Chicagoist's Beer of the Week: Argus Holsteiner Lager

By Karl Klockars in Food on May 13, 2011 8:15PM

Beckett's, at the intersection of Belmont, Ashland and Lincoln recently relaunched itself with a focus on craft beers and gourmet burgers, which as concepts go puts them on the bleeding edge of mid-2008. Despite that, we stopped in for a bite and a few brews earlier this week and was pleasantly surprised by the number of local beers on the menu.

Most notably, they had both new offerings from Finch's (you remember their Cutthroat Pale Ale, right?) as well as a couple bottled beers from Argus Brewing. We've focused on Argus' self-distribution efforts as a part of Save The Craft over at Guys Drinking Beer, but this was the first time I had a chance to actually drink one of their beers, and it was pretty damn good. I sampled a couple offerings that evening, but the Holsteiner Lager was their brew on hand that night that really shined.

Metropolitan kinda has the market cornered when it comes to local lagers, but Argus can definitely hold its own in the lager style. Crisp, clean, brisk and light, it's got all the flavor and taste of a Stiegl or a BBK with a little bit more carbonation and without all that nasty cross-the-globe carbon footprint. I'd be more than happy to see Holsteiner show up in the bierstubes up and down Lincoln Avenue to offer a respite from the same old hefeweiss and pilsner selection.

Argus Brewing's Holsteiner Lager is Chicagoist's Beer of the Week.