Sapporo Reserve is touted on the can as an “all malt beer” though if it was really all malts and didn’t have the yeast, water and hops that literally created and defined a beer we’d probably be quite disappointed when we opened the can and just dried barley fell out. So we’re guessing “all malt” does not mean what they think it means. That or something is lost in translation, like the instructions for putting your bookcase together (“Happily insert slot A with regards to cam B while flange dowel anti-clockwise”).

For our test we poured our 650 mL (22 oz for those not versed in the metric system) can of 5.2% ABV Sapporo happily into a regular British pint glass. We got a starting beer temperature of 45 F.

Our initial pour yielded an average 1 1/2″ frothy white head that left virtually no lacing as it dissipated quickly. There was a medium amount of carbonation to the sparkling clear yellow/gold body of the beer.

Our initial aromas were barley, grain, very light floral, light soap and light corn. We’ll grant them that there are a lot of malt smells in there.

Our initial flavors came in with a light sweet and very light bitter that evolved in the finish to a very light sweet and light to moderate bitter. Our tastes came in with barley, very light lemon, light ginger and light corn. Overall the whole beer is very light on the nose and taste. Crisp and clean for sure, almost to a fault.

The finish length is short to average, the mouthfeel is dry, the tongue hit is front to middle and there’s no body lacing. On our patented malt to hop scale it comes in just a click to the right of balanced on the hoppy side.

For our bottom line notes we got a yes to drinkable, repeatable and balance, while getting a no for harmony, memorable, wow factor and buy again.

Overall it reminds us of one of our favorite obscure quotes from our all-time favorite Christmas movie A Christmas Story: “This wine’s not bad. It’s not good either.”

Sapporo Reserve is crisp and clean, yes, but so is water. Unlike water though, Sapporo has enough hops to know it’s beer, so that gives it an edge over water. It’s actually fairly hoppy for an “all malt beer” like it touts itself. It would be highly sessionable as long as you don’t let it get too warm.

The best part about the beer? Seriously, it’s got to be the can. The can is an absolute beast of a steel can. You can’t crush it with your hand and if you tried to crush it on your head like real men did in the 1950′s and 60′s you’d quite possibly knock yourself out. Even Agent Gibbs probably couldn’t figure out what did you in after you bludgeoned yourself to death with the mighty steel vessel.

The second best part about the beer? Probably the 22 oz size. A really great, perfect single serving size.

If you’re at a Japanese Steakhouse where they flip the shrimp into your shirt pocket against your wishes, it’s not a bad beer to get. You can feel a lot better about yourself ordering up a Sapporo than a rank American domestic. Is it craft beer? Technically they might make too much of it to fit the definition of craft beer, but we’ll spot you this one.

The Carlsberg Group actually has a tremendous history of innovation – in 1875 they set up the Carlsberg Laboratory to figure out how to improve the quality of beer. It was here where they figured out how to consistently produce beer (a daunting problem before this time). It started with a revolutionary understanding of the nature yeast and expanded on Louis Pasteur’s findings that yeast are actually living organisms. They discovered that yeast was composed of different kinds of fungi and that the yeast culture could be cultivated. From here they isolated a single yeast cell and developed a pure yeast culture which became the key to consistent, repeatable batches of quality beer. What’s so great is that instead of keeping this method for cultivating pure yeast a secret they shared it with brewmasters all over the world. This Carlsberg yeast is still used in most of the lagers available on the market today.

Additionally they created the first formal fermentation device in the world to break down yeast into alcohol and carbon dioxide, giving us beer with alcohol and carbonation. Fermentation of course happened before this, but mostly consisted of storing beer barrels in caves and letting the magic happen inside. They also invented the pH scale that is used in all of science to measure how acidic or basic a liquid is. Who knew when you were studying the pH scale in science class that it was based on research from a brewery? Beer is all around you my friends.

Carlsberg Beer, the one we’re reviewing here, is their flagship beer and has been brewed since 1904. It’s exported globally all over the world. For our review we used a standard pint glass to hold the contents of the 11.2 oz green bottle that sports a 5% ABV. We got a starting beer temperature of 43.0 F.

The pour yielded an average to large 2″ foamy white head that left a fair amount of head lacing. There’s a soft amount of carbonation and a brilliant gold color that’s clear in the glass. Exactly what you’d expect from a pilsner/pale lager type beer.

Our aromas came in really clean – light hay, light honey, lemon, light yeast and light ginger.

Our initial flavors came in with a moderate sweet and very light bitter that evolved in the finish to a light to moderate sweet and light bitter. Our tastes came in with light honey, lemon, light yeast and light ginger. Overall it’s a very delicate beer on the palate.

The finish length is short, the mouthfeel is dry and the tongue hit is in the middle. There’s a fair amount of body lacing left on the glass over the course of drinking it and on our patented malt to hop scale it comes in perfectly balanced.

For our bottom line notes we got a yes to drinkable, repeatable and balance. We got a no to harmony, memorable and wow factor. We got a maybe to buy again.

For a green bottle brew, Carlsberg Beer isn’t too bad. It’s got a nice sweet taste that continues to taste good as the temperature gets into the 50s. It’s better cold, but it’s well-crafted and doesn’t completely fall apart as it warms. Our preference would be to do it cold and drink it quick for maximum enjoyment.

Final verdict: It’s got a good profile and could be a good everyday beer for somebody. The BeerFathers probably aren’t their target market though.

It’s one of four beers that come in a 24 pack that you get at Costco of all places. The 24 pack includes a 6 pack each of the German lager, a hefeweizen, an amber ale and a pale ale (for more background on Costco, Kirkland and their contract brewing situation, check out our previous post on Costco entering the craft beer business).

For this review our bottles come from New Yorker Brewing. Our best before date was January 3, 2011, which was good as we actually did this review on December 2, 2010. Our 12 oz bottle of German lager has a 5.5% ABV and 22 IBUs. We used a shaker glass for our review and got a starting beer temperature of 46.4 F.

For our initial pour we got an average 1″ foamy white head that dissipated quickly. There was a medium amount of carbonation and the body was a clear sparkling amber golden color. Quite a good looking brew.

For our aromas we got a light biscuity short bread, light caramel, light cereal, light toasted malts, honey, floral, light grass, orange, light pine, light ginger and a little bit of soapiness.

