Did y'all have a nice Valentine's Day? Michelle and I went out to dinner, came back, had a drink (beer for me, wine for her) and went to bed. It was uneventful, sure, but it was pretty much my ideal Friday night.


Well, we did all of the above while swinging by a bottle shop between dinner and coming home. The goal was to purchase her wine (which, if you read that first paragraph, you'll know was a successful in that endeavor), but I also was looking for a little something special to write about today: Listermann's Kris, a cheetah beer (it's pretty well documented on the blog and on my Twitter that I'm a big cheetah supporter). I was lucky enough to find it, packaged with its companion stout, Remus. So, today, I'm drinking them both and presenting my thoughts on them to you. Let's get to it.

I feel like people have been talking about craft lager for a while, saying how it'll be "the next big thing." This is a phrase I've been reading for the last year or so. And, you know what? I'm down for it. I'd much rather each brewery have 50 different lagers than 50 different IPAs. Excuse my hyperbole, but you know exactly what I mean. I'm of the opinion that it's more challenging to make a bad lager than it is to gnarly IPA.


If you've hung out around the blog here long enough you know that I'm no stranger to craft lagers (see lagers here and pilsners here). While it's never been my favorite style, it's one that I thoroughly enjoy and, over the years, I've learned what makes a lager seem great to me. And unbeknownst to you but beknownst to me, I love cheetahs. They're my favorite animals and have held that spot ever since Beast Wars was on TV. So, when Rhinegeist announced that their craft lager, Cheetah, was being canned for year-round availability, I just about lost it.