Green Valley Brewing Wild Hop Lager

Brewed by Anheuser-Busch InBev
Style: Premium Lager
St. Louis, Missouri USA

Bottle, from non-dimpled mug, at 55F. White head borders on frothy, but doesn’t quite make it past bubbly; disappears quickly. Color is a light-to-medium amber; relatively nice for a lager. Aroma is...wow, hoppy! I’m shocked; it’s not exactly the best hop aroma, but after the beers I’ve sampled tonight, it’s heavenly. Mouthfeel shows a just-above-light body; an ever-so-slightly oily texture; and soft, pleasant carbonation. Flavor shows hops (*ghasp*) and a not-unpleasant sweet maltiness. Finishes just bitter enough to keep one interested. Hard to believe this is an Anheuser-Busch product. Don’t misunderstand: this is NOT a great beer. But it’s among the best offerings of one of the worst brewers. One gets the impression that A-B is testing the "craft beer" waters, but they can’t resist mucking up everything they touch with over-processing. Still, at least they’re trying. I suggest you don’t pay for this, but don’t turn it down if offered one.

12oz. Bottle: Very faint aroma is slightly malty. Smells like popcorn. Poured amber in color with a medium sized white head that diminished quickly. No lacing. Crystal clear. Sparkling. Flavor was medium malty and was disgusting. Just tasted like boiled grain and corn. Light body. Thin and watery. Average carbonation. Awful sweet finish. Overall, a crappy beer. Total drain pour.

2006 bottle drunk on 1/11/07
Typical filtered/force carbonated appearance: Initial flurry of large bubbles produces a fairly large head, but after about a minute it begins to quickly diminish to cover and eventually a ring (though I think I poured it out before it got there). No lacing, clear and bubbly. Auburn and cherry-red colors comprise the body while the head is a light corn-yellow color.
Sugars in the nose are actually quite surprising, as I was expecting this to be a bone dry lager. But there definitely is some vanilla and cream-like sweetness. Hops are present as well, lightly, and probably the best way to describe them is french-milled soap. Yep, it’s uncanny. So I guess that’s better than your average soap...Some light fruitiness, cherries and plums, can be glimpsed as well. Not very flawed in the nose, aside from the soapiness.
The flavor dosent prove as successful, however. DMS, though light and not overly offensive, is still easily noted. Light corn and even some cooked beans are here, while the sweetness from the nose never translates to the flavor. It’s extremely attenuated, with seemingly poor mashing because the mouthfeel is extremely papery and flimsy. Moderate to high carbonation, thinning on the end with a bit of passing fruitiness, some trademark chemical sharpness and a bland finish.

Clear copper body, light white foam. Sweet caramel and crystal malt in the nose. That caramel sweetness is only present in the finish - up front there’s weak but crisp green stemmy hops. Has a light hop belch - bonus points. Light flavor overall but one can tell that it doesn’t have any adjuncts - it’s a hoppy lager with kick of crystal.

Clear light copper color with two inches of soft creamy off-white foam. Good head retention, spotty lace. Lightly citrus hop bitterness in the aroma. Mellow beer, with the tanginess of the hops overshadowing any other flavor. I taste citrus and herbal hops, with a hint of a lemon candy sweetness. It is smooth and clean, the hops taste exceptionally fresh. Body on the light side of medium. Zesty carbonation.

Golden color. Poor aroma and flavor, very dry mouthfeel, some malt, strong hopping but nothing’s wild here.

Nondescript. Much better than Bud, of course. But not much flavor. They might have used wild hops, but they didn’t use very many. Slightly sweet. Mild hop flavor on the back end.

Stick a different label on a budweiser without the rice, and you have wild hop lager. Hop flavor, none. Not as piss watery as bud, but I won’t be buying it again. Damn you A-B, if I had known it was you I wouldn’t have bought it in th first place.