For our initial flavors we got a light to moderate sweet and light bitter, followed in the finish by a very light to light sweet, a moderate bitter and a very light saltiness. For our tastes we got some more of that biscuity short bread, caramel, light cereal, light toasted malts, honey, floral, grass, orange, pine, light ginger, soap and some metallic. The taste is fairly true to the aroma, with some notes coming in a little more potent.

The finish length is average, the mouthfeel is oily and the tongue hit is in the middle. There’s no body lacing to speak of and on our patented malt to hop scale it comes in almost balanced – just a 1/2 click to the right of balanced on the hoppy side.

The bottom line notes are good – yes to drinkable, repeatable, balance, value and buy again. No to harmony, memorable and wow factor.

Overall the Kirkland German Lager is a nicely done beer. It’s well crafted and passes our 60 degree test. The sweetness edges up as it warms – what we thought was a light sweetness when it was cooler (under 50 F) we realized was really a moderate sweetness once the cold mask came off. It’s actually a very good beer to drink around 55 to 60 F. We were tasting ours around 57.7 F and it was spot on.

This may be the best example we have of value in a beer. Really – the price is ridiculous – $18.99 for a 24 pack, which comes out to 79 cents a bottle. You won’t find a better value anywhere for the quality of the beer.

Our final take: it’s a very good once-in-a-while beer, especially if your whiles aren’t too far apart. Perfect if you’re having some friends over and want to share something nice. The BeerFathers approve.

Anyway, today we’re reviewing the Kingfisher Premium Lager that comes to us from the United Breweries Group in Bangalore, India. They say on their own web site they are the world’s no. 3 spirits company and we tend to believe them because their chairman looks a bit like The Most Interesting Man in the World. Kingfisher is reported to be the no. 1 selling Indian lager in the entire universe and is also reported to be the best selling lager in India.

Kingfisher comes in a green 12 oz bottle with an ABV of 4.8%. For our review we used a standard British pint glass and got a starting beer temperature of 41.4 F.

Our initial pour gave us an average 1 1/4″ fizzy white head that left no head lacing as it dissipated quickly. There’s a soft amount of carbonation and it’s a perfect yellow color and completely clear – no haze in this glass.

For our aromas we pulled out a generic grain, light honey, corn, light floral, light lemon and a hint of popcorn.

For our initial flavor we got a moderate sweet and for our finish flavors we got a light sweet and a very light bitter. For our tastes we got only light grain and honey – that’s pretty much it. Honey is the main taste, and though simple the taste is much better than the smell – there’s a surprising amount of sweetness in the taste we weren’t expecting.

The finish length is short, the mouthfeel is oily, the tongue hit is in the middle and there’s really no body lacing to speak of. On our patented malt to hop scale it comes in 2 clicks to the left of balanced on the malty side.

For our bottom line notes we got a yes to drinkable, repeatable, balance, memorable and buy again. Our only no’s were for harmony and wow factor.

Is it a simple beer? Yes. Most pale lagers are. But there’s more to it than that. Compared to an American pale lager (think Bud, Coors, Miller) it isn’t dominated by a watery mouthfeel and taste. It’s more yeasty and malty with a really nice sweetness to it. The sweetness in it could work well with the curry in Indian food or even Tex Mex style Mexican food.

For a lager, as it warms, it keeps it’s chops about it without nastying out. We actually wouldn’t mind a few more of these. It could be a good change of pace beer, especially for us as we don’t do many lagers. Though it’s in a green bottle there’s no skunkiness and no soapiness to it.

Overall Kingfisher is just a nice lager with not much hoppiness – and The BeerFathers approve. At this point, we’re actually prepared to say this is our favorite pale lager.

It is actually in Bavaria (this will shock you) that they established the Reinheitsgebot, or Bavarian Purity Law of 1516. This law states that the only ingredients that can be used in the production of beer are water, barley and hops. This was a particularly harsh law as the penalty for making impure beer was death. Not really, but the brewer who used other ingredients could have the questionable beer confiscated with no compensation. Let’s put it this way – Sam Calagione wouldn’t last 10 minutes over there. Again, this has nothing to do with this review.

The beer at hand today is Bavaria Holland Beer, also known as Bavaria Premium. It’s brewed by Bavaria Brouwerij in the Netherlands. I have no idea why it’s called Bavaria beer if it’s brewed in Holland, it’s just the company brand they put on the beer. A smart move no doubt – associating a stand out product (Bavaria beer) with a mediocre product (Holland beer). It would be like Chrysler calling themselves BMW Chrysler. Or tofu calling itself porterhouse tofu. Okay maybe it’s nothing like that. What we’re saying is don’t be fooled by the name – Bavaria Holland beer has little to do with Bavaria in terms of the beer – it’s more like your traditional Holland beer than the good stuff that comes out of Bavaria. And that just makes us sad in our hearts.

So, on to the review, eh? Bavaria Holland Beer (that would be like calling it Mexican United States Beer, no, wait…) comes in a 12 oz green bottle with an ABV of 5%. We got ours at Cost Plus World Market. For our test we used a British pint glass and got a starting beer temperate of 45.9 F.

You get an immediate bubbling carbonation when you open up the bottle. For our pour we got an average 2″ foamy white head that left a good amount of head lacing as it dissipated quickly. There was a medium amount of carbonation and the body was a clear sparkling yellow/gold color.

The aromas come in with barley, hay, lemon, pine, yeast, light ginger and a light skunkiness. It smells an awful lot like a Heineken and that’s not a compliment.

The initial flavor comes in with a light to moderate bitter that evolves in the finish to a light to moderate sweet and a light bitter. The tastes come in with grain, lemon, resin and some more of that skunkiness. We’re unsure how they get the whole skunk into the bottle with the small opening, but they do.

The finish length is average, the mouthfeel is watery and the tongue hit is in the middle. There’s a fair amount of body lacing left on the glass as you work through it. On the patented BeerFathers malt to hop scale it comes in one click to the right of balanced on the hoppy side.

For our bottom line notes we got a yes to drinkable, repeatable and balance. We got a no to harmony, memorable, wow factor and buy again.

Overall we’re not impressed. The taste goes hop-sweet-hop giving an odd 3 step taste to it. The malts are super thin. If you like pilsners (we notoriously aren’t huge pilsner fans) this is a mild example of one that makes you appreciate something like a Pilsner Urquell an awful lot. About the best thing we can say is its mild enough to be a textbook session beer, but there’s a lot of other beers we’d rather go to first in that category. This beer deserves to be on the shelf, so if you see it on the shelf at your local beer store just leave it there.

