Klaster Winter Lager

Aroma: 5 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 7

Aroma is of bready malt with some sweetness as well as some raisins. Appearance is a light-brown in color with a full and wel-carbonated head on top that is light-tan in color and remains leaving lacing. Mouthfeel is smooth and crisp with good balance as well as complexity with a palate that is clean but very crisp and wet-like. Flavor is of malty sweetness as well as raw sugar bready overtones with an aftertaste that reminds me of doppelbock and a finish that is a tad cloying. Overall, decent brew here but nothing specticular for sure...

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 4 | Overall: 4

This was Dr. Jekyl/Mr. Hyde in a bottle. The aroma was a tad off, but it was grassy but a tad skunky. Appearance was a bright yellow with a decent head which melted quickly. Mouthfeel wasn't harsh, but light and crisp. Flavor were like sucking on a dirty penny, VERY metallic which was pretty horrendous but I was thirsty so I drank quickly. I could tell there was some grassy hops and spiciness to this beer, but the metallic taste just erased any enjoyability I could take from this beer. I would like to revisit this beer again, because if it weren't for the "sucking on a dirty penny" taste, it might not be bad.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 4 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 4 | Overall: 4

Pours clear gold with a creamy, lasting head. Aroma features lightly spicy hops and a subtle skunkiness. The flavor combines a doughy base with herbal hops and, unfortunately, a strong metallic quality. Watery and thin, but adequately carbonated.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 5

Sampled from bottle. This lager pours clear amber-gold with a rocky white head and remarkable lacing. It's an inviting appearance. Aroma is quite mild and dominated by lightly-toated malt with some floral and spice hop notes. Flavor is slightly bitter with some metals present. Some spice & grass hops linger in the after-taste. Medium-full body and well-carbonated. An enjoyable lager that looks a bit better than it tastes.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Like my mate Darren, I've been rather impressed with this Czech Republic brewery's fine offerings.... and their Winter Lager is no exception. Heck, if my rather picky wife can give it an enthusiastic thumbs up, you know it has to have something going on, eh? ;)

Typical golden amber, with perhaps the barest of bare hints of reddish highlights. Kinda lacking in the head retention department, though.

Good solid nose and flavor profile to this one -- everything that I like to see in a well made Lager. Enough bready maltiness to back up no small dosage of Nobel hops (Saaz baby, yeah!).

Have a hard time thinking of this as "Winter" beer, since there is "Winter Warmer"-ish aspects to this beer. We're only talking 5.8%ABV, after all.

But stylistic semantics aside, the overall drinkability of this one is pretty impressive. I think I prefer the stamdard Klaster Lager over this one by a width of a hop leaf, but everything that this brewery puts out is Grade A Quality, IMO. Recommended.

Music: Bolt Thrower's "War Machine".
//TB

Aroma: 5 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 6

This beer comes in a green bottle and not surprisingly, was slightly skunked. Very light in color for a winter lager, a light amber/orangish color with a decent head when poured, but faded quickly. Decent malt/hop balance. Would like to try a fresher sample.