Upslope Craft Lager - Upslope Brewing Company

spoony

Colorado

3.61/5  rDev +0.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

From a 12 oz can into a globe glass.

A-The brew is crystal clear and light, yellowish gold in color. A thin white head dissipates quickly. It looks like a pale lager.

S-Very light aroma of pale, fruity malts with a little bit of bread dough. There is also some cereal grain, but hops are pretty much non-existent.

T-The taste tracks the smell at first, with lightly buttery, fruity, pale yeasty flavors. There is a little grassy hop twang on the finish, which really helps.

M-The feel is light (although it is medium to full for the style), crisp, and drinkable. Carbonation is medium.

O-This beer is nothing to write home about, but there is a decent flavor, which makes it a decent alternative to macro-AAL-type beers. The problem I have is that for the same price, you can get significantly more flavorful session type beers, so unless you have a hankering for a lightly flavored pale lager, why buy this over say...Sierra Nevada Pale or Dale's Pale?

Serving type: can

04-15-2013 13:50:02 | More by spoony

DenverLogan

Colorado

3.68/5  rDev +2.8%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

On tap at Lowry Beer Garden, Denver.
Pours a gold-straw yellow with minimal head in a pint glass.
Aroma of light malts, slight sweetness.
Moderate carbonation and mouthfeel.
Flavors of grassy hops, minerals, light caramel....crisp, refreshing but also a touch of bitterness in the initial bite through the finish.

Serving type: on-tap

04-09-2013 02:27:45 | More by DenverLogan

allforbetterbeer

Colorado

4.01/5  rDev +12%
look: 3 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured into a snifter- not the ideal glass but one that I have found I enjoy beer from whenever I am reviewing it.

This is a slightly cloudy light straw-gold color in body with a minimal head. The nose shows the faintest touch of sulfur, light earthy hops and some sweet grains. Approachable and inviting. Almost innocent.

The flavor is sweeter than expected, with a nice crackery barley presence that starts off strong and lasts throughout. The hops a light and present with minor earthy and even floral tones. Overall the feel is smooth from a lower level of carbonation (a bonus in my book) and the light sweetness actually makes this totally drinkable.

Conclusion: It seems to me that most of the reviewers on this site are still in their craft beer adolescence. By that I mean that they want simplicity, bold and easy to identify flavors, and constantly are seeking to "one-up" the beer they drank yesterday. Thus a mild flavored, low ABV, easy drinking beer such as this will score low. What if Upslope intended to keep everything mild mannered? And if so, why is that mandate a low score? I digress. This beer could almost pass as a kolsch as it is fruitier and slightly sweeter than the standard lager. Warmer fermentation perhaps? Either way, this is light, drinkable, and quiet tasty.

Serving type: can

02-15-2013 06:40:09 | More by allforbetterbeer

beergoot

Colorado

3.89/5  rDev +8.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

Pouring the beer into a pint glass produced a nice, soft yellow body with a creamy white head. Soft grainy aroma with hints of freshly cut grass. The taste comes across with a subdued grain-like flavor, kind of biscuit-like, with a good hop bitterness. Medium-light body with a crisp, dry finish.

This is a very nice, refreshing lager with well-rounded grain hop character. Flavorful enough enjoy a few in a row, and with the low ABV, it would do well as a session beer.

Serving type: can

02-01-2013 21:59:12 | More by beergoot

alexipa

Colorado

4.43/5  rDev +23.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.25

A: Pale straw yellow with little head, even when pouring straight down the center of a tall pilsner glass.

S: Very sweet malty smell, a hint of yeast and citrus as well.

T: Nice crisp citrus taste up front, lemon mainly. Lots of sweet pilsner malts throughout, kept balanced with subtle bittering hops. Well balanced and very pleasant.

M: Full bodied and creamy smooth, which is quite unexpected from the look of it. Nicely carbonated and still light enough to drink a few in succession.

O: Just a great craft lager in the German style. I could see hop lovers being slightly disappointing here, as malts really steal the show. I really enjoy it and find it to be a perfect fishing or lawn work beer.

Serving type: can

01-10-2013 04:27:24 | More by alexipa

mactrail

California

3.73/5  rDev +4.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Very pale in the tall Pilsener glass with a nice foamy cap. Ultra-light body with some decent spritz on the tongue.

The endless lemony flavor is the best feature. It's not overly sharp, but there is something like a lemon chiffon cake flavor. The nose has that same bready, citrusy aroma. The hops are rather subtle, with just a whisper of bitterness. It's just faint all over. A ghost of a beer, but a friendly spirit.

From the 12 oz can bought at Grapevine Liquors on south Monaco.

