New Glarus Totally Naked Extra Pale Lager

Brewed By: New Glarus Brewing Company in New Glarus, Wisconsin

Purchased: 12oz bottle bought at Woodman's in Kenosha, WI; 2013

Style/ABV: American Premium Lager, 5.0% 

Reported IBUs: ?

Alright, so I have a lot of New Glarus beer that I need to get through, and their beer is fairly sessionable. I'm going to try to crank out a few twofers coming up, so here be the first of what is hopefully many. About New Glarus:

New Glarus is the rare, gorgeous "Midwest" brewery, founded in 1993 by Deborah Carey, the first woman to found and operate a brewery in the United States. She raised the capital for the start-up as a gift to her husband, Dan Carey, who is New Glarus' brewmaster and co-owner. Dan Carey has a long history working in the brewing industry, including an apprenticeship at a brewery near Munich, Germany and a job as the Production Supervisor for Anheuser-Busch. The brewery began as an abandoned warehouse using old brewpub equipment. In 1997, Dan Carey purchased coper kettles from a brewery in Germany. In May 2006, New Glarus opened their new (current) facility on a hilltop in the village of New Glarus. The facility looks like a Bavarian village, and is gorgeous. The expansion has allowed the brewery to continue to increase their production, and expand their operations. For more information, check out their brewery page or Wikipedia. 

The Totally Naked is is a play on the fact that this beer has "nothing to hide." There are no crazy hops or malts to be found here. Just some two-row barley, a handful of Noble hops, and good ol' lagering. 

New Glarus Totally Naked Extra Pale Lager

Speaking of having nothing to hide...upon opening this, the beer gushed. Hmm. This one pours into a very light, golden body, and kicks up a finger of white head. There's tons of tiny carbonation bubbles storming upwards in this filtered/transparent beer. This is one lively and effervescent beer. Bright light confirms much of the same: a super pale yellow body, almost green; and a foamy white head. Head retention is very nice, especially for the style, and there is some nice lacing on my glass. 

The aroma is super clean. Big beer wishes they could brew something that smelled this good. I mean, damn. I'm getting some nice grain on the aroma, with some doughy/biscuit malt. The clean yeast comes through, with just a hint of fruity and spice. There's also a dash of grassy/floral hops.

The taste is basically what you expect. It's almost silly to review this. You get clean yeast, with a little water character (it's a bit hard), and lots of grainy malts. The malts veer towards sweet and light, as you'd expect in a premium lager. There's a hint of biscuit or stale biscuit in the mix...maybe some cracker or bread. It's a solid malt character. And there's minimal hopping. 

This is legit. I'd buy a 6-pack of this. This is much better than Yuengling, and doesn't come with the guilt or shame of something like Miller High Life. 5.0%? What's that. You can take these by the 6-er. Palate depth is outstanding, and complexity is good for the style. This has a light-bodied mouthfeel with tons of carbonation. It's clean, with a slight hard water edge and a malt-driven experience. Up front is a wash of the yeast, with some of that hard water; that rolls into the Noble hops, grass, and some sweet malts; the malts pick up, and you get some grain and biscuit, with a clean dry finish. 

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Decent Above-Average on this. I'm not going to say much more. This is great for what it is, and affordable too. Buy this by the six or twelve pack in place of your BudMillerCoors. It also tastes better. Food pairings: sushi, fried chicken, wings, American bar food, and pizza. If you pair this with some really ornery, doughy pizza, you will be in good shape.

Random Thought: And now for part two...