The Helles (German for “bright”) style of beer has an interesting history going back to the 1800′s when the Czech pilsners were starting to become popular. The Munich brewers were worried that Germans would start favoring Czech beer over their own German beer so they created the Munich Helles Lager. The Helles shared some of the same spiced hop notes as the Czech beers but had more malt backbone to balance it out. Problem solved. The style lives on today with some great Helles beers coming from Paulaner, Hofbrau, Lowenbrau, Spaten, Augustiner, Hacker-Pschorr and the usual cast of Munich greats.

But back to the beer at hand. The Shiner 99 Helles Lager comes in with an ABV of 4.99% (or “5″). It packs 18 IBUs into the 12 oz bottle. For our review we used a tumbler glass and got a starting beer temperature of 46.6 F. As always, all Shiner beer comes from the Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner, TX.

Our initial pour gave us an average 1 1/2″ foamy white head that left no head lacing as it dissipated quickly. It’s a got a lively amount of carbonation to it and the body was a clear sparkling golden color.

For our aromas we pulled out hay, lemon, yeast, pepper and spices. For our initial flavor we got only a moderate sweet that evolved in the finish to a light sweet, light bitter and light acidic. For our tastes we got a light biscuit, lemon, light pear, light pepper and a touch of corn as it warms.

The finish length is short, the mouthfeel is dry and the tongue hit is in the middle. There’s no body lacing as you drink it down and on the malt to hop scale it comes in one click to the left of balanced on the malty side.

For our bottom line notes we got a yes to drinkable, repeatable, balance and buy again (though that would be impossible now that it’s not on the market anymore). We got a no to harmony, memorable and wow factor.

The hops are just right in this one – the Hallertau hops out of Germany are mild and nice. The taste is not too far off from an actual Munich style Helles (American beers tend to be more hopped up even if the style is the same as their European counterparts).

It’s a tasty gulper of a beer – a perfect session beer actually. We found as it warmed it was still good even at 60 degrees – it didn’t fall apart like a lot of American hefeweizens, for example. The hops do come out a bit more as it warms, a noticeable shift from the more malty edge we felt it had as it was colder. No matter, it’s a well crafted beer and a welcome treat from Shiner, who is known so well for their Shiner Bock.

Though the Shiner 99 is off the market now there’s always a chance they could bring it back – the Shiner 97 Bohemian Black Lager (their Schwarzbier) proved so popular that they made it a permanent part of their lineup. Keep your fingers crossed because this one is pretty good.

Nephew/Cousin Beer Love, after a 5 year residency and a 1 year fellowship way out west in the land of the Cowboys, Rangers and Mavericks, has returned “home” with his wife and amazing brood to the medical center as an Assistant Professor where he spent so many years. On this past Labor Day he had a cook out to celebrate his youngest daughters birthday. Father Beer Love had to work late so Dr. Nephew/Cousin Beer Love prescribed a late supper and even filled the prescription and sent it directly to the house. A perfectly grilled burger (bovine, not fowl), a perfect bratwurst (porcine, not fowl), a big slice of birthday cookie (nice touch) and a Samuel Adams Black Lager. As you can see he was raised with proper values.

Needless to say the Black Lager hit the spot. Interesting, because several years back while our beer palates were still maturing Father Beer Love tried it and didn’t think too highly of it. Now, it’s just perfect. My how times have changed.

On to the review. The Sam Adams Black Lager (which as you may have guessed is a schwarzbier) comes in with an ABV of 4.9% and an IBU of 20. Of course it’s one of the many beers that comes from the Boston Beer Company and it’s a part of their Brewmaster’s Collection. For our test we used a British pint glass and got a starting beer temperature of 43.9 F.

For our pour we got a large 2″ frothy medium brown head that left virtually no head lacing as it dissipated slowly. There’s a soft amount of carbonation and the body clarity is clear, but very dark. The color is pure black with some hints of ruby around the edges.

For our sniffy sniff we got some good notes – caramel, light chocolate, nutty, toasted malts, light leather, yeast, brown sugar and cream.

For our initial flavors we got a moderate sweet and a light bitter that moved over to a light to moderate sweet, light to moderate bitter and very light salty in the finish. For our tastes we got chocolate, coffee, toasted malts, grass, pine, yeast, light charcoal, cream, very light smoke and a light soy sauce. A good flavor profile for a schwarzbier. The chocolate really jumps at you in the taste. The light bit of smoke/salt on the finish is a nice touch and the coffee jumps out a bit on the finish as well to give it a slight bitterness, while still staying sweet.

The finish length is very short, the mouthfeel is creamy, the tongue hit is in the middle and there’s no body lacing as you work your way through the glass. On our patented malt to hop scale it comes in ever so slightly to the left of balanced on the malty side – just a 1/2 click away from balanced.

For our bottom line notes we got a yes to drinkable, repeatable, balance, harmony and buy again. We got a no for memorable and wow factor – it’s a good schwarzbier, but our socks were still on afterwards.

It’s worth noting that Father Beer Love was working with one that was within it’s enjoy by date while Son Beer Love was working off one that was a year and 4 months over. The notes remained the same with the slight difference that the older one Son Beer Love was working on had a slight metallic smell to it.

As the Sam Adams Black Lager warmed up into the 50s and beyond the taste was still good, but we thought this one might be better to drink a bit cooler – maybe around 45 F – which might make it slightly more refreshing. Shouldn’t be hard to do as you’ll find it’s a gulper. Don’t let the way we dissect beer and let it warm up 20 degrees during the process mean you have to do the same. You will want to knock this out quickly because it’s so tasty. And don’t be fooled by our statement – it does pass the 60 degree test and is a superbly crafted beer. It’s a moderately complex taste and it’s very good.

Overall we definitely recommend it. It’s got the lightness of a lager with some stout notes to it and it’s a very good marriage. We find the whole category of “dark lagers” a good place to go when you need something you know you’ll probably like. And as we like to say “May the schwarzbier be with you.”

Lone Star Beer is brewed by the Lone Star Brewing Company. A bit of history on them – the original brewery was built in 1884 and was the first large automated brewery in Texas. It was founded by a group of businessmen in San Antonio and some cat named Adolphus Busch (yeah that one). The brewery closed in 2000 and now houses the San Antonio Museum of Art, which you’ll find out in this review is a significant upgrade. The Lone Star brand has changed hands many times, passing from Olympia Brewing to Heileman to Stroh to Pabst. Production is currently farmed out to SABMiller in their Fort Worth, TX brewery.

