OWL Old World Lager
Matchless Brewing

What the heck? When did I ever have this?

Slightly hazy light gold color with white cap and lacing.

Aroma of bready malt and floral, spicy hops.

Flavor on entry is fresh yeast rolls dusted with spicy hops There are also floral touches in the hops that come across as slightly herbal. Malt and hops are singing different tunes but share the same stage without clashing. I get a good level of complexity where the hops build slowly and leave just enough firmness in the aftertaste to finish cleanly.

Medium texture with balancing carbonation.

This is a malt dominate beer where the hops balance and shine without bitterness.

16 ounce can dated 08/27/18. Hopefullysome time on this can won’t hurt anything. Poured into tulip.
Pours a pale yellow, hazy with a finger’s worth of big bubbles head. Fat fingers of lace on the glass.
Floral, grainy and doughy aroma. Doughy white bread, sweet, floral notes, lemon peel, lime peel. Love the old school floral turned earthy hops. They really help make this beer classic. The body of the beer feels slightly slick, not as crisp as hoped. Soft carbonation too.
Overall, nice beer and full of flavor for such a light abv beer.

 

 

 

Pours straw yellow, slight haze. Head settles at a rocky finger.
Nose is bread, grass. Taste is subtle- lemon lime seltzer, light malt.
Mouthfeel is medium, soft carb.
I know next to nothing about lagers, but this seems solid enough to me. Looking forward to trying more to learn abotu the style.

 

This one pours a light clear straw yellow color, with a nice fluffy head, and lots of lacing.

There's lots of bready/crackery/biscuity malt on the nose, with a nice grassy hop aroma as well.

This is well constructed with no clear or discernible flaws. There's a crisp hop bite, grassy and slightly spicy- it definitely feels fairly Czech in build. The malt character is snappy, doesn't add much sweetness, and adds a nice backbone to the bitter hops.

This is light bodied, super crisp, and finishes very clean. There's a very high level of drinkability.

For whatever reason, there's a lot of breweries in the Pacific Northwest that seem to have their pils game on point. I'm happy to try them all.

 

Pale light lemon-yellow body. On the murkier side, but light enough that you can still see right through it. Good head of white foam fades but leaves a little bit of lacing as I drink down.

Nose is immediately spicy noble hops and sweet green/yeast. Dried hay and bread sit at the base.

Flavour starts off with the hops... earthy/floral/grassy/spicy primarily. Tastes very fresh, and I don't mean recently canned (it's only about a month old, FWIW). Thin green layer that's also where the yeast works its way in and the bready/crackery malts still sit at the base, though they do not take as prevalent a role as on the nose.
Finish comes back with the floral and spicy character leading to a dull earthy resonance.
The body is not as light as it appeared, but it's on the lighter side of medium, with subtle but assertive carbonation that crests into the second and third acts. Super easy to drink, and has a sticky final form.
I'm not generall huge on lagers in general and pilseners specifically, but this summer I've been wanting to get to know them better man, and this is proving to be another wonderfully made example that has let me appreciate the style that much better.

OWL is difficult to judge appearance wise. Was an Old World Lager slightly unclear? Was it as clean as the Czech Lagers of today? I don't know, but this is a good looking beer nonetheless. The almost clear straw golden color on bottom tapers into a subtle clouded light orange above, and is crowned with a foamy white cap. The lace and surface retention are very respectable, and overall the beer looks welcoming.

As does the aroma. It is billowing with Saaz spicy and floral signatures, and underneath lies a simple and delicate bread, and a sweet doughy yeast. As its looks implied, the aroma matches the invitation.

One sip, and I cannot believe this is a beer from a relatively new Washington brewery. I would say this tastes as good as many Czech Lagers I've had, and even better than most. Dried wildflowers meets freshly baked biscuits, and it's all topped off with just a dab of honey. A spicy and peppery finish make this demand another sip after sip.

The texture may be the only flaw, if you can even ding it too much. It's the slightest bit heavy and just a tad under completely crisp and dry, yet still exceptionally drinkable. Balanced, but resting its elbow on the bitter side of the fence, and overall full of aromas, flavors, and textures that seem hard to achieve at such a low 4.4% abv selling point.

We have another winner here from the brewery that is famous for its IPA game. Much respect when lagers are met with this quality end product. Sold.

A thanks to the captain of the canquest, woodychandler, for this beer. Poured from a 16 oz. can. Has a bright golden color with a 1 inch head. Smell is of malts, grassy, a touch sweet. Taste is malts, crackers, hops, grassy, very refreshing. Feels medium bodied in the mouth and overall is an enjoyable beer.

Can
L: small rocky short-lived head. Quite cloudy
S: neither hops nor malt, rather a generic “berry” aroma
T: mild spicy hop and pleasant malt character
F: very nice crisp fresh clean — best part of this beer
O: really liked the mouthfeel of the beer and tho the hop is milder than most C. Pilz the beer is perhaps more quaff/crush/session -able as a consequence.

Today is New Rock & Roll Beer (& Other Stuff) Sunday (Week 690) as well as my opportunity to give a test drive to a buncha Euro glasses that my buddy recently scored at his shop & sold to me for a song. I am really loving the way that this day is unspooling. It doesn't hurt that this is another CANQuest (tm) score from Tavour.

From the CAN: "Made in collaboration with our friend Aaron Johns from Taste Local Beer in Prague."

To say that I am really looking forward to drinking this one would be a major understatement! I am currently reading Akashic Books' "Prague Noir" so this fits beautifully! Books + beer = way to go!

I Crack!ed the vent open and CANmenced a slow, gentle Glug into the latest awaiting glass. An in-glass swirl raised just over a finger of dense, foamy, rocky, bone-white head with great retention. Color was a gorgeous Golden-Amber (SRM = > 5, < 7) with NE-quality clarity, enticing The Gelt Gang of Croesus, Mammon & Midas to drop in for a taste. Nose was redolent with Saaz hops - grassy, hay-like and with a fresh-baked biscuity maltiness. Mmm. Mouthfeel was medium, big for the style. The taste was really grassy, like that sweet spot between mowing the grass & raking it. You know, that period as it dries in the sun & you can smell your grandmother's freshly-baked biscuits cooling on the windowsill while the neighbor tends to his hay field up the road. Now, what used to be the semi-rural countryside at my maternal grandparents' house is now part of the suburban sprawl, but it was still intact when I was a kid. This beer was very evocative of those salad days. As to the finish, I quote from the CAN: "Descriptors: Dry, Crisp, Czech". Yes! Dang, at only 4.4% ABV, I may have found a cooler filler for the coming summer! I think that I traded one to tone77 & I hope that he enjoys his a much as I did this one. If this comes available on Tavour again, I am buying my allotment (usually between 6 to 12, but as few as 1 or 2)! This was a fabulous beer.

 

This is a great American Pilsner, true to style.

If you enjoy clean, fresh, golden lagers this is so worth seeking out.

The decoction mashing makes this a masterpiece.