Berhold Keller Premium Lager

I was drawn to this brew by its flashy powder blue can and its low, low price.  It's a nice-looking product sold for a song.  Yeah, I'll try that.

Since starting this blog, I've sampled more lagers than at any other time in my life.  I have actually been enjoying them, too.  However, as the summer turns to fall, I am feeling less and less inclined to pick up a pale, sudsy mug.  I am starting to feel my natural inclination for darker ales returning.  Enter Berhold Keller.

BK is sold in 500mL cans and weighs in at a standard 5%.  This brew was full of surprises, but its appearance wasn't one of them.  It pours a crystal clear pale straw colour and features a shock of white head.  It displays lots of carbonation and laces nicely.

For a Western European pale lager, BK is relatively complex.  The aroma has a slight metallic edge, but the predominant characteristic is a wheaty smell.  Unlike the vast majority of its brethren, the adjective "crisp" doesn't aptly apply to Berhold Keller.  Smooth yes, but not crisp.  Rather, the taste is somewhat round.  It's oat sodas like this that remind my that beer is fundamentally composed of wheat, grains, and other agricultural products.  Berhold Keller has a very grassy taste.  The finish is unexpectedly sweet, with a corn flavour (I couldn't decide whether to call it corny or cornish, so I stuck with the noun).  Notably, I wouldn't want to drink a few of these in one sitting.  Too sweet.

This was a pretty nice beer.  Definitely not what I expected, but an interesting departure from the traditional pale lager format.  I'd recommend it to friends as a nice transition beer to ease back into fall.  For my student friends, call this one a "back-to-school" beer.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.