A little while back a coworker was passing through Roslyn, Washington and happened upon the Roslyn Brewing Company, and was kind enough to bring me back a bottle each of their two beers, Brookside Beer and Roslyn Beer. Brookside (the first I’ve drank so far) is a pale lager in a 22-ounce bomber. No indication of alcohol content, but I’d guess fairly standard around 5%.

Of course, the deal was I had to blog about the beers as I drank them. Who am I to turn down such a deal? As long as I’m not ending up with some sort of Russian jet fuel (I actually have an old bottle of Russian beer that looks to be just that… kept as a collectable only, never intended for consumption), it’s all good.

Appearance: Pale orange and nice and clear. A slightly off-white head rose rapidly, and dissipated just as quickly. At the end of the bottle a bit of sediment came off the bottom, clouding things up a bit.

Smell: A surprisingly fruity and sweet (honey?) character. Clean. Hops are there, but understated, not really florally.

Taste: Clean, grainy, steely and grassy-ish from the hops. There’s that sweet hint of fruit on the palate. The hops that are there are assertive without being strong… mellow. Well-balanced for a lager.

Mouthfeel: A little thin, but otherwise medium-bodied—more substance than I’d expect to see in a pale lager of this sort. Smooth. It’s a bit dry, sort of biting.

On BeerAdvocate, there are only six reviews, but of those, all six give it a thumbs-up and score it 84 out of 100. On RateBeer there are only slightly more reviews—nine—and it scores a solidly average 2.69 out of 5.

Overall, I found this to be a tasty beer. It’d make a good session beer, it’s not that strong in alcohol, and I could see grabbing a bottle or two while barbecuing steaks and chicken on the patio on a hot summer day.