Served at cellar temperature from a 355ml can into a Teku. Brilliantly clear pale gold, carbonation fine enough to be almost invisible.
The bohemian floor malt bill carries the structure and Saaz does the seasoning. At 4.7% and 35 IBU it sits where the style should, and Godspeed Brewery have resisted the urge to push it anywhere else.
The palate is where it earns the score. The Saaz bitterness arrives early and holds through a finish dry enough to pull you straight back to the glass. Nothing sags in the middle, which is the failure mode for most lagers.
The whole point of a beer at 4.7% is the second and third glass, and this survives both. There is no cloying edge, no fatigue in the finish, and the hop character stays legible right through. That is harder to achieve than a big beer, and it gets a fraction of the credit.
Soft water, Saaz, and enough patience to let the lagering finish properly. The result is rounder and more bitter at once, which sounds contradictory until you drink one.
Against the rest of the lager shelf this holds its own comfortably. It is not the beer that will convert anybody to the style, but it is the one you reach for once the converting is done, and at $4.25 / 473ml it is honestly priced.
Bought at Godspeed Taproom (in stock at the time of writing). Ask for the side pour if the taproom is doing them. It is worth the wait.
A beer for the door of the fridge rather than a shelf under glass.