Serving type: can

07-14-2012 05:22:18 | More by mactrail

StonedTrippin

Colorado

3.88/5  rDev +8.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

for a pale lager, this is damn good. pours a straw yellow color with a 2 inch white head nice and thick on top. smells more malt than hops, but some bitter notse come through in the taste from what appears to be a fairly generous hopping for this style. mouthfeel is excellent, good carbonation, not too too light on the body, and a crisp finish. very easy drinking, and interesting enough to want to drink a bunch of them. i have really enjoyed every upslope brew ive tried so far, and this one was no exception. stood up well to some hot food.

Serving type: on-tap

02-24-2012 20:43:23 | More by StonedTrippin

Domingo

Colorado

3.45/5  rDev -3.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Pale yellow gold. Just a little bit of haze to it. Lacing galore, though.
Lighter malts on the nose. Hops are there, and they give off a little apricot character. I've gotten this from other mild noble hop based pale beers, too...but never a lager. A little honeycomb from the yeast shows that it clearly IS a lager though.
That apricot note from the nose is there in the taste, too. I think it comes from the extra sweet pale malts and those hops. I wish they'd used a different hop, as these could use a hair more bitterness.
Easy drinking, but a little odd to have a fruity lager.
Pretty good, if not unusual.

Serving type: can

11-26-2011 21:22:02 | More by Domingo

drabmuh

Maryland

3.43/5  rDev -4.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Thanks Boatshoes, this beer is yellow and clear with a soft white head of large bubbles, some lacing on the glass, decent retention. Looks good.

Aroma is absent, oops, forgot to make it smell like anything.

Beer is medium to light in body and sweet up front with a good finish. As far as a little pilsner goes, above average for sure but a little boring. I wish for something more the entire time drinking it, I'd have a dry hopped version on tap someday if that were possible.

Serving type: can

11-04-2011 17:13:40 | More by drabmuh

rawfish

California

3.6/5  rDev +0.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Pours a dark gold into a shaker glass with a 2 finger high white head of foam with decent retention for a lager and streams of delicate lace on the glass.

Corn meal, cereal grains and a bit of bread. Yeast heavy on the aroma gives it a more earthy feel before Saaz hop character builds a nice finish grassy. Pretty coarse, nicely brings out the hops but the malt is divided into sweet and grainy.

Any unpleasantness in the nose is not present here, nice bready backbone shifts to a lighter grassy hop flavor coupled with some soapiness.

A bit heavier on the palate than typical lager and lower carbonation enhances that. Pleasant soapy finish but leaves some residue on the palate.

I laud Upslope for always putting out a solid product, a small brewery shouldn't pull too many punches and you know what you are going to get every time, a beer that is true to style, a bit lackluster in creative approach but solid.

Serving type: can

06-28-2011 22:21:28 | More by rawfish

Formana

Colorado

4.4/5  rDev +22.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Pours a golden bright color. Nice head produced from vigorous pour. Light Czech Saaz hops on the nose. Very refreshing taste that goes down easy. At 4.8% abv this will be my new summer beer. I love that Upslope has expanded their portfolio with an awesome lager.

Serving type: can

06-27-2011 17:11:21 | More by Formana

ShabbyX

Colorado

1.65/5  rDev -53.9%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 1.5

This brewery seems determined to present itself as a craft brewer without formulating anything interesting or 'good' in its nominal attempts at different styles.

This particular beer is like a sad knock-off of Avery's Joe's Pilsner, which in itself is less than perfect.

All Upslope beers suffer from lackluster carbonation- each sip lands dead on my palette. This lager needs to be dryer and present a bigger head, to start.

Again and again I wonder if these smaller brewers are starting with some target references - Urquell, Paulaner, Asahi?

No way this is worth $9 a six pack.

Cheers.

Serving type: can

06-26-2011 02:28:04 | More by ShabbyX

emmasdad

Colorado

3.45/5  rDev -3.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

$6.99 a six pack yesterday at Argonaut; Hadn't had it, and the price was right. Poured a clear golden color with a small white head. Aromas of bread yeast, biscuit and light hops. On the palate, this one was medium bodied with flavors of bread, yeast and light hops.

Serving type: can

06-22-2011 22:54:09 | More by emmasdad

ArrogantB

Colorado

3.25/5  rDev -9.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

12oz can with orange accents on the can. Color is yellow and the head is just ok. Smells like your average lager, beery. Taste is not bad but doesn't wow me at all. This is super easy to drink but for $8.49 I'm going to go with something else every time.

Serving type: can

06-21-2011 01:44:33 | More by ArrogantB