Taps Charleston Lager

Draught. At October 2005 Winking Judge BeerFest, Hamilton. Ugh - what a letdown after the much superior Taps Premium Lager. Poured clear oily pale yellow with no head. Funky honey aroma, sweet yet vaguely vegetal, all of which gives way to a weird medley of sweet fruit - cassis, raspberry, grape. Taste is of grains, raspberry jelly, with off-putting metallic harshness mixed in - some wheat as well. Palate is brackish and sickly sweet, as well as too thin. I didn’t like it at all, like a cheap lager thrown into a blender with a can of raspberry jam (and you forgot to open the can).

Yellow nearly headless body. Unappealing floral, not quite funky, cidery aroma. Wheaty grass like undertones. Cidery unpleasant flavour. Average to thin palate. Wow, I assumed that the earlier ratings were a bit harsh, but this was “fresh” from the brewery and still not up to par.

Malty nose, and olive/vinegar as well? Amber, small cream head. Tastes of junky candy, sticky and sweet. Poor.

Sampled at the Winking Judge Spring fest. My first experience with this brewery and while the folks representing it were friendly, this beer wasn’t very good. Sort of a dark yellow, copper colour, thin body, hardly any head. Taste was surprisingly sweet, but became very syrupy and terribly unbalanced as I made my though my mug full. I enjoyed their premium lager much more. The chap representing them said they were going for a more mainstream market with this one, but I encourage them to concentrate on their other product - it can still attract a mainstream market and stand up as a well crafted beer.

[2449-20090814] Sample. Mild grainy straw aroma is more stunted than the premium. Clear, light yellow brown body with a quick foamy white head. Mild grainy hay yeast flavour has lots of petrol undertones. Light body is rough. Much like the Premium but with petrol.
(@ brewpub; Niagara Falls, ON)

Bottle. Pours a slightly cloudy yellow body with a small white head. The aroma is sweet and has some sour fruits along with banana notes like in a hefeweizen. Strange, rough fruitiness that is generally quite sour. I wouldn’t want to drink a lot of this.

Can- SParkling deep yellow/gold with a frothy but short lived white fizz. The nose on this one is pale malts, some straw, biscuit and a bit of lemon. Tastes of sweet pale malts, cookie dough, a bit of lemon, some bread crust with just a little bit of grassy hops. Has a nice biscuity aftertaste with a sharp hop bite near the end. I think this should be classed as a Dort/Helles.

Clear yellow w/ slightly off-white foam. Sweet malty aroma w/ unpleasant notes of green grapes, butter, plastic, & vinegar. Light, thin feel. Sweet, syrupy, buttery flavour of honey & refined sugar. Almost no bitterness. Quite disappointing.