Kona Longboard Lager

Brewed by Kona Brewing Company
Style: Premium Lager
Kailua Kona, Hawaii USA

Pours a golden color with a thick head. First glass I tried, the beer came off tasting skunky to me - not sure if it was me or the beer. So, I dumped and tried another one the next day. This time I got an aroma of spice, hops, and malt. Taste was better the second time around with a slight pine, hop and floral taste. I prefer their pale ale offering but this wasn’t bad.

Poured from the bottle into a pint glass. Pour produced a clear, wheat colored body, topped by a small head of white foam, which diminished quickly. Aroma is a fair balance of hops and malt. Medium bodied, with a malty sweetness. Palate isn’t eclectic, and shouldn’t be. This is a smooth drinking beer with a bit of a hops afterbite at the end to give it a little character. Not memorable, but not bad...

$1.39 12 oz. single at Total Wine & More in Kennesaw, Georgia. Packaged on July 3rd, 2008. Appearance: Pours a clear, golden body with a smallish, white head. Smell: Aroma smelling of light pale malts, an incredibly light touch of caramel, and distinctive spicy hops. Oh, and a tiny hint of dinner rolls. Taste: Light pale maltiness with a light, brief sweetness and hint of washed out caramel. Faintest hint of wheat chaff. Spicy, Saaz hops with a light, cleansing bitterness. Finishes quite crisp with a flutter of both carbonation of spicy hop character. Bits of dough in the aftertaste. Mouthfeel: Light-bodied. Medium-plus carbonation. Drinkability: Decent. I will say it certainly displays more malt and hop character than your basic macro lager.

I thought it was a fairly decent American lager. Nothing really amazing about it however I did enjoy it.

Bottle from Safeway in Kapolei, Oahu. Pours with a clear golden hue with lots of carbonation. In fact its hard to tell that the beer is because there are so many bubbles. Aroma is of hops, yeast, some pineapple, and citrus. Good full smell for a lager. Flavor is of bread, spices - ginger, and lots of yeast. A refreshing beer indeed. Light to medium mouthfeel with lively carbonation! Not a bad brew - definitely not deserving to be in the 29th percentile in my opinion.

Just a small step up from an adjunct filled American macro lager. The beer looks fine for a lager, and there is nothing offensive in the aroma. The flavor verged on corn, but I guess was probably just mediocre barley. It is somewhat dry. Pale, bland malt. There is little to recommend it, and, costing an extra dollar per pint at the bar that I had it, I would not even choose it above Bud, etc.

Bottle. Pours a bright golden yellow with a thin white head. Taste is of malt, corn, hops and honey. Is well balanced and sort of sweet. Has a nice dryness and bitterness to it. Aroma is the same as the taste. Pretty easy to drink and is satisfying. Overall, a pretty good beer that is worth having during the summer months.

Clear golden with a fleeting head. Grainy, biscuity malt aroma. Light/medium body. Decent grainy pale malt grist flavor with bready yeast. Clean crisp finish. Nice summertime pounder.