For our Lone Star (beer) review we used a shaker glass and got a starting beer temperature of 42.8 F (which may have been 20 or 30 degrees too warm in hindsight). The ABV comes in at 4.65% and it’s a traditional 12 oz bottle.

For our aromas we got straw, dried grasses and some yeast. Not much there on the nose. For our initial flavor we got a light sweet and in the finish we moved to a very light sweet and added a light bitter. For the tastes we got the straw, dried grasses and yeast from the nose, and added some soapiness, light lemon and light corn. The lemon comes through in the taste a bit more as it warms up.

The finish length is mercifully short, the mouthful is watery and the tongue hit is in the middle. There’s no body lacing and on our malt to hop scale it comes in balanced – not enough of anything to move it towards one side or the other.

For our bottom line notes we got a yes to drinkable (especially if you’re dying of thirst), yes to repeatable (if your mouth isn’t already bored to death) and yes to balance (not too hard to balance out a whole lot of nothing). We got a no to harmony, memorable, wow factor and buy again.

Overall we’d rate it as barely beer-like. It closely resembles a regular American pale lager and that’s not a compliment. The good news is you don’t need water with it to cleanse your palate in between tastes, you can just rinse your mouth with the beer itself. If you weren’t focusing on it you wouldn’t know there was any taste to it at all.

We can’t say enough good things about it. It would be ideal for keg stands. It would be an excellent 5th beer of the night. The empty bottle is a perfect representation of an empty bottle. To sum it all up – it’s a good beer for people who don’t like good beer.

The Bohemian Black Lager, as well as all Shiner beer, comes to us from the Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner, Texas. It is a schwarzbier (which is just German for “black beer”) and is Shiner’s darkest brew. Schwarzbiers can be tough to stereotype due to the looseness of the definition of black beer. Some of the best schwarzbiers we’ve done really come in strong with coffee, roasted and smoke flavors, which you’d think all schwarzbiers would, but they don’t have to. Well, they do if they want good ratings here at The BeerFathers, but we digress. We try to put those characteristics into black beers as we tend to identify black beers with stouts but that doesn’t necessarily have to be the case. Remember, a schwarzbier is a lager, so you’re not always going to get some of the strong ale characteristics in the beer.

The Black Lager packs a 4.9% ABV into a 12 oz bottle. It comes in at 18 IBUs and for our review we used a British pint glass and got a starting beer temperature of 53.8 F. Our initial pour yielded an average 1 1/2″ frothy light brown head that left no lacing as it dissipated quickly into the dark brown to black body. Though dark, the body clarity is clear. There was little to no discernible carbonation in the brew.

It has a general “sweet” smell to it that’s nice. For our full-on sniffy sniff we got only a handful of aromas: chocolate, coffee, roasted malts and milk. It’s a pretty thin smell, even with the nice sweetness.

Our initial flavors struck us with a light to moderate sweet and a light bitter, followed in the finish by a light sweet, light to moderate bitter and a light acidic. The flavors hold fairly true to the aromas – chocolate, coffee and roasted malts, but we dropped the milk from the smell and got a hint of light black licorice on the taste. The overall taste is somewhat bland – it tastes “dark” but there’s almost no finish to it. The finish that is there is odd – almost like tasting the dark part of the grain.

Thankfully the finish length is short. The mouthfeel is dry and the tongue hit is in the middle. There was no body lacing to speak of and on the malt to hop scale it comes in 1.5 clicks to the left of balanced on the malty side.

For our bottom line notes we got a yes to drinkable and balance, but a no to repeatable, harmony, memorable, wow factor and buy again.

Perhaps other schwarzbiers have ruined us, but this one just didn’t bring it. There’s just no depth to it. It’s like a big mouthful of not too much. Granted it is a lager, but we’ve done some other schwarzbiers before that have at least blown one sock off. I think we wanted it to be more like a stout or at least some of the other schwarzbiers we’ve done, but it’s just not there.

It’s got a malty taste but no bold flavors and that’s what it needs – some boldness. It’s just a little too subdued. The malts that are there are just too thin and it needs a more robust mouthfeel to it – more creaminess. The bitter at the finish seems more malt than hop based, surprising as schwarzbiers tend to get their bitterness solely from the hops, but as we said before schwarzbiers can be tough to characterize. It’s actually a bit annoying towards the finish. Perhaps we need to try it colder than we did it, but a well crafted beer should hold up in the 50 degree range and this one just doesn’t do that.

We like to say “May the schwarzbier be with you,” but if it is we hope it’s not this one.

The Sam Adams seasonal lineup looks like this, starting in the spring: Sam Adams White Ale, Sam Adams Summer Ale, Sam Adams Octoberfest and Sam Adams Winter Lager. We’re hitting all the Sam Adams seasonals and this is stop three of four on our incredible journey. Sam Adams of course, is brewed by the Boston Beer Company, which makes lots of fine beers – probably 10 to 20 different beers total – that cover a broad range of styles, alcohol contents and price points.

Our Sam Adams Winter Lager registered an initial temperature of 47.5 F and our 12 oz bottle sported a nice 5.8% ABV. We used an English pint glass for our review.

The initial pour gave us a large 2 1/4″ foamy off-white head that dissipated slowly and left us some good head lacing en route. There were no discernible carbonation bubbles to speak of. The body was clear with a textbook amber color.

For the aromas we were able to pull our a very light caramel, nutty, floral, orange, resin, cinnamon, ginger and some miscellaneous spices. It’s really a great sniffer of a beer. For the tastes there were fewer notes, which gave us biscuit, light caramel, floral, ginger and some more miscellaneous spices.

The initial flavor notes were a moderate to heavy sweet and a very light bitter. The finish flavor notes were a light sweet and light to moderate bitter. The moderation in the hops and bitterness in this and other Sam Adams Seasonals is one of the biggest selling points for us.

The finish length is short, the mouthfeel is nice and creamy (not like a Guinness, but still creamy nonetheless), and the tongue hit is in the middle of the tongue. There’s no body lacing as we lower the beer levels in the glass.

On The BeerFathers patented malt to hop scale it comes in one click to the right of balanced on the hoppy side (a 6 for those keeping score at home, and we know you are). For our bottom line notes we get a yes to drinkable, repeatable, balance and buy again. We get a no to harmony, memorable and wow factor.

