Heilemans Old Style

(01.11.06) 12 oz can purchased from Osteria del Stato, Chicago, IL. Label said that the beer was aged and naturally carbonated. Clear golden hued lager with large long-lasting white head with good lacing. Clean malty aroma. Good carbonation. Light-to-medium bodied that starts dry with light malt sweetness and finishes dry with light nutty/corn aftertaste. Refreshing, crisp, and drinkable, this beer goes well with food. Though my friends around the table thought I was nuts to order this offering from the restaurant’s impressive beer list, I actually enjoyed this beer and thought it to be a good lager.

Can: Head is initially small, fizzy, white, fully diminishing. Body is clear light yellow. Aroma malt, light hop. Flavor is moderately bitter. Finish is lightly bitter. Watery texture, fizzy carbonation.

12oz can. Sweet corn and stinky cheese and oil scents. Semi-frothy and watery, rich and malt liquor-like... full of the typical sweet corn and cheap grain flavor.

Pours a medium golden yellow color. Aromas of metal, corn, and some minor hop action. Flavor is kind of metallic, with cheerios and hops.

I have no idea what some of these other guys are drinking - to confuse this golden nectar with comments obviously intended for Red, White, and Blue or perhaps Coors. Slightly more bitter than the original G Heilemann receipt - which of course was "fully Kraeusened", OS today is still extremely enjoyable, and may I say - romantic. Many judge the foam content of OS based on their own narrow experience with CO2 blasted brews fm St. Louis or the Rockies. Like a silk covering, OS is "naturally carbonated" and one expects a gift from nature to be bestowed sparingly. Hints of sweet malt and a touch of corn perhaps isn’t familar to the Guiness crowd but here in the Midwest it reminds us of warm summer nights, softball games, or that lone bar in the country whose dusty parking lot is lit by that G. Heilemann sign in the distance. Best on tap or of course in bottles, dont blame the beverage if your bartender is too cheap to clean his tap lines or if your store foolishly placed this finely crafted beverage next to the hot water heater before moving it to the cooler. Smooth as silk and as golden and drinkable as the sun in Spring, OS may not be fashionable with those who pay double digits for a pint of bubbled mud from some aging yuppie turned brewmeister - but with its heritage firmly rooted in "God’s Country" I say bless midwest America and give me a glass of Old Style any day!

A medium bodied, light lager beer. Thin headed, sweet malts dominate the flavor but a cider like taste can be observed. Finishes slightly bitter. Very drinkable and smooth compared to many other macro-brews. Especially good on tap if you can find it. A good companion with pizza or grilled food. Alcohol 5 percent by volume.

What was I doing drinking this beer? Well, it was late, I was just about out of cash... bah. Enough excuses. It boils down to me not having rated it yet.

Golden with a thin white skin on top. No carbonation evident. Nothing in aroma to start, but ends up with a sweet floral accent like those Choward’s Violet candies from yesteryear. Thin & bitter flavor, almost comparable to a nice Pils. Rests on light, sweet malts. Slight adjuncts.

I’ve got to give this beer credit (for what it’s worth) on being inexpensive, accessible and truly unoffensive when presented properly. At this point in time, better IMO than most BMC.

<font size=-4>On tap at <a href=>B.J. McMahon’s, Oak Lawn, IL (Sorry... this isn’t actually a link.)<font size=-1>

go cubs! smoother and more drinkable than bud, coors and mgd/lite/highlife and cheaper too.