Point, with a side of Plaza Sauce. This photo was so bad that the only a watercolor filter could make it worse.

Recently, I’ve been chastised for my seemingly ill-conceived beer choices, so I’d like to take a moment to reiterate the one essential rule of this project: only beers that I have not tried before are allowed. For some, this might not present much of a challenge, but, with nearly a decade of love for great beer to my credit, this narrows the field significantly.

150 years of crappy beer

On a stop at The Plaza this past Friday, my “only new beers” rule backfired a bit, leaving Point Brewery Special Lager as the only qualified option. Well-known in the swampy, flat area of the state that I hail from, Point Brewery has been supplying the northern half of Wisconsin with cheap, nondescript lager since the Civil War era.

In 2007 or so, after 150 years of crappy beer, Point re-branded a bit and added some craft-ish styles to its lineup. Offerings such as 2012 Black Ale and Point Oktoberfest demonstrate modest brewing skill and are tasty enough to outweigh the shame of drinking Point in public. Some of the old standards, however, remain. Among these, of course, is Point Special Lager.

Not much to say here; it’s a typical American lager, albeit without that tinge of iniquity that accompanies macro lagers. Despite its shortcomings, however, Point Special, still does a fine job of washing down a Plazaburger. The facts:

Point Special Lager