Lagerland land lager

The Veltins prestige brand, Grevensteiner, has been available in these parts for a while. I've had the Helles and the Radler, but never Grevensteiner Original. How remiss of me.

Expecting a crystal-clear serving of gold I picked an elegant stemmed glass for it, so was surprised when it poured out murky and brown, more suited to a clay mug. It was then that I noticed "Landbier" on the label's smallprint. I have limited experience of Landbier, but I'm reasonably sure that murky and brown is par for the course.

Not that this is a bad thing. The aroma, for a start, is lovely and smells of fresh brown bread with a topping of crisp celery. The hop side is quieter in the flavour, letting all that wholesome wholemeal do the talking. Although it's 5.2% ABV and describes itself as "süffig", it's not really what I'd associate with the word, being light of body with a very quick finish. That does at least mean it's clean and easy drinking, but then if I wanted that I could have stuck with the Helles.

All said, this is bang average, not really delivering on the promise of the appearance or aroma. There's a certain amount of rough and rustic charm but not really enough to make it properly interesting.