5.8% ABV. On draft at brewery. Clear light gold color with white head. The aroma is light noble hops, sweet wheat malt and a hint of banana. Nice dry flavor of sweet malts plus some wheat, banana and noble hoppiness biting around the edges.

Growler consumed on 11/4/06 (one day old)
Soft honey and pale gold colored body has a slight bronze tint. Clarity is medium, perhaps a bit too hazy for the style? A two-finger high head can be coaxed out of a vigorous pour, but it rather quickly fizzles to cover. No lacing, sporadic bubbles rise in the liquid.
Very strong aroma extraction from Saaz hops. Not exactly the most poignant hop by any means, but here it is well represented, giving a very dry, wet grass nose with hints of lemongrass and white pepper. Yeast is very strong in the nose as well, with the lightly mineralic notes associated with the style and producing a moderate crispness on the end. Very lean malt apparency in the nose, though it does have a light touch of caramel or very sweet honey. There’s a bit of unrefined graininess to it, however, that makes me think they just used their regular house malt (2-row) and not pils malt. Though I’ve got absolutely no idea if that’s the truth. Still, whatever the case, it seems that the pils malt would contribute a much more soft, delicate honey aroma and flavor. Aroma strength is medium to medium-high, no alcohol or flaws noted.
Sweet honey-caramel dollops provide a wonderful medium on which is delivered a crisp, lemon-orange flavored hop bite that provides both flavor and bitterness (though the bitterness is much less). Soft grass and light flower petal like notes slowly transition in to a slightly doughy yeastiness that somewhat impairs the otherwise modestly crisp finish. The one thing that struck me was the amount of doughiness and it just seems like there’s still too much yeast in the beer. This really dulled an otherwise wonderfully hoppy, delicate flavor, with a dry, almost pepper and iron-like finish that seems quite authentic. Pepper and iron is a pretty stupid way to describe it, but the one thing that has always challenged me is describing the flavors produced by European lager yeasts on the finish. Definitely a mineral character, maybe some apples, white pepper. Whatever. Low carbonation could stand to be somewhat tighter, but isn’t too drab overall. Dry, well-attenuated texture.