Detroit Beer Co. The Detroit Dwarf

Brewed by Detroit Beer Company
Style: Zwickel/Keller/Landbier
Detroit, Michigan USA

Serve in Lager glass, Stein

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Wow, is this great beer! My buddy brought me a growler on his way home from a Tigers game (yes, he bought one for himself, too) and it’s all we’ve talked about since. Nice tight creamy off-white head, murky caramel brown in the glass. Malty caramel aroma. Medium mouthfeel. Awesome roasty malt flavor with a mildly bitter, wet finish. Reminds me of New Belgium Fat Tire but more assertive.

Sample at the brewpub. This beer pours a slightly hazy amber color with a medium beige head that recedes slowly to a film. The aroma is caramel malt and hops. Medium body with flavors of sweet malt, yeast and mild hops. The finish is fruity with a short malt aftertaste. Slightly above average overall.

Nicely balanced beer. Doesn’t knock me off my feet. Rather forgetable when it comes down to it.

Bottle. Aroma has notes of cereal malts, caramel and toast. Deep red mahogany hue with a small off-white head that mostly diminished and left little lace. Flavor is medium sweet. Palate is medium bodied and watery average. Overall a good caramel malt character and enjoyable to drink.

Pours an amber color with malts in the aroma. Little bit of bitterness with a malty backbone. Not too bad. Got this one in the airport in Detroit! Weeee

reddish brown in color solid white head. very malty and kind of ice tea flavor on the sweeter side not much hop.

Bottle at Old Chicago in Grand Rapids, Mi. A red pour with a small head. A malty and fruity nose with rye. Big rye jumps out at the first sip. Lots of grain, too. This is nicely complex with the herbal notes. Some nice fruit, too. A nice beer.

12 oz bottle at the SpringHill Suites near the Detroit airport. Pour is a clear copper, slight ruby with a one inch light tan head that is lasting. Aroma is lightly sweet malt, with a touch of grass, perhaps a bit of herbal underneath the grass, though its faint. Taste is the malt, with sweet toasted biscuit, then gets a little unclean in the finish. Palate is light bodied, finishes with a mild grass that is touch off. Overall, fair, but certainly drinkable.

8/14/11. 12oz bottle. Almost clear dark amber/red pour with a frothy khaki head that fades fast and laces a teensy bit. Light aroma of caramel and nuts with a faint trace of bitter coffee in there. An array of flavors passes over, starting with caramel and nuts, passing to butter, and ending with a touch of fruit and bitter coffee. Nice, actually.

Dark amber color with large head. Aroma and taste are carmel, spice and malt. Touch on the sweet side at finish.

I was delightfully surprised. I’ve actually taken the Detroit Dwarf for granted, I think. While it pours thin, with a deep red or pale brown color and very little head, the first sip blows up any lack of expectation. The nose and initial taste opens with a big fruity, nutty sweetness and a slight alcohol burn on the roof of the palate--which is expected at nearly 7 percent ABV. It rolls over the tongue with hints of brown sugar, cherry, nuts and tea as it slides off the sides, complex and lingering. The potent body fends off any sourness, which can sometimes negatively decay the