One of the finer things in life is to end a hard day at work and come home to a refrigerator full of quality beer. Unfortunately for this beer lover, I rarely have the budget to facilitate any sort of extravagance when it comes to this. But in an accidental stroke of genius, I find myself with more beer in the ice box than I know what to do with. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. This is definitely a good thing. A few weeks ago I hosted a party and declared it BYOB, or bring your own beer, assuming that each of my guests would bring a small amount for themselves and that would be that. Much to my surprise, nearly everyone showed up with a couple of cases of beer and we had a rather wild gathering. We enjoyed the company of old friends and sampled beers old and new into the wee hours. It was one of those times that stays with you into the next day in the form of a hangover. But the memories last a lifetime.
One of the beers we had that night that were left in my refrigerator was Leinenkugel’s Red Lager. I had tried their Original style many times, so I was excited to finally get a chance to see what I thought about this much hyped beer. For starters, it was a shock to see it show up at the party at all. Ordinarily I only see a few styles of Leinenkugel’s at my local beer store, and the Red Lager is usually not among these. My friend explained that he picked these up on a road trip the week before specifically for my party. He really is a great friend.
In discussing this brew, someone noted that it won a gold medal at the 2002 World Beer Cup. Most of these awards don’t seem to mean all that much, but when you’re talking about the World Beer Cup, one has to take it at least a little seriously. Beside that, a gold medal in any competition is nothing to turn your nose at. I poured a bottle into a pint glass and set to work. The pour displays a beautiful deep red with hints of brown throughout. The carbonation with this beer is moderate to high, which I find to be a perfect way to accentuate the rich flavors. The head is thick and just slightly off white, which lets of some very nice scents of malt and caramel sweetness. The tongue will delight with a light body feel and quality malt flavors, with a bitter hop finish that leaves it primed for the next sip.
