Full Sail Brewing Company's Limited Edition Lager, Recipe No. 1

I'm iffy on Full Sail, but was pleasantly surprised by their Session Lager so I'm hoping this will be a surprise as well.

Pours a bright copper color with a quickly disappearing tan head.

Smells like a winter warmer. Malty, not too hoppy, slightly peppery. And you know, it smells so much like a warmer that I looked it up online just to check. Sure enough, their site says to look for it in the Winter of 2008, but this doesn't look like it was bottled that long ago. Maybe this is the third release of this recipe. Whatever, it smells good so far even if it presents a space-time anomaly.

A little sharper than most warmers, but it's still on type. Moderate bitterness, a bit watery, but the correct slightly spicy flavor that is more pepper than winter spices. Also has the standard aftertaste that fades to a nutty flavor from a slight hops bitterness.

Good beer, although I'll probably be giving most of the rest away. Just not a sexy style compared to the now 85 beers that I have cellared and have never tried before.

Full Sail Brewing Company's Session Lager

I ran across this beer as a single in a small beer store off of Richmond, long before it showed up at Spec's, but never got around to trying it. Then, it came in a BOTM shipment, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

First impression--I don't like the Red Stripe type bottles. Except for how they pour. For some reason, they pour extremely smoothly.

Pours clear and light yellow with a crisp white head.

Nice smell. Crisp and malty, a bit of an odd combination. Smells like adjunct grains like a macro, but it's still good. Like a more robust Budweiser.

Light. Low bitterness, light malt. Aftertaste is a bit cardboardish, but not really in a bad way. The light taste isn't watery, it feels like it's supposed to be this way, which is good for a session.

Good beer. Proof that a beer doesn't have to have a huge ABV or be an imperial-something to be worth keeping.