Joseph James Craft American Lager

In my beer of the month club selection was a bottle of Joseph James Craft American Lager. The beer pours a pale straw color with a frothy white head. The aroma consists of caramel, malts, and light lemon. The taste is malty with a lemony bite, but not a great deal of complexity. The alcohol content is 5.2% ABV. For being a craft lager, this was rather pedestrian in flavor. While it is light years ahead of the “big boys” in corporate America, it doesn’t quite cut it when compared to other craft beers.

Joseph James Weize Guy Light Hefeweizen

Another Joseph James beer that came with my beer of the month club subscription was the Weize Guy Light Hefeweizen. The beer pours a yellow color with a foamy white head that is not lofty, typical of Hefeweizens, and rather disappointing. The aroma consists of lemon, wheat, orange, and yeast. The taste is light and lemony with not too much body to it. There is a slight sourness to the beer and a bit of wheat on the finish. The after taste is grassy and earthy. The alcohol content is 3.5% ABV. This beer was rather disappointing for a Hefeweizen. While it was light and refreshing, the lack of flavor would keep me away from getting this beer in the future.

Joseph James Tahoe Blue Nevada Pale Ale

As part of my beer of the month club, I received a bottle of Joseph James Tahoe Blue Nevada Pale Ale. First things first, this beer literally exploded out of the bottle when I opened it, and I have never has a beer pour out so much, even highly volatile bottle conditioned beers. The beer pours a golden orange color with a frothy white head. The aroma consists of caramel, lemon, and resiny and fresh pine hops. The taste starts off bitter with grapefruit, lemon, and pine hops, disappears for a moment in the carbonation, and comes back with some toasted caramel and pine bitterness. The alcohol content is 6.0% ABV. This was a decent pale ale, minus exploding out of the bottle and the fact that carbonation took the flavor away for a moment. Otherwise, there was a good amount of flavor packed in to this beer.