This is a good beer, a fine beer really. There is a nice malt sweetness that hits you immediately and makes you take notice, along with the wonderfully smooth mouthfeel. It really shows you what Sam Adams can do when they put a restraining order on the hops.

This is a beer that really fits the time of year that it’s available – winter. It matches up beautifully with what the body craves during the cold winter months. The Winter Lager could also go well with dessert – the spices would play beautifully with just about any final course.

The price is good and it’s a good value at the price. This is a great beer for repeatability – you could and should do more than one. It’s terrific on tap (Son Beer Love had a lot of this on tap during the winter months) and it’s a nice introduction to winter/Christmas style beers for the craft beer newbie. It’s also a perfect conversion beer for those wanting to get into craft beers or for those you want to get into good beer.

As a test I gave this out at a Panthers tailgate party to a pure Bud Light drinker (who had told me not to bring any fancy stuff) and he wound up having 3 of them. Then he called me the next week to tell me he bought a six pack to have that weekend. Mission accomplished and you’re welcome.

I served this up in a .5L Hofbrau dimpled mug I brought back from Munich. It had a 3 1/2 inch huge foamy white head. Bier temp. was 48.4F-9.7C and had 5.1% ABV. It had good head lacing and dissipated slowly. Carbonation was lively, the body was a clear sparkling yellow. Aromas were barley, hay, citrus, lemon and yeast. Tastes were only barley, lemon and yeast. Initial flavors were light sweet and light bitter and finish flavors were light to moderate sweet, light to moderate bitter and a light tartness. Finish was short, mouthfeel was watery and body lacing was good. On the malt to hop scale it came in at a 5 which is balanced. Yes to repeatable, drinkable, balanced, harmony and buy again. No to memorable and wow factor.

This may have been the quickest bier review I’ve done. Is this the best helles we found in Munich? No. But it’s a good example of the style. This is as smooth and beautiful as a female Lufthansa flight attendant offering you a free bier. At the Hofbrauhaus restaurant we both had a liter of their dunkel with lunch on our shopping day and loved it.

If you do make it to Oktoberfest here are a couple of hints we learned on the first day: the difference between 3 liters of bier and 2 liters and a liter of radler (half bier and half lemonade-actually Sprite) is the difference between a 4 hour nap and a 2 hour nap and after 2 liters pay a visit to the bathroom even if you don’t think you need to, trust me on this one.

Their seasonal lineup looks like this, starting in the spring: Sam Adams White Ale, Sam Adams Summer Ale, Sam Adams Octoberfest and Sam Adams Winter Lager. We’re making sure we hit all the Sam Adams seasonals over the coming months and this is stop two of four in our journey.

For this Thursday beer session we’re working on the Sam Adams Octoberfest, which is the fall seasonal in their collection and is usually available from August to November. Our 12 oz bottle sports a 5.4% ABV and we got a starting temperature of 44.1 F. Our initial pour gave us an average 2″ frothy off-white head that dissipated quickly and left virtually no head lacing. There was a medium amount of carbonation and a normal clear body that was amber/orange in color.

The aromas came across with caramel, toasted malts, toffee, brown sugar and spices. It’s got a really nice bouquet to it. The tastes came in with caramel, nutty, toasted malts, citrus and spices. It’s really a quite refreshing beer and though it’s not overly complex, there’s something to be said for it’s simplicity.

Our initial flavor notes came across as a moderate sweet and a very light bitter that evolve in the finish to a light to moderate sweet, light acidic, moderate bitter, light tart and a very light saltiness. There’s quite a bit to the finish on this one, despite the finish length being somewhat short. The mouthfeel is oily, the tongue hit is middle, and there was virtually no body lacing as we gulped it down.

On our patented malt to hop scale, it comes in one click to the left of balanced on the malty side. Very nice for a Sam Adams brew. For our bottom line notes we got a yes to drinkable, repeatable, balance, harmony, memorable and buy again. The only no is to wow factor.

Truth be told, Sam Adams Octoberfest is just a great everyday beer for the fall months. It’s absolutely perfect for the fall weather in the south and it’s got a lot of bold flavors for a lager. It drinks like an ale and this is a perfect example of what a Sam Adams seasonal beer can be. It’s completely worth a 12 pack and that might not last you 12 days. It goes heavier on the malts and lighter on the hops than a traditional Sam Adams, which is just what The BeerFathers ordered. We recommend making this a yearly purchase, nay, investment.

Coors Banquet, which also goes by Coors Original or just Coors, has been produced since 1873 in Golden, Colorado. It’s now owned and operated by the MillerCoors company. Surprisingly, Coors Banquet only has about 1.5% of the domestic beer market (Coors Light is around 15.5% of the market and Bud Light is by far the most popular domestic beer with about 34.9% of the market). You probably already know the story of Adolph Coors and probably wonder a little bit as you read this sentence why a strong, solid name Adolph isn’t that common any more. By this sentence you’ve probably realized why the name Adolph isn’t so common any more. We’ll leave it at that.

For our review we procured 24 oz (1 pint 8 oz) cans from the convenience store (Son Beer Love’s was even served up in a brown bag!) for $1.69 each. These are “cold activated” cans with a frost brew liner in them. The mountains on the can turn blue when the taste is completely obscured by cold. Only then is it safe to drink. Just kidding of course!

Coors Banquet weighs in with a 5% ABV and our beer temperature was 34.2 F, which was cold enough to activate the mountains on the can, which oddly, even when the can was empty, remained blue. We used a tall weizen glass for the pour which gave us an average 2″ fizzy white head that dissipated quickly and left a fair amount of head lacing in the glass. There was a lively amount of carbonation and the body was a clear sparkling yellow color.

There are just a few aromas we could note – grain and corn primarily. The corn smell is a little off-putting at first, but we think it just caught us a little of guard. As it warms we got some lemon and some light alcohol in the smell as well. On the taste side we got a mild lemon in the initial taste and the corn came in with the aftertaste. The initial flavor notes were a light sweet and the finish flavor was a very light sweet and a light bitter. The finish length was quite short and the mouthfeel was watery. The tongue hit was on the front of the tongue and there was virtually no body lacing in the glass. On the patented malt to hop scale it came in just about balanced. Not too malty, not too hoppy, not too much of anything.

