What: Point Special Lager
Where: Everywhere
Why: Because here we sit, spit out the ass end of the holiday season in need of a beer that’ll go easy on our overworked wallets and overwrought palates. And besides, this is a pretty good beer. In fact, this was the winner of a blind tasting we held for the January Oshkosh Beer Garden. We brought together seven retro beers that originated in Wisconsin and Point Special took the prize. None of the others were even close. It was a rout. What makes Point so Special? It’s taken me a few beers to figure it out, but I think I’ve got it: it’s the yeast. There’s dash of lager-yeast sulfur character that comes up in the aroma and flavor giving it just enough bite to keep things interesting. It’s light bodied, of course, with a mild sweetness that gets wiped away by a slight tang of bitterness in the finish. What the hell’s going on here? My craft beer brethren preach to me how beers such as this have no character. I call Bullshit on that. Point Special Lager certainly isn’t on par with something like Bells Hopslam, it’s not even the same kind of animal, but taken for what it is, this is a good beer. If you can throw away your preconceived notions and really taste it, you might be surprised what you find inside that inauspicious can. And if you’re not in the mood for all that fuss, then slam it. It’ll drink just fine that way, too. You can’t say that for Hopslam.
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