REVIEW: New Belgium Shift

My Readers in Cincinnati may not recognize this one. New Belgium, best known for their very tasty Fat Tire, seems to distribute everywhere but Ohio and Kentucky. Which is a real shame because their stuff is delicious, as you'll see as we get into it. Anyways, I was able to snag a four pack of their new pale lager, Shift in Indianapolis this weekend. In addition to having beers that don't get distributed to Ohio Indianapolis has a legitimate IMAX theater. I drove up to Indy last weekend to see The Dark Knight Rises as Christopher Nolan, Wally Pfister, and God intended it. Writ large on a 70 plus foot tall screen. It was stunning by the way. If you have a chance to see it in a real IMAX theater, do it. It's worth it. So the trip yielded Batman and good beer, sounds like a success to me. Let's find out if this beer is as good as the movie. To the beer!

Shift pours a perfectly clear pale yellow. It's not the pale yellow of a macro lager to it. There's something brighter and more vibrant about it. It might be the interesting amber notes tucked in there beneath the head. That head by the way is a good two fingers of bone white foam is quite resilient and leaves some gorgeous windowpane lacing on the way down.

Another note on the look of this beer. I love this can. Gorgeous. I was a bit skeptical of the design of these type of New Belgium beers. The look of beers like Shift and their Ranger IPA don't seem to jive with the more traditional illustrative looks on Fat Tire and the like. But here, on this can, it absolutely works. Great stuff.

The aroma here is quite subtle, as you would expect on a lager like this but that doesn't keep them from being very nice. Toasty grain, sweet, with a little bit of a crisp herbal hoppiness.

Shift tastes light, smooth, and delicately sweet. There are some ever so slight hints at a faint caramel quality which I really enjoy. Shift is wonderfully drinkable. I could knock back this entire four pack with ease. And at only 5% ABV I wouldn't be in too bad a shape. It finishes with a nice, crisp, floral, hop bite. Shift even manages a nice lingering bitterness.

If you couldn't already tell, I really like this beer. Beers like this and Bell's Lager of the Lakes really illustrate the difference between an all malt lager and what you're used to from Bud, Miller, and Coors. If your impressions of a pale lager are solely formed by macro adjunct lagers do yourself a favor and try a real one.

HD