For our bottom line notes we got a yes to drinkable and a yes to repeatable. We got a no to harmony, no to memorable, no to wow factor and no to buy again. We were on the fence with balance and can only say it had some – it’s super thin malts, but equally thin hops – so we guess that balances?

It doesn’t rub you the wrong way – it’s like a big glass of cold. We can say this – it smells like beer. Like it really smells like beer in the most common sense of the word – like the people on television who drink beer out of a can that has the word “beer” on the outside of it. It smells like that.

On a hunch, we took a swig out of the can and you know what – we think it tastes better out of the can than in the glass. Out of the can you get a nice little metallic profile that “works” with it. Plus, it just feels so right drinking this out of the can, the way you just know it was meant to be consumed. The way all those thirsty people in Atlanta no doubt drank it when it was delivered to them by Snowman and the Bandit.

It was a little bit of a surprising review for us. We felt pretty sure this would be one of our lowest ratings, but overall it wasn’t bad enough to pour out. The taste is somewhat like a slightly bitter flavored water. There’s more bitter in the finish of the beer than in a glass of water but not much. We actually did a blind taste test against the glass of water we normally have when we rate beers and the results, though not inconclusive, were quite closer than you would think.

It’s odd, we know, to rate something that doesn’t have much of anything to it with something higher than a zero, but would you rate a glass of water a zero? Something almost has to be overdone in the wrong direction to rate a zero. This isn’t enjoyable, per se, but it’s also not not enjoyable, if you catch our drift. Maybe the water from the Rocky Mountains makes a difference. Our final advice if you have to drink it – drink it cold, drink it quick and drink it out of the can.

And let’s remember, this one was for Jerry Reed, who’s up in heaven running his eighteen wheeler over motorcycles and feeding Fred all the hamburgers he wants. East Bound and Down, good buddy.

For starters it’s brewed in the town of Plzen over in the Czech Republic. We’ll give you three guesses what they invented there. Because of it’s water source, Pilsner Urquell has been used throughout Europe by many people to help dissolve kidney stones and gall stones. The water source comes from the nearby city of Marianske Lazne (visit their official web site), which is a spa town where people go to drink the local spring water for it’s health benefits. Not just the plebians of the town, but world dignitaries, royalty from many countries and other famous people as well. The visits are actually doctor prescribed in many instances. The spa is actually the town’s main industry. Now for the beer – they say one Pilsner Urquell a day will do it to realize the health benefits. Note the “one” qualification there – everything in moderation here people. No other beer has this claim because of the water source.

Now on to the review. For our test we used, naturally, a pilsner glass. We got an initial beer temperature of 44.2 F and our 12 oz bottle sports a 4.4% ABV. Our initial pour gave us an average 1 1/4″ fizzy white head that left virtually no head lacing as it dissipated quickly. It’s got a medium carbonation and the body is a clear sparkling yellow/golden color. It looks like a textbook pilsner.

For the aromas we picked up a light biscuit (almost a sweet biscuit smell), citrus, grass, bread dough and some ginger. It’s quite a clean smell – very refreshing and crisp. Unfortunately the smell is the most intriguing part of the beer.

On the taste side we were able to note the light biscuit, grass and some light lemon. Not much complexity here – you pick up some hops and it’s kind of like a Heineken on the finish – somewhat skunky and also slightly metallic. This results in a strange disconnect from the aromas to the flavor. The malts thin out significantly and the hop bitters edge on in. The finish is very sharp.

For our initial flavor notes we get a light sweet and a very light bitter. The finish notes evolve to a light acidic and moderate bitter. The finish is average in length and it’s not a coating finish – one sip of water cleans it right out of your palate. The mouthfeel is watery and the tongue hit is right in the middle of your tongue. There’s no body lacing to speak of and on our malt to hop scale it comes in about a click and a half to the right of balanced on the hoppy side.

For our bottom line notes we get a yes to drinkable, yes to repeatable and yes to balance. This means a no to harmony, memorable, wow factor and unfortunately a no to buy again.

It’s a textbook session beer at 4.4% ABV and we feel like it should be done pretty cold to dull the taste out a bit. Maybe a thick walled cold, not frozen glass. It could be a good intro to a slightly hopped beer without a strong malt backbone for a craft beer newbie. We want to like it more because of the smell, but ultimately we’re just not big fans.

We strategically made Michelob Amber Bock our 100th beer rating because for both Father and Son Beer Love, and a large number of our Beer Love friends, this was our breakout beer. By breakout beer we mean the one that got us over the rank domestic hump and into the realm of beers that actually have taste. We feel like Amber Bock is the perfect beer to introduce to friends who are wanting to (or who you want to) break out into craft beers for several reasons:

• It’s available everywhere.
• It doesn’t feature the sticker shock of some of our beloved high end craft brews.
• It’s dark – there’s a stigma around dark beers for those not in the know, and a lot of the good craft beers are a bit darker than your normal American lagers.
• It’s balanced – you can easily scare a newbie away with something too malty or too hoppy when their palate isn’t yet “beer sophisticated.”
• It works with and without food.
• Though it’s dark, it’s still a lager, which helps ease people over to “the dark side.” Lagers don’t tend to pack the punch of flavors that ales do, so we feel it bridges the gap well between light and refreshing lagers and rich and satisfying ales.

My first run in with Amber Bock came in the late 90s. I was living with my best friend Rusty at the time and one day I open the fridge to find Amber Bocks that he brought home. Several sessions of Mario Kart, Amber Bock and Chewy Chips Ahoy later it was official.

Fast forward to Son Beer Love’s wedding over 4 years ago, where we had a full keg of Amber Bock (as well as a keg of some other light beer, though we couldn’t tell you what it was). Best man Rusty never let the groom’s glass get anywhere close to empty all night. I don’t remember a lot from the latter part of the wedding, but I can tell you I woke up the next day and felt fantastic.

Little did I know that once I had left the reception the party continued. Father Beer Love and Father Beer Love In Law decided to fully enforce the “No Good Beer Left Behind” act of 2004 and decided that they had in fact prepared their whole lives for this moment – to float the keg of Amber Bock. Only the keg will know how many glasses they drank in an attempt to empty it (10? 15? 20?) because they sure don’t remember. A very patient and loving Mother Beer Love and Mother Beer Love In Law let them back into their homes in some instances as soon as the next day.

Now on to the rating.

