News & Articles

The colorful six-pack container and colorful cans inside looked like it might be another iteration of IPA, but a closer look and I learn that Da Shootz! is a new American pilsner from Deschutes Brewery of Bend, Oregon.

Well, several American pilsners have let me down in the past, so I had to try this one. It pours a hazy, carbonated gold with a high white head, looking just like an inviting pilsner should. The aroma is the very essence of beer.
The tagline on the packaging is “wildly refreshing,” and I wholeheartedly concur. This is a good, solid yet lighthearted pils that weighs in at 4 percent and a mere 25 IBU using Tettnang, Lemondrop and Azacca hops.

When you brew a pilsner, there is nothing to hide behind. 
The best pilsners – made in the Czech Republic – are redolent with malt. American brewers seem to be shy of malts when making pilsners, but here I think it was purposeful. I think Deschutes was trying to make a delicious light beer, and I believe they succeeded.

I followed the American pils with an offering from the soon-to-open new brewery in my village of 200, Copper Stag, a German amber from One Barrel Brewing of Madison (and shortly of Egg Harbor, too).

I don’t know what a German amber is, but what my eyes first saw instead of the word “amber” was “altbier,” which is an amberish beer style from Dusseldorf. Altbier, like kolsch from Cologne, is an ale brewed at colder lager temperatures.
I don’t know if Copper Stag is actually an alt, but I am going to proceed as if it is. 
What I can say for certain is that it is a delicious beer, rich in malt-hardiness yet with a slightly bitter finish. It is a beautiful amber-colored beer with a rich and persistent white head.

Yes, this is a yummy beer. Can’t wait until the brewery opens, with a Wild Tomato pizza option, so I’ve heard.