25
3.24/5 rDev +0.6%
look: 3 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25
12-oz can into craft glass
A - crystal-clear body of pale straw yellow under 2 fingers of white suds, high amount of visible carbonation
S - adjunct grains (corny), light sweetness, metallic note
T - adjunct grains (hints of corn and rice), grassy bitterness
M - light body, highly crabonated
O - run-of-the-mill AAL; Schell's offers many excellent beers. Deer Brand is not one of them.
Jul 25, 2015A - crystal-clear body of pale straw yellow under 2 fingers of white suds, high amount of visible carbonation
S - adjunct grains (corny), light sweetness, metallic note
T - adjunct grains (hints of corn and rice), grassy bitterness
M - light body, highly crabonated
O - run-of-the-mill AAL; Schell's offers many excellent beers. Deer Brand is not one of them.
Rated by nebill from Nebraska
4.18/5 rDev +29.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.18/5 rDev +29.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
A strong contender for an everyday drinkable beer at a reasonable price.
Jun 16, 2015Rated by rugyrl04 from Maryland
1.77/5 rDev -45%
look: 2 | smell: 1.75 | taste: 1.75 | feel: 1.75 | overall: 1.75
1.77/5 rDev -45%
look: 2 | smell: 1.75 | taste: 1.75 | feel: 1.75 | overall: 1.75
Very little taste. Nothing to write home about.
Jun 11, 2015Reviewed by hoptheology from South Dakota
3.86/5 rDev +19.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
3.86/5 rDev +19.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
First off I want to say, even though I'm right next door to minnesota, I had one heck of a time finding this beer. When i finally DID see it in the wild, I grabbed onto it like it was the last six pack on earth for fear I'd never see it again. Literally this search went statewide for about 1 year. So I am now the proud owner of six bottles of "Deer Brand" aka, Schell's Original.
Appearance : An unusually very, very pale body that almost looks crystal clear. It's got a slight tint to it that borders on yellows, but pale is definately the word here. The head is a stark white gorgeous fluff on top and recedes to a ring within a couple minutes' time. Lacing looks like icing on a cake.
Aromas : A dirty herbal aroma from hop comes out immediately, followed by some calmer, more delicate malt notes. The grain heads are apparent here, perhaps slightly baked. A faint metallic smell carves a backbone to the nose.
Taste : very smooth malts - a very delicate dance of barley and perhaps rice or wheat; it follows with an unusual "pasty" hop flavor that has a moderate bite; finally ending with a slight breadiness with some yeasty aftertaste.
Mouthfeel : very smooth yet retaining moderate carbonation to keep things interesting. The end contains a sandpaper-like parch, it's nice and adds character.
Overall : I was glad I found this. A solid beer with few caveats.
Mar 18, 2015Appearance : An unusually very, very pale body that almost looks crystal clear. It's got a slight tint to it that borders on yellows, but pale is definately the word here. The head is a stark white gorgeous fluff on top and recedes to a ring within a couple minutes' time. Lacing looks like icing on a cake.
Aromas : A dirty herbal aroma from hop comes out immediately, followed by some calmer, more delicate malt notes. The grain heads are apparent here, perhaps slightly baked. A faint metallic smell carves a backbone to the nose.
Taste : very smooth malts - a very delicate dance of barley and perhaps rice or wheat; it follows with an unusual "pasty" hop flavor that has a moderate bite; finally ending with a slight breadiness with some yeasty aftertaste.
Mouthfeel : very smooth yet retaining moderate carbonation to keep things interesting. The end contains a sandpaper-like parch, it's nice and adds character.
Overall : I was glad I found this. A solid beer with few caveats.
Reviewed by bullwinkle88 from Isle of Man
4.85/5 rDev +50.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
4.85/5 rDev +50.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
This is what a man drinks. This is what I consider to be a great beer. Good price, and something I can enjoy in all seasons. Great to have while hanging out in the yard over the summer, and also a great remedy after a day of shoveling heavy snow. An interesting flavorful beer with a unique dry finish, a dryness thats pleasing and not off-putting like alot of the dry beers of the '90s. My tastes change, and I typically don't buy more than a 6 pack because by the time I'm done the 6, I'm ready for something new. This is not the case with Schell's. I buy this buy the case because I will always be in the mood for it. A perfect beer.
Jan 28, 2015
Schell's Deer Brand from August Schell Brewing Company
Beer rating:
75 out of
100 with
163 ratings
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