I’ll admit that thus far, the Vienna Lager is in my Top 2 as far as styles go. Well, let me rephrase that. The Eliot Ness Vienna Lager brewed by Great Lakes Brewing Company is in my top two, and in my humble opinion is the best representation of the style I’ve had so far. Enter Jacob Leinenkugel et al, with his/their rendition of this classic, malty-yet-balanced (should be, anyway) style.
Leinie’s Red Lager is a year-round staple from the famous Wisconsin brewer, and it’s been around since 1993. It’s brewed with Three Pale, Carapils, and Caramel malts (where are the European malts!), as well as Cluster and Mt. Hood hops for balance. IBU is 20, so that gives you a sense for how “bitter” it is(n’t).
Poured a clear, red-twinged brown into my Leinie’s Red Lager pint glass (haHA!), with a more than adequate light tan head: I wanted to make sure I got a good sense of the nose so I went for a bigger head than usual. The nose wasn’t brilliant, just average. I picked up the caramel malts, mildly toasty. Nothing big on the nose which I thought was unfortunate.
As for the taste … it was so-so; mild. Leinenkugel’s is not noted for making big beers. I would say that their lineup has one foot in the craft beer circle and the other in the mainstream circle: beers of many styles that have classical backbones but have been toned down a bit for the inexperienced palate. That’s how I feel when I drink a Leinie’s … I feel a little dumbed. The Red Lager here leaves the essential (I think) European malts off of the grain bill (Munich? Vienna?), greatly detracting from the taste. That leaves you with a thin Vienna-style Lager that’s on the fringe of the style, commercialized to the limit.
This beer does not taste bad. It is just weak for the style. At 4.9% ABV, it’s made to be drunk in quantity.
I was not impressed with this beer. It is too close to thier ‘Classic Amber’ in my opinion.
I have to kind of agree when it comes to Leinie’s…although I give them credit for expanding my palate when I was a beer newbie. As for this beer in particular, I’ll admit it’s fairly weak. But $1.50 pints of this at Circle Bowling in Forest Park make you forget how terrible you might be at knocking down pins.
This was my beer of choice when I came of age in River Forest.
Pitchers of it at Doc Ryan’s in Forest Park. Yes, it’s weak for the Style, but it is to me one of the best on tap inexpensive mass produced domestics available.
now that I’m in Portland OR, my cup runneth over, but I miss this as a staple.
Dude, this beer was terrible. I just bought a case of the Leinie variety pack and they were all bad. This didn’t taste like “one foot in the craft beer circle and the other in the mainstream circle,” it tasted like one foot in the crap beer circle and the other kicking crap in your mouth from the toilet.
Linnee red is one.of.my favorite beers back in the 90s going to augsburg in Minneapolis the beer was a staple and sad to learn its not been made inalmost10 years