Chicagoland Lagers (2021)

I've had most everything Goldfinger has put out. The best for me so far are: Original Lager, Pils, Vienna Lager, and Black Pils.

I will say that this Champagne Shores is a mess. Hazy, nowhere near the effervescent carb you'd expect. Nothing like I'd consider a "Champagne Lager" Not that enjoyable. Rare miss for Goldfinger. Maybe too much Hop Butcher input

 

I hate most smoked beers but I REALLY enjoyed the Goldfinger Grodziskie!!! It’s the kind of beer that makes me keep trying the style, even though it’s 90% disappointing.

 

Can

 

I had a can yesterday and it was also incredibly hazy.

Two other people I know have had it from the can & both of those have been much clearer. They’ve saved me one of the cans they had, so I’m hoping to find out I just had a bad can.

 

The Goldfinger / Hop Butcher collaboration is...um, interesting.

Its intent reminds me a bit of those barrel aged beers that mimic cocktails, but this one mimics a dry champagne. In my opinion, if you want champagne, you should just have champagne, not a beer masquerading as one.

Overall, it's not bad. It's like a VERY dry champagne, but there's some beer-like heft that differentiates it.

Mostly, I just wish Goldfinger had made another straight-up traditional lager instead of this, but I understand they have to scratch their creative itches and probably don't really care what my $0.02 is.

 

https://www.handfamilycompanies.com/champale

 

Brut-ally honest take.

 

^ love this

 

The 4pk of the collab with hop butcher has major issues. Looks like a hazy ipa, with tons of sediment. I don’t know what they were doing thinking this was okay to sell to the public. Especially when the bottles and draft look impeccable.

 

One can I poured looked crystal clear until the last quarter can or so, then got hazy very quickly.

 

You should try the Django Pennsylvania off the Lukr at Ørkenoy. Grodziskie collab with Live Oak. I haven’t had Goldfinger’s, but this beer was definitely a highlight for me in 2021. Ørkenoy is low key doing some really great work, especially for those burnt out on hazy/pastry/etc.