12 oz bottle sent to me by my winter 2009 Secret Santa. Pour is a clear golden with a 2 inch pure white head that lasts nicely then falls with some lace. Aroma of soft straw and cereal grains. Touch of slight sweet floral behind the grain. Nice clean and fresh nose. Taste is the cereal grain of the nose along with a nice gypsum mineral and straw hop to the back, leading to a crisp straw finish. Palate is thin medium, nice carbonation level and the dry earthy finish. Nice full character beer, thanks Santa.

Bottle from Archer Liquors. Pours amber gold with a decent white head. Aroma is bready with some grassy hop. Light in body, average in carbonation. It’s a tad biscuit and nicely bitter in a grassy way. Slightly astringent. Clean, bitter finish.

Bottled at Monk’s Café Wallingatan, Stockholm. Clear golden, fairly rich head. Grassy nose. Depp buttery papery malt with rather soft edges. Gentle and lightly fruity. Mild and very drinkable. Balanced bitterness. Soothing and pleasant in an atypical way for American attempts at brewing German style beers.

Pour is a clear yellow with a large white head. Aroma is sweet malt with some grain and some crisp hop. Flavor is biscuity malts with some grain and a smallish hop profile. A decent enough lager style beer and something you could drink lots of.

A bit light for a helles but an ok beer anyway. Gold in color and there is a white head. Good malt flavor and hop balance, almost like a Bohemian pilsner. Saaz hops maybe?

Thanks to my SS for this one. Clear deep yellow under a tall white head. Mild malt aroma with just the slightest hops. The flavor is lightly sweet at the start then a little bit of the hops kick in and provide some bitterness.

2006 bottle from the ever-generous StewardofGondor, consumed on 4/6/06
Wow! A big head pours on this one. That’s something I dont usually see on Capital brews. Some light, spotty lacing as it recedes, which it does fairly rapidly, remaining at partial cover. Head is light straw in color, with the body being a lightly hazed golden-brass.
Straw and zesty grass, rather herbal in nature, rise up, invigorating the senses and clearing the way for soft honey and almond paste-like malts. Actually quite light on the yeast, at this point, and no munich malt that I can discern. This makes for a softer, more easygoing, American-like pils. But oh those hops! Grassy, herbal and dry. Well apparent, providing much interest, and importantly, a wonderfully balanced nose.
Flavor shows light yeast up front, adding a light lager yeast bite that combines with the hops, to balance the doughy (warm, freshly made honey-dough) malts. Breadiness evolves, rather aggressively (relatively speaking) on the end and a fair amount of yeastiness builds as well. Hops become more muted and heavily dry out, giving just a hay and sweat-like note, that sort of melds in to the doughy malts, losing some of its balancing appeal. Bit of cidery notes, as is bound to happen when bottling a low gravity helles, and, unfortunately, a touch of alcohol noted in the aroma. But as it warms fully and breathes (and the head completely disappears), it remains smooth, mostly clean and with a remnant of snappy grassy-like hops (however dull) on the end, easygoing maltiness, with correct attenuation and little wateriness. Low carbonation could, perhaps, use a boost, but its a minor complaint. Not going to confuse this for, say, Wolnzacher Helles or Cisco Summer of Lager, but that’s ok, this one hits many of the marks.

Very clear, lively golden color, medium firm head, fading. Nice spicy aroma! Layers of buttered malts underneath those hops. Dammit, that’s a nice smooth lager, well built sophisticated hop flavors. Malts come through much cleaner across the palate than in the nose, finish is balanced. Could use more bubbles. I could make a real habit of this one!

Golden orange, with a small, white head. Nice smell, though not exceptional. Slightly above average taste, with nothing jumping out on my taste buds. Mouthfeel: strong start, weak finish. Overall, kind of an average beer. Nothing stands out as being great, but nothing's bad either.