Product: Blue Point Toasted Lager Producer: Blue Point Brewing Company Approximate Retail Value: $9.89/6 Pack Category: Beer Country of Origin: Long Island, New York, USA Reviewer: SexHerald Staff The F Words: Flavor – Citrus, toasty. Feel – Medium body, crisp. Finish – Long, smooth.

Rating:

Blue Point Brewing Company out of Long Island is home to a wide variety of beers, of which I’ve only tasted three: Blueberry Ale, Hoptical Illusion and Toasted Lager. The latter is my favorite by far (and it’s also the brewery’s award-winning, flagship beer). During this time of year, when autumn starts fading into severely cold wet days, nothing feels or tastes better than an Amber Lager—neither too heavy or hearty nor too thin and refreshing.

Toasted Lager is on the lighter side of amber lagers with a distinct copper color. Pouring slowly, an appealing, frothy head emerged, but sadly dissipated before I could really enjoy its complexities. Ah well, on to the beer below!

The color and body, which bordered frighteningly on too thin, precluded the taste and felt wonderful. Toasted Lager was crisp and clean, even cleansing, and, in some inexplicable way, produced a very champagne-like effect on my tongue: little bubbles cleansing my palate. This probably has something to do with the effective balancing between malt (they use six different ones!) and hop. But before I overstate its “refreshing” qualities, let’s on focus on its namesake: toasted.

Toasted Lager, in taste only, recalled the faint toastiness of bread barely browned. Blue Point’s website says: “The ‘toasted’ part of the name refers to our direct-fire brew kettle’s hot flames that impart a toasted flavor to our most popular microbrew.” The most important word is “impart” because, unlike the blueberries in their Blueberry Ale, the toasted aspect was not overdone but resonated just enough to make the beer enjoyable.

The beer’s hops are evident, but aren’t as pleasing as the ones in the brewery’s Hoptical Illusion. What I really tasted was the light citrus, like an orange peel, which is one of the flavors typical of winter lagers. This makes it such a great late-autumn/early-winter beer: it has the flavors of winter, but a body meant for a cool, crisp day.

The beer’s finish was, just as Blue Point points out, “long-lasting” and “smooth.” I don’t know much about what produces a great finish, so we’ll take them on their word when they claim Toasted Lager’s is the result of “special lager yeast.” It tastes good, it finishes nice, that’s what matters.

Toasted Lager was a welcome reprieve after gulping down three bottles of Blueberry Ale! I recommend this beer if you’re out doing some casual, after-work drinking. While there’s nothing extraordinary about it, there’s also little to dislike. I’d pick up a six-pack and not feel embarrassed if anyone saw it in my fridge. In fact, I’d offer them one.