Michelob Amber Bock sports a 5.2% ABV and each 12 oz bottle has 155 calories. We poured ours into an American pint glass and got a temperature of 42.6 F. The pour gave us an average 1 1/4″ fizzy off-white head that left virtually no lacing as it dissipated quickly. There was little carbonation and though the body is a deep amber, it is relatively clear and you can see through it.

The aromas are mostly malts – caramel, nutty, roasted malts – but there are traces of grass as well in the smell. The tastes echo the smells but add pine, brown sugar and a slight soy sauce to the fray. The initial flavor is a light sweet and light bitter. The finish flavor is a light to moderate bitter and a light saltiness. The finish is average in duration and the mouthfeel is dry. There’s no body lacing to speak of and on our patented malt to hop scale it comes in just about perfectly balanced.

For our bottom line we say yes to drinkable, repeatable and balanced. We say no to harmony and memorable. But we do give an emphatic yes to buy again.

It’s got more depth to it than other lagers, and we appreciate that. It is an Anheuser-Busch beer, but it’s really pretty great for an American lager. It doesn’t wow us like it first did so many years ago, but it’s still good and of course it’s a sentimental favorite. Mind you the beer hasn’t changed, our palates have.

This is a perfect example of a session beer – that is a beer you can drink many of in one sitting. Don’t let it get too warm while you’re drinking it and don’t store it too long before you drink it. Though it would be better as an ale, which could give it some more complexity and depth with maybe some dark fruits, it’s a perfectly satisfying beer. If you’re going to buy a 12 pack of something, this would have to be high on the list. It’s great cold and though we’re not big on frosty mugs, it might be well suited for this one. Smooth and drinkable, this will be an old friend you can call on at any time. Keep at least a 6 pack on hand for guests in an attempt to convert them into craft beer newbies. And then explain to them that though you had bought a 6 pack for them, you drank it. Then direct them to this web page and let them read why they should go buy their own 6 pack.

Happy 100 reviews beer lovers! Cheers and good beers to you and here’s to 100 more!

Before we jump into the meat of the review here are a few quick stats you need to know. Use these at your next party to make people think you’re a beer guru. Shiner Bock accounts for 80% of the beer made at the Spoetzl Brewery and it’s been brewed since 1913. It currently ships to 41 of the United States. Shiner Bock is the number one selling craft beer in Texas and is the number 6 selling craft beer in the US. To give you a feel for how a relatively large craft brewery runs, Spoetzl Brewery has about 50 to 60 employees and makes 5 beers years round along with 3 seasonals. Beer fact session over and out – on to the review.

We served up our Shiner Bock in an American pint glass and got a temperature of 41.9 F. The 12 ounce bottle comes in at a 4.4% ABV and we paid $7.79 for the six pack. The pour gave us an average 1 1/2″ fizzy off-white head that dissipated quickly and left virtually no head lacing in the process. There is a soft carbonation to the clear amber colored beer.

Our initial aromas came in with caramel, hay, honey, toasted malts, grass, yeast and brown sugar. Our initial flavors came in with just a light caramel, honey and toasted malts. The initial flavor notes are a light to moderate sweet and the finish moves to a light sweet, light bitter and light tart. The finish is short in duration, the mouthfeel is dry and the tongue hit is at the front of the tongue. There’s no body lacing to speak of and on our patented malt to hop scale it comes in about 1.5 clicks to the left of balanced on the malty side.

Bottom line notes give us 4 yeses and 3 nos – yes to drinkable, repeatable, balanced and buy again, no to harmony, memorable and wow factor.

Is it the greatest beer in the world? Not by a long shot. Is it a good middle of the pack beer? Yes. It’s not heavy, it’s got a nice amount of sweet to it (a little sweeter than an Amber Bock) and it’s very much a textbook session beer – that is a beer you can drink many of in one sitting without fear of waking up with marker drawings on your face.

Bonus – if you have a Saltgrass Steak House near you they make a Shiner Bock Beer Bread that you’ve got to try. It’s fantastic.

Don’t over think this beer people, just know that it’s a good beer to have during a football game (or any sporting event) and it’s eminently better than any of the usual rank domestics your friends might try to push on you. It’s good to go and it’s worth a 6 pack. Bring this to the next party and help some of your friends start to transition to better beer.

We poured our 11.2 oz bottle into a snifter and got an initial beer temperature of 55 F. ABV comes in at 9.2%, which you’d expect for an ice bock (and may be a little on the low end for an ice bock). We got a small 3/4″ creamy light brown head on the pour that dissipated quickly and left virtually no head lacing in the process. We found a soft carbonation in the opaque, ruby brown body.

For our aromas we get lots of dark fruits and sweet malts – chocolate, roasted malts, alcohol, black currant, maple syrup, dark cherry, raisin, spices, vanilla and a nice dark rum. A great medley of nose candy. Our tastes were as scattered as the aromas – a touch of chocolate, moderate coffee, molasses, alcohol, dark cherry, raisin, oak, sherry, a hint of vanilla, dark rum and a slight resin and soy sauce to the finish. We almost wore out our sniffers and our taste buds trying to pull the complexity out of this one.

Our initial flavor notes were a heavy sweet and light bitter. The finish notes move to a more moderate sweet, moderate bitter and light saltiness. The finish length is about average, the mouthfeel is creamy, and the tongue hit is right in the middle of your tongue. There’s a fair amount of body lacing as you drink it. On our patented malt to hop scale it comes in 2 clicks to the left of balanced on the malty side, which is mid range for malts.

Our bottom line notes – yes to drinkable, yes to balance, yes to memorable and yes to buy again. No on repeatable (only if you want to take a nap where you’re standing), no on harmony and no on wow factor.

There’s really a lot to like here. Raisin definitely dominates this beer and it’s not bad at all. There’s an oak hit in between the initial taste and the finish that brings a nice woodiness to it. It’s not a Vay-ner-chuk style Oak Monster, but it’s definitely oak nonetheless (though to be honest I did make the oak monster face). Think more of a wine barrel than an bourbon barrel for that oak – it’s not the charred kind you get in bourbon.

This beer really hits its groove as it warms – that’s when you get some nice notes – the fruits really come out a bit more and you get some slight notes of sherry. I think you’ll want to treat it like a good port – sip it and enjoy it. It’s different than the EKU 28, but just as good in many different ways. The ABV comes in a little less, but there’s more complexity to it. This would be a great winter beer. Overall we highly recommend it.

