Kona Longboard Island Lager - Wipeout

Let me first state that I have tried other beers produced by Kona Brewery. I judge beers by taste alone, not by who brews them. Some breweries make both good and fair beers. When I spotted this beer, I thought I would give it a try. The official website http://www.konabrewingco.com/ gives little information about the beer itself, although it does provide a long list of awards their beers have won. In all fairness, your beer could have won hundreds of awards, but that doesn't shade my grading of this lager. It is what it is. I do have to give Kona points for the website, it is presented very well.

After opening the beer, I detect the aroma of a traditional lager. There is a sweet malt smell but little else was identifiable. I didn't note anything else particularly special. Longboard Lager has a golden color when poured. The head is white and it soon dissipates. The mouthfeel was lighter than I expected. The taste was pretty basic. I taste malt, annnnnnddd.... malt. That's it. This is a very basic lager. Longboard tastes like a very average lager. It is not a bad beer, but not great either. I really want to call the brewery and say, "Do something with it!". There is a solid base taste to this lager. Now build upon it by adding something to it to make it unique or exceptional. I believe this could be a good beer if only some experimentation was done to improve it. Would I buy this again? Probably not. In my opinion this is a very average lager. I do wish it were a better lager. I grade this beer a C+.

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