Estes Park Staggering Elk

Brewed by Estes Park Brewery
Style: California Common
Estes Park, Colorado USA

Thanks to hopdog for passing this one along to me. Pours a lightly hazy golden amber with an average foamy white head that left light lacing. Aroma of corn, some lemon and a funkiness I cannot quite pinpoint. Flavor of corn, lemon, kind of a sweet maltiness and a little more of that funkiness. That the type of funkiness in which something infected it. Just a flavor and aroma I cannot quite put my finger on. Reminded me of the American macro pale lagers but maybe with a touch more flavor.

Bottle. Pours a decent gold with light carbonation. Little head and lacing. Aroma is corn. Flavor is corn with a syrupy sweetness in the finish. It’s as if the BMC’s went the "extra" mile to improve their product. Thin mouthfeel. Blah.

Draught sampled at the brewery. The beer was clear, medium oxidized brass without any head. The aroma was malty with a light note of toasted grain; Yeasty with a light note of cheese; Miscellaneous note of light honey/mead. The flavor was moderately sweet, moderately acidic with an average-length, lightly acidic/dry finish with lots of meady retros. The body was light, the texture was watery and the carbonation was soft. Not a stand out, but the medish quality was remarkable.

Cute name and label........but the beer sucks. My first Estes Park Beer was the Renegade IPA, which I was very impressed with. Unfortunately, quality and taste is apparently not the company promise. This lager tastes as if they went down the road to Golden and stole the recipe for Silver Bullet, and then mixed it with some Miller’s. If I was in a blind taste test, I would have picked this out as a macro from BMC, or worse.

Bottle poured a clear yellow with a small diminishing white head. Aromas of bread, straw and light citrus. Palate was light bodied. Flavors of bread and light citrus with a crisp finish.

12 oz bottle purchased at Brennan’s Country Market in Brookfield, WI (Oct 2005). No expiration date on this puppy, and I feared the worst as I popped the cap with nary a sound....the body is unfiltered dirty gold, not bad in and of itself I guess (rather reminiscent of some European strong lagers) but there is no head at all, it’s stagnant and still...honey, fresh grains, perhaps some lavender and some underlying caramel malt surprise my cynical nose, wow maybe this will be....flat, lactic, and perhaps spoiled in the body unfortunately, light English hops don’t help the essentially lifeless character which becomes metallic and lightly vegetal late...complete lack of carbonation doesn’t help matters either, helping to make a rather syrupy mess. I finished it, but barely. Probably too old (would help if the bottle was dated!) but I doubt it would be really terrific under any circumstances.

Poured a medium and cloudy yellow color with an averaged sized white head. Aromas of citrus, bananas, and grainy. Tastes of bananas, lemons with some grain and somewhat fruity. Thinner body. Somewhat on the sweeter side.

12 oz bottle-pours a white head, yellow color. Aroma is grain. Taste is grain, malty. Good carbonation.