Beaus Lug Tread Lagered Ale

750mL ceramic swing-top bottle from a trade with a friend. Awesome, awesome stuff. I didn’t know what to expect, a new style to me, and what with the lower ratings, but in all honesty this thing blew my mind right out of the water. Pours a beautiful hazy gold with a large white head that diminishes fast. The aroma is just delicious, all the straw and hay malts one could ever want, creamy sweetness (not at all cloying), with a subtle hint of mild hopping. The taste is even better. So incredibly smooooooooth! Straw, hay, barley husks, malty orgasmic deliciousness. The long lagering process makes this into an awesome beer with perfect smooth body. They must have tweaked the recipe. Anyone who can’t enjoy the subtleties of a beer like this is just plain stupid IMO. Finishes well with a nice dry little hop presence, and descending notes of indistinct sweet fruity elements. I really wish there were more examples of this style for me to delve into in my area. Maybe my palate is just screaming for something other than macro swill after a night of partying (last night, not this night), or maybe this is an incredibly delicious and well made beer.

750 ml ceramic bottle from a trade with jessem. bottled january 19th 2009. pours beautiful hazy golden with a mid sized white head. soft subtle carbonation. aroma of bready lager malts, with some grassy hops, very inviting. im actually salivating at this aroma and thats quite rare. the flavours are sweet bready malts leading to a dry hop finish. there are yeasty aspects throughout the aroma and flavour but they play a background role. this brew is very reminicent of the grand river lagers. the difference is the lack of mineral bitterness that grand river has in it water. i really wish this was available locally because it would be a regular purchase for me. thanks for hooking me up jesse!!

Draft fresh from the brewery: What can I say about this subtle under-rated elixer? Certainly it’s a Canadian crafted Kolsch...but how many will recognize it as such and appreciate the delicate subtle complexity of this German cold aged ale? I’m a fan of this arcane style but having never been to Cologne and being limited to poorly handled exported bottle samples or other North Americanized Kolsh approximations, it’s hard to say how Beau’s compares to the genuine ale of Cologne....all I can say is that it is delicate in complexity, has top tier German ingredients and is very tasty and drinkable due to the 45 day cold fermenting/aging cycle. The Look: Tapped it puts a lightly hazed pale gold ale in my Kolsch stangen. proper 2 finger frothy white cap with moderate retention and fair lacing qualities. The Aroma: Very light graininess, subtle apple aromas, light musty-woody tone from Hersbrucker hops, slight wine-like sulphur undertone from yeast....very dulcet aromas...true to style. Soft rounded character, delicate flavour and balance, smooth delivery, crisp finish. The profile: Light delicate graininess in the front is balanced by spicey-herbal perle hopping...middle develops light fruitiness, musty-woody tones over light grains...finish is crisp and clean slightly drying with a light hop "bite". Impression: A very well made and subtly complex Kolsch-styled ale with soft flavourful character and great drinkability.

Draught half-pint at The Manx in Ottawa, July 18 2007. Hazy bright gold with a nice lasting small white creamy head and more than a spot of lacing....fresh, grainy, lightly hoppy-grassy aroma offers faint pungent-farmy notes, honey and a light but distinctive noble hop character....rather sweet on the tongue but plenty of grassy hops keep things very drinkable, fairly crisp and dries out quite nicely at the finish, a nice light mineralic bite caps the experience....could be just a bit fuller and the sweetness is a tad overdone, but these are minor complaints; this is solid, whether pilsner/helles (what it tastes most like) or kolsch (what it’s listed as). Very odd experience....not the beer itself so much as getting to a computer and reading about it here. Did I have the same beer all of you did? I knew nothing about what this was at all when I saw it on the board at the Manx, and was hugely impressed. I’m sure it helps that the tap lines for both beers I tried were obviously very clean, and this was very, very fresh....but still, the ratings mystify me. At any rate, I’ll look for it again when I’m next in Ontario and see if this was just a fluke, a huge improvement in quality, or if perhaps my taste is just very different.

Draft at Cafe Nostigica in Ottawa. Clean, crisp taste, not overly carbonated. Decent summer drink.

Had on tap at Pub Itialia in Ottawa. I only am able to get this when I come up north to visit friends, but I always look for this one. Yeah, it’s not the most complex interesting beer, but it has a great fresh slightly nuttty quality with a near perfect balance of hops and yeast. Pours a light yellow with a thin head. If this is what Kolsch is supposed to taste like, sign me up.

750ml ceramic bottle poured into a pint glass. Beer was bottle on Sept. 4th. It’s fresh and there’s no chance of skunkiness. Poured a clear golden color with a 3/4" head. Pretty good lacing throughout. Aroma of bread, herbs, hint of fruits. Overall the aroma is a bit mild. Taste of malty sweetness at first, then some fruity sour notes (lemons, hint of apples, hint of berries), with a hoppy bitter finish. I found the bitterness is just a little off. The taste got better as it warmed up. Mouthfeel is pretty good. Tangy & crisp. It’s easy to drink. I was surprised how quickly it went down. It’s local. It’s good. But it’s expensive. At almost $8 a 750ml bottle it’s hard to justify drinking this regularly.

On Tap @ C’est What beer fest 2006. nice and crisp, like you would expect, a very nice malt backbone, similar to a good pils. solid beer, but i dont think it would hold up in a bottle. Rerate: bought 2 ceramic 750ml directly from the brewery, they had been bottled 30 minutes before i bought them, so this is pretty much as fresh as this beer gets! LOvely pour, a golden, but slightly amber pour. Lots of nice biscuity malty, and breadiness in the nose. Some nice hops, and more biscuit malt in the flavour, just a great lager, when this stuff is fresh, its outstanding!