We poured our 4.9% ABV, 12 ounce bottle of Premium Pils into an American pilsner glass (how appropriate!) and got an initial temperature of 43.3 F. The first pour generated an average 1 3/4″ foamy white head that dissipated quickly and left a fair amount of head lacing in the process. A good start! There was a tremendously lively amount of carbonation with some big bubbles. The body clarity was extremely clear and sparkling – actually one of if not the clearest beer we’ve ever done. The body color was light – in the neighborhood of straw.

The initial aromas were barley, hay, citrus (mostly lemon) and yeast. Not much too it, but it is a pils after all. The initial flavors gave us some light toasted malts, some more lemon and something resembling a light white wine vinegar. The initial flavor notes are a light sweet and light bitter that evolve in the finish to a very light sweet, light acidic and a moderate bitter. The finish duration is average, the mouthfeel is dry and somewhat thin and there is no body lacing to speak of (surprising considering there was some decent head lacing). The tastes hit you right in the middle of your tongue, except for a touch of sweet on the front. On our patented malt to hop scale we came in about one and a half clicks to the right of balanced on the hoppy side.

Our bottom line notes show a yes for repeatable, drinkable and balance and a no for harmony, memorable and wow factor. We probably wouldn’t but this one again.

Overall it’s not offensive, there just isn’t anything to write home about here. It’s not complex but it’s not supposed to be. It’s slightly sweet and reminds us of a Dortmunder/Helles with a slightly stronger hops edge at the end. Though it’s light it’s got a decent balance, skewed a bit by the vinegar taste in the hops on the finish. This is another one that would probably be better pretty cold, maybe in a frosty mug. Father Beer Love notes it could work nicely into a radler (our favorite dessert – half beer and half lemonade). We wouldn’t mind trying something like this in a dunkel or a dark beer. We started out giving this a 4 out of 10, but skewed it down to a 3 by the end. We’re looking forward to trying some of the other Kulmbacher beers in the coming weeks.

The Abita Purple Haze is one of the staples of their lineup and it’s touted outright as a raspberry beer. It’s pretty readily available anywhere and I’ve even found it on tap in San Diego. With that said we poured our 12 ounce bottle into an American pint glass and got an initial temperature of 41.2 F. The ABV rates in at 4.75%. We got an average 1 3/4″ foamy white head on our pour that dissipated slowly and left virtually no head lacing. There was no carbonation to speak of in the hazy golden body.

It’s a little light on aromas – we picked up wheat, vanilla and of course a lot of raspberry. There may also be some other berries in there but we couldn’t pull any out specifically. Don’t get us wrong, it’s a very good, fresh aroma, there’s just not a lot of punch in it. The flavors echo the wheat and raspberry, but not the vanilla. We did pick up a touch of lemon as it warms in the finish, but that’s it. Initial flavor notes are a light sweet, light acidic and light tart. The finish moves to a very light sweet, light bitter and light tart. The finish duration is short, the mouthfeel is dry and there’s a fair amount of body lacing. On the super useful The BeerFathers patented malt to hop scale it comes in just one click to the left of balanced on the malt side.

Bottom line notes – It’s repeatable, drinkable and balanced. It’s also memorable because you’ve probably not had a lot of other beers like it. No on the harmony and wow factor. Ultimately we probably wouldn’t buy this again.

Don’t get us wrong, we love Abita (probably a little too much sometimes), but this just isn’t one of their better beers. It’s not complex at all. The aroma is definitely the best part. Though it tastes like beer, it’s a bit too fruited for us. The hops may be the only thing that keep it from tasting like Kool-Aid. It may be a good refreshing beer for cooling off, maybe after mowing the yard, but it’s not a go-to beer. This is one of the few beers I’d say you should do with a frosty mug, because it’s better ice cold, which dulls the taste a bit. Don’t let it get too warm.

The reality is (and this may be their target market) it’s a good chick beer. A great craft chick beer. It’s very unique and it’s the first fruited beer I ever had that I actually somewhat liked. That was quite a long time ago though and I’m afraid my beer tastes may have moved on past it.

The Aventinus is brewed by G. Schneider & Sohn in Germany. The 500 ml bottle is a terrific size for this 8.2% ABV bock bock. We served ours up in a weizen glass and got an insanely huge 4″ frothy light brown head that dissipated slowly and didn’t leave any head lacing to speak of. There was a medium amount of carbonation and the color was light brown to medium brown with a murky haze to it.

The smells in this thing pop – chocolate, lightly toasted malts, wheat, banana, brown sugar, bubble gum, clove and dark fruits, with plum standing out most in the pack. The aroma has a really nice sweetness to it.

The taste though is where this thing really stands out with just as much variety as the aroma – chocolate, vanilla, wheat, alcohol, light banana, brown sugar, bubble gum, cola and plum. The sweetness from the aromas continue on in the taste and it’s just a great touch. The chocolate and vanilla notes really harmonize with each other to create a great beer experience. The initial flavor notes come through as a moderate sweet. The finish duration is long and the finish notes evolve a little to stay moderately sweet with very light bitter and light tart. There’s not much body lacing as you gulp it down but the mouthfeel is delicious and creamy – really one of the best mouthfeels of any beer – rich, smooth and strong with a good flavor profile. On our malt to hop scale it comes in about 2 1/2 clicks to the left of balanced on the malty side – that is fairly heavy malts.

For the bottom line test – we got a yes for everything – drinkable, repeatable, balance, harmony, memorable, wow factor and buy again – yes to all. You get some nice warming action with the beer as you drink it thanks to the 8.2% ABV and the extra couple of ounces (16.9 oz). It tastes a lot like a Belgian ale with candy sugar and less like a doppelbock (which is technically a lager). The Aventinus website says it’s “streaked with fine top-fermenting yeast” which means it’s got ale yeast in it. So again we have a bit of a hybrid beer that’s hard to classify as a lager or an ale. Our advice? Stop worrying and love the beer – it’s one of the best beers you’ll ever try. I bought two and after this test cellared the second one so I could try it again in a year or so after reading several bloggers note that it cellared quite well (Update: cellar experiment status: Failed. I drank it in less than a month).

It’s as good as a strong Belgian ale like a Chimay Blue or a Trappistes Rochefort 8 – but it has a deceptive lightness to it. We struggled with how to phrase it but we settled on “a nice overstated subtleness.” We think that sums it up nicely. This is an absolute must try beer. Buy it in large batches and enjoy this as one of the top beers in the land.