Sunny, Honey
Western Collective

16oz can from Brewers Haven. Pale golden pour, skimpy head. Sweet, grainy aroma. Taste reveals light riesling and woody notes. Straightforward malty lager with a light sweet edge.

its been awhile since ive had a beer from these guys, and thats on purpose. they really were getting a lot of hype for nothing for awhile there, just miss after miss from a quality standpoint despite it being a fun place to visit, so i took a break. i heard they got a new brewer or something a little while back, and that things had gotten better, but still i had cold feet. this sounded so good though i had to pick up a four pack and try it, and im glad i did, among their best beers ive ever had. its a super clean and professionally done helles lager as a base, but its aged on oak and jazzed up with reisling grape juice, a cool idea for a beer like this, and i had high hopes even knowing this could easily go sideways, especially for these guys. the beer is awesome, a super clean and radiantly clear and delicate looking yellow color, not even gold, lighter than that, with popping carbonation, a lasting inch of white head, and racing bubbles, its lovely to look at. aroma and flavor line up pretty will. it sure is mild on the grapes, but i can just pick them out behind the german lager yeast, which is the lead element in this and rightly so. more fruit would make it sweet or tangy and the base helles would be lost, but this is german lager through and through, and its to their credit. there is a light floral thing from it, a hint of green gooseberry and kiwi fruit, maybe a melon wrinkle, some hops in here work with it, but its pils type malt and earthy minerals and german essence that still define it. the oak is also mild, which also makes sense, just a subtle hint of vanilla in here, mellowing, but not at the expense of its robust crispness, which really squares this off in a sexy way. its all nuance, and the beer is super well refined, neither of these things really seemed doable for them a year ago. this shows major evolution, and it gives me some stoke to start trying their beers again, god knows they have a fair few of them out there now. with the name i would have thought it would have honey in it, which could be cool, but i dont miss it either. this really is good, a solid helles but tweaked into something quite interesting. bravo!