American Macro Week 2: Landshark Lager

American Macro WeekLandshark Lager has an interesting pedigree, and probably one I’ll bet you didn’t think you’d see reviewed under the "Macro" category. Not so. Even though it’s marketed by Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville franchise, the beer itself is brewed by—you guessed it—Anheuser-Busch and is in fact brewed to the "American Macro" style.

I’ve been curious about this beer since I first saw it, but was deterred by the negative reviews and the spendy price for a six-pack (relative to the style). So instead I picked up the one bottle for this week.

Landshark LagerIt’s 4.7% alcohol by volume and marketed as an "Original Island Lager."

Appearance: Nice clear golden yellow with a frothy white head that looks sticky—and in fact leaves nice lacing on the sides of the glass throughout.

Smell: Grainy, light aroma with a bare hint of sour/skunk that reminds me of Mexican beer. Otherwise very neutral, not much there.

Taste: Richer, grainier (maltier?) character than usual for the style—it definitely has more character and (surprisingly) not coming off as skunked. (I was worried because of the clear glass bottle.) Decent.

Mouthfeel: A bit thicker than your typical Macro; nice presence and doesn’t leave any weird after tastes/effects.

Overall: Enjoyable for this type of beer, actually. I’m not sure I’d pick it over a PBR, say, but it’s very competently done.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores an overall grade of D+. On RateBeer, it scores 1.75 out of 5 and is in their 3rd percentile.

One comment

  1. I’m amazed that this beer gets such low ratings. I think it’s pretty good although not worth $8 a sixer. But when I’m in the mood for beer that makes me think of sand, it’s the one I go for.

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