About Devils Backbone Vienna Lager: Devils Backbone Vienna Lager, 2012 Gold World Beer Cup and 2009 Great American Beer Festival Silver Medal winner, is a chestnut colored lager with a malty aroma and subtle toasty sweetness derived from a multi-stage mash. A pinch of noble hops gives this refreshing beer a clean finish. Brewed in Lexington, VA.
Beer Advocate Score: 84 points
IBUs: 18
Alcohol by Volume: 4.9%
Case Cost: $35
*website: www.dbbrewingcompany.com/beers.aspx
Day 1 closes with 25 comments....not bad, but the telethon tote board had hoped to read 36. So on to Day 2. Again, an early riser for me on beer #2, enjoyed at 12:00 a.m. Two days, two lagers? Did I sign up for the wrong 24 days of beer? Joe's going to have a field day with this sequence. Reminds me of the first and only 24 days of beer summer version, where every day was an ale. Anyhow, I enjoyed this one more than Blue Mountain, but still not adding it to the store list for repurchase. Oh yeah, and what's with this sub 5% ABV...hardly worth my time.
ReplyDeleteTotal inversion -- I enjoyed the Blue Mountain waaaay more than this lager. Bring on the Christmas flavored beers! :-)
DeleteSo I know when I started this beer tasting several years back I was a lager fan and because of this beer tasting thing, I started to hate lagers and found my new true love - Ale's! 2 LAGERS in a row??? Who's running this thing?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I honestly could not tell the difference btwn the first beer and beer #2. 2 lagers that were not bad but just not a gotta go out and purchase.
If day three is another Lager, I am calling Katy directly and log a protest!
rating: 6
Day 2 and the critics are already out :) Two lagers in a row was on purpose to be able to compare them better. No more lagers until Dec 24. I tried grouping some of the similar beers together this year as to better compare them.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this beer and liked it more than the Blue Mountain Lager. It's cheaper and better, proving my theory yesterday that while I liked the Blue Mountain, I believed it would be easy to find a similar or better lager out there for cheaper. Maybe it was because I drank it right after getting home from work and that first beer after work usually taste great anyways. Either way I'm a fan. I would say it's good, not great. A solid lager. Rating: 7 out of 10. Solid B
Come on now Joe, don't you know that if there are any good things about the list, it's because of me and if there are any complaints, it's Tony's fault.
ReplyDeleteFirst sip of this beer wasn't good. Second gulp, not so bad. The rest tasted pretty good. A good session beer. Check minus.
Not bad... had this one before. Certianly not very strong... maybe good for a night of drinking.
ReplyDelete4.9%? Where are we? Utah?? Oh well... Ok, I like it. It reminds me of Iron Hill's Vienna Red Lager which is my standard go-to beer whenever I'm there (regardless of my standard aversion to lagers) because it is such a great companion to a good burger. This drinks and tastes like a good, basic beer. I would keep a six of this in my fridge for my non-adventurous friends.
ReplyDeleteI would have really enjoyed this when I was 25. In fact, for a second, I thought my den had turned into Ha'Penny Lion and it was 1995 again (props to any bloggers that get this reference). As someone pointed out earlier, it got better as the gulps got bigger. I don't think I'll be spending $2 to buy an extra one of these.
ReplyDeleteHa'Penny Lion 1995. Ah, the memories.
DeleteTastes like yesterday. Still not a lager fan. Still find this to be a pretty tasty and drinkable lager. I liked yesterday's better. But only slightly. We'll see if this lager has the same effect as last night's lager where I nap on the couch while watching a Washington football team suck it up. I hope not. Go Hawks!
ReplyDeleteLoved the color of this beer. It tastes smooth, but not of anything much. Almost like if you took a Fat Tire and watered it down until you couldn't taste it. And why would you do that? I preferred yesterday's lager because it had more flavor to it, but I wouldn't go out and buy either one. I'm not upset about trying 2 lagers though - I like that there's a good selection of different beers here, and having the 2 lagers on consecutive days makes sense to me for comparison purposes.
