Beer of the Weekend #137: Woodie Gold

I watched the England-US game at Zee German’s place and thought about stopping at the Karl Strauss Brewery Restaurant at South Coast Plaza on my way home. Each month, Karl Strauss offers one or two exclusive beers only at their six restaurants. Strauss Stout and Rye IPA are the beers this month, and I really want to sample Strauss Stout. However, I forgot my notebook and decided to do it maybe tomorrow or next weekend. It’s unfortunate I learned about Karl’s “on tap only releases” just this week; if I had known about them earlier, I would have stopped in every month. But alas…

Speaking of Karl Strauss, the second beer this weekend is Woodie Gold, brewed by the Karl Strauss Brewing Company of San Diego, California.


Serving type: Six 12-ounce bottles. There’s a cryptic and poorly printed number on the neck label. If it’s a freshness date, it is totally useless.

Appearance: Straight pour into a pint glass. The color is a clean, clear light gold. It’s a little darker than straw. Two fingers of foamy white head developed and dissipated quickly to leave a spotted lacing and ring around the edge.

Smell: Much like Karl’s Amber Lager, though there’s not as much caramel. Bready corn malts that are toasted a touch. Honey and a little butterscotch.

Taste: Not as good as the smell. Buttery and bready smooth. Mostly adjunct corn — though higher quality than the usual macro fare — and a very awkward hop bite. It’s not the usual, crisp pilsner bite, but something more sour that tickles the cheeks.

Drinkability: It’s okay. Karl wanted to make something drinkable for all of SoCal’s elevations. It did so, but the result is nothing memorable.

Fun facts about Woodie Gold:

-Style: German pilsner. Here’s what BA has to say:

The Pilsner beer was first brewed in Bohemia, a German-speaking province in the old Austrian Empire. Pilsner is one of the most popular styles of lager beers in Germany, and in many other countries. It’s often spelled as “Pilsener”, and often times abbreviated, or spoken in slang, as “Pils.”

Classic German Pilsners are very light straw to golden in color. Head should be dense and rich. They are also well-hopped, brewed using Noble hops such has Saaz, Hallertauer, Hallertauer Mittelfrüh, Tettnanger, Styrian Goldings, Spalt, Perle, and Hersbrucker. These varieties exhibit a spicy herbal or floral aroma and flavor, often times a bit coarse on the palate, and distribute a flash of citrus-like zest--hop bitterness can be high.

-Price: $8.29/sixer at the BevMo! on Beach.

-Serving temperature: 40-45ºF.

-Alcohol content: 4.6 percent ABV.

-Food pairings: BA recommends Japanese cuisine, German cuisine, peppery cheeses (Monterey, Pepper Jack), and meat (poultry and fish).

-Color: 6 SRM.

-IBU: 19.

-There’s some major craft brewer nerdiness going on on the carrier and on the Karl website:

A Bohemian-style pilsner with a breed-like maltiness, subtle hop bite, and clean dry finish.

Woodie Gold is a nod to a classic European lager. We use noble Saaz hops for the spicy floral aroma and soft hop bitterness true to authentic Czech pilsners. A base of bread-like malt flavors from the finest pale barley provide a delicate balance. Softening techniques to duplicate the water found in the Bohemian countryside and cold conditioning give Woodie Gold its crisp refreshing taste.

It might have been around the campfire during the road trip down to Baja. Or maybe it was in the lodge after a powder day up at Mammoth. Wherever it was, we realized the need for a beer that tastes good at any elevation. Enter Woodie Gold, the ideal beer wingman for the adventurous Southern California spirit.

-Woodie Gold won a silver medal at the 2009 LA County Fair. A silver medal in…what? The website doesn’t say.

The Quiet Man’s grade: C.