12 oz. bottle. Schell’s certainly likes to sneak the popular IPA hops into their traditional German recipes. This pours a dark honey gold color, a little lighter than their Firebrick, with a nice nose of hops under the cap and busy bubbles making for a contoured foam landscape with lace on the sides. Definitely hoppy, but the Tettnangs keep the Cascades respectable. Taste is an equal melding of Pale Ale and Vienna styles. Very easy drinking, with the dry finish of a lager added to a hop profile that tends more toward the "noble" side as I go on. Interesting that Schell’s has done "extreme" beers, they just find more interesting variations on traditional style.

Bottle. Pours a darkish gold with a thin yet dense head and aromas of pale malt, herbal hops and a bit of apple. Flavor starts alright enough, but then a bit of a metallic bite takes over, spiraling the whole thing into a herbal/metallic/medicinal tailspin. It seems to recover just a bit as it sits/breathes/warms, but it’s a little rough around the edges.

There is something I find really off-putting about beer i clear glass bottles - why Schell decided to put this in clear glass is strange, considering all the other beers I have had from them were in brown glass - what the hell!? - anyway - like a lot of the other lagers I have had from this brewery, this one is fairly underrated, though not as much so as the others - dark brown pour with a moderate, fizzy lace - fairly smooth - starts out medium dry, with some notes of cocoa and roasted nuts - sweetness develops through the middle, and becomes moderate by the finish, as some almost bock-like notes of raisin and caramel develop - a touch of hop bitterness arrives at the tail end to temper the sweetness a bit - the one flaw I find is that the corn used becomes fairly noticeable by the end - why even use it? - other than that, this is a fairly clean and balanced dark lager.that might benefit from some recipe tweaking.

Following weeheavy’s rate. Bottle thanks to someone at sourfest. Pours with a brown body and a tan head. Aroma is aromatic, with brown sugar and a bit of tannic extraction from the grain. Taste is grainy, brown sugar, sweet, honey.

Pours nearly black, with a foamy tan head - some intense roast in the nose, with espresso, bittersweet chocolate, sweet cream - medium to light body for the style - the flavor reminds me of some of my early stout and porter experiences when I first got into beer (London Porter, Shakespeare Stout) - quite a bit of chocolate and anise, with moderate roast and mid to low bitterness - lingering cream sweetness in the finish - not as intense as most look for in a stout, but pretty tasty and balanced.

Not as impressive as the hopfenmalz I just tried, but a tasty vienna none-the-less - very malt-forward, with rich vienna malt showcased quite well, as all other qualities take a back seat - bread but clean, with a medium toasty, roasted character - the tiniest bit of acidity way in the back - malt lingers far into the finish, but subdued hop character adds a light crispness to the finish - balanced and tasty - viennas get no love.

12 ounce bottle - clear dark copper - lively pour, with a thick, sudsy head - a really solid vienna lager, with a lovely balance of toasted maltiness and hop character - the character and richness of the vienna and munich malts add depth and heft, but do not keep the beer from being refreshing and crisp - lovely hop bitterness compliments the toasted aspects really well - lingering toasted bread flavors in the finish - tasty!

Hazy dark straw color - frothy, lasting head - aroma of dough, vanilla, sweetbreads, a bit of fruitiness - flavor is medium sweet and fairly clean up front - some hops bitterness and crackery character - dough through the middle, with faint butterscotch/diacetyl - becomes rather sweet at the end, but it is a clean sweetness - light esters - not quite to style, but not terrible.

Very lively pour with a thick head - a bit hazy, which is odd for the style, but I will not hold that against it - lightly yeasty nose, with some grass and peppery noble hops - lightly sweet pils malt - full but non-abrasive carbonation - fairly clean flavor - lean, clean malts, floral character, a touch of yeast - dries out through the finish, but the hops are a tab overly-bitter and soapy - falls apart a little at the end.

12oz bottle. Yellow-orange color, nice creamy head. Mild, mellow malt aroma, some creamy caramel. An interesting beer. The honey really smooths it out, but it isn’t really that pronounced. Very mild and balanced, with a nice noble hop crispness coming through. A little grainy perhaps, but still a pretty good beer overall.