Bought on a Thursday, opened on the Friday, a 473ml can into a willi becher. Deep amber and perfectly bright, under a white head that leaves rings the whole way down.
Fairweather Brewing have built this on beechwood-smoked pils with Hersbrucker in the kettle. 4.8%, 30 IBU: unremarkable numbers on paper, and the beer is better for it.
The aroma writes a cheque the palate very nearly cashes. What arrives is drier and quieter than the nose promises, and while the finish is clean, a point of the score disappears into the gap between the two.
The whole point of a beer at 4.8% 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.
Whatever the decoction schedule costs them in time, it shows up in the malt. There is a depth to the grain here that no amount of specialty malt shortcuts its way to.
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 $4.75 / 473ml it is honestly priced.
Bought at Fairweather Taproom (in stock at the time of writing). Pair it with anything salty. Alone it tires by the third glass.
Pair it with something salty and eat while you drink. It rewards the company.