ReplyDeleteIve had this on tap at a few spots around the area but I actually enjoyed this more out the bottle. Pretty basic stuff, but better in all aspects than Blue Mountain. Wouldn't get it again unless as a last resort. I'm gonna give it a B.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe I am saying this but I actually preferred the Blue Mountain Lager. This is just really boring. Nothing wrong with it but nothing right either.
ReplyDeleteThis is Devil's Backbone's most basic offering...I love this brewery and the beer they make. Having always been a fan of vienna lagers i really like this beer...boring (it is a lager after all) but generally delightful. Once you fall in love with ales its hard to go back...
ReplyDeleteI would grab a sixer of this if I ever found myself in the mood for a lager.
...side note...the abv we will encounter with some of the beers we have yet to drink will more than make up for the nice easy entry we have had the last two days. The staggering abv of a some of these beers will be more than enough to keep you juice heads happy!
I like the choice to start us off this way Tony...always good to drink local.
The part I liked most about this beer is the label, which is really cool. The beer isn't bad, but I probably wouldn't order another one.
ReplyDeleteI like this one. I order it when I go to Black Finn, but it tastes better there, probably because it's on tap.
ReplyDeleteI actually liked this one much better than yesterday's. Tasted almost like an ale to me. Good color and down the line flavor. Straight up decent beer, could drink several of these in a row (unlike yesterday's more flavorful option). Might have to say now that there's a lager I actually like! Nice pick.
ReplyDeleteDid you drink the same beer as me?? Tasted almost like an Ale? Did you put something in it or pare it with some sort of food that magically made it "almost" like an Ale? I am looking forward to the ale's!
DeleteI consider myself a fan of lagers but yet again this was nothing special. I even let this one sit with me before posting hoping some form of enlightment would present itself; alas nothing came. Even though this as bland as Eli Manning's facial expressions, I could easily have a sixer of this. 7 out of 10
ReplyDeleteStarted off average but by the end I quite enjoyed it. Solid B. Looking forward to the upcoming lager-free run.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kris, this Lager was much better than Blue Mountain. I enjoyed it and I usually don't like the intense bitterness in many lagers. This one has none of that. I would buy this again. Sold b+ for me.
ReplyDeleteOh, and go Blazers. Up by 8 with 6 mins to go against Pacers.
ReplyDeleteAgree with what most everyone else has said. I've had this before and, again, not a huge fan. Though it seems to be very popular in bars with a lot of people. The low IBUs really let the malts shine through. I get a toasty, clean aroma with toast and slight nuttiness in the flavor with a clean, crisp finish. Again, it's not my favorite, but gun to my head I'd drink it again.
ReplyDeleteOne more day on the wagon. I hope to begin disobeying doctor's orders beginning with beer no. 3.
ReplyDeleteNot knowing anything about this beer, I was excited by what I saw on the label. With a World Beer Cup Gold award, how could it fail? Sadly, it did. Perhaps it was due to lofty expectations, but this beer fell flat for me. Grade: C-
ReplyDeleteNot bad, but liked the Blue Mountain better. Found this one to be a little bland.
ReplyDeleteI liked this better than Blue Mountain - easy drinking.
ReplyDeleteNot too bad but I think some of the other beers they brew are a lot better. I like a lot of what Devils Backbone is doing and am glad the region is finally starting to get some really good breweries. We aren't even close to Colorado yet but maybe their is hope. C+
ReplyDeleteNice lager with smooth finish not too aggressive on the finish. it will need more body for me to rate that beer above 6 so my rating on that one is 5.7 /10
ReplyDeleteNot bad for a hot summer day....
Once again sorry this is late, I'm just figuring out this whole internet thing.
ReplyDeleteI like this beer. I've run into it before and it never lets me down. Cheers.
Never had this beer before and it really wasn't bad. Loved the color and smell and it had a smoothness to it. Maybe it's because I drank it right after the blue mountain that I enjoyed it more by comparison to that first swill, but I liked it. Solid C+/B-........maybe a 6.5 out of 10 (haven't figured out my grading scale yet).
ReplyDelete