High & Mighty Purity of Essence

High & Mighty Beer Co
Brewed at Paper City Brewery
Style: Premium Lager
Holyoke, Massachusetts USA

Bottle: Pours a gorgeous hazy deep rusty copper with a monstrous lacing/pillowy tan head. Great looking beer. The aroma is zesty, clean, bread crust, a sweeter dark bready note, lots of fresh lemon zest/rind. Nice! Has body is lively and crisp yet substantial. The flavor has an amazing malt depth. Both clean and flavorful. Crisp upfront with notes of lemon zest-like hop spiciness, followed by a subtle toffee note in the back with other malt subtleties/complexities. Toasted bread crust, subtle vanilla, toasted almond and a long peppery/zesty hop finish. An awesome, hoppy lager with great malt character!

Bottle at Earth. Cloudy darker copper body with a rich and frothy off-white head. The smell is a bit subdued, but has notes of pine-sol, grass and honey. The taste is much different and packed full of flavor. Grains galore with a really rich caramel and bread base. The hops come through well with some pine and grass. The finish is clean and refreshing without a lot of the overly crisp lager notes. I really dig this brew and can’t wait to try more from High & Mighty.

Pours orange with a huge rocky head. Nose is floral hops, some lemon zest, honey. Flavor is bitter flower petals, some sour citrus, soft caramel. This beer is under-rated. Awesome!

A very hazy copper pour, with a soapy, lasting head - interesting and complex aroma of grapefruit, bread, brown sugar, floral notes, hay, a lot of earthy, musty character - the fact that they left this unfiltered has given the beer a lot of earthy complexities in the flavor - smooth, creamy mouthfeel, with a medium body - strong, leafy, herbal hops - a little bit of tartness - bready malts, spices, a bit of fruity character, notes of rye, toasted grains, even hints of smoke at times - grapefruit pulp and a touch of citric acidity arrive late - an interesting and tasty beer - this is no premium lager, though - it is definitely a kellerbier. (Note to the brewer, though: quit it with the pretentious names for your beers)

Bottled on June 4, 08. Chunky rusty amber color with a dense creamy head. Lemony, orangina like hop-forward aroma. Clean and slightly toasty with light caramel. Surprisingly full nose for a lager of any kind, in my experience. Round and hugely clean flavor, with a pithy, bitter citrus finish. Bready malts and slightly yeasty - nice lacing, by the way. Mushy and chewy, with a grassy and herbal component. Soft finish. Really well balanced and very drinkable. As flavorful and interesting a lager as I’ve had.

This is what a lager should be. A gold/bronze color with a powerful thick head. The malty fruity smell is subtle as are the bitter grassy hops taste. I wish I could find a bar with this on tap because I could drink it all night.

(Bottle). Aroma is hoppy and citrus, along with some yeasty malt. Very hazy orange amber in color, with a creamy off-white head that leaves quite pretty lacing. Flavor is very hoppy and citrus, but it’s also supported by lager breadiness and malt. Very pleasant hoppy finish. Overall, a bit of a hybrid brew. Different and excellent.

My Bottom Line:
This beautifully drinkable Kellerbier (with American flair) is the scene for the refreshing equilibrium of lightly caramelized, toasted malts and herbal, almost zesty hops. This is the kind of beer I would like to have in the fridge all the time, but which is sadly quite rare in these parts.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A rocky head of foam decorates the hazy, bright amber, lacing admirably.
-The body is lean and the flavor profile balanced until the hop finishing bitterness, whose leafy zing has a lot of endurance.
-Herbal (noble) hops are more present in the nose than the malts.
-Orange zest highlights appear towards the end.
-Carbonation is frothy and made of big but soft bubbles.

Bottle.