Lagerboy Speaks – JW Dundee’s Honey Brown
It’s always pleasing to Lagerboy when he gets his hands on a lager from the United States, as historically their mass-produced bilge has given US craft lagerers (if that’s a word) a bad name. Guilt by association is a wrong that Lagerboy wishes to right, when he can. Anyway, that was the reason he acquired a bottle of JW Dundee’s Honey Brown, a 4.5% “honey flavoured lager” from the High Falls Brewing Company in Rochester, New York State. Not that he was attempting to lump all of the imbalance created by Budweiser, Coors et al on a single producer, but something needs to be done, certainly. We’ve previously looked at two American lagers – Brookyln Lager and Lone Star (with wildly differing results), so a third was certainly overdue.
The bottle that Lagerboy had found seems to have been something of an older version – in June 2009 High Falls were re-named the Genesee Brewing Company, and JW Dundee’s Honey Brown became Dundee Original Honey Brown Lager. The reason for this branding shuffle was down to a change in ownership – following their 2008 sale to a New York investment group High Falls reverted to their old brewery name, the Genesee. It’s always pleasing when a brewer tips their hat towards history, and Genesee can trace theirs back to the Aqueduct Spring Brewery – first opened in 1819 (they only became High Falls in 2000). Indeed, in the late 1860’s the company was known by the rather dandyish name Reisky & Spies.
Honey beers are always going to divide opinion given the natural sweetness imparted from the added ingredient. Examples such as Wells Waggle Dance or Fuller’s Honey Dew can be relied upon to start a debate – and we sampled the latter of those two back in BeerCast #4, where it did just that. Genesee’s marketing of their honey lager almost admits as much – “…when you’re in the mood for something different…” is one of the sentences on their website. Whether this is an attempt to widen the palates of your average craft beer drinker, or an admission of the difficulty in selling the style, it’s hard to say. But you could certainly argue honey beers are a niche market.
Anyway, getting to the product – Dundee’s Honey Brown unsurprisingly pours with a luscious dark gold colour, one of the more pleasing hues Lagerboy has seen for a while. The thin pale head diminishes rapidly and the slightly sweet nose is backed up by just a touch of malt and a little hop aroma. But overall there’s not much on the nose – and not much on the taste either. The honey comes on more as it warms, but it’s never overpowering, only subtle nuances and the sweeter aftertaste expose the added ingredient. That’s almost a disappointment – you feel like you want more honey to match the syrup colour of the beer. It’s very drinkable, but maybe to appease lager fans they have dialled back the flavour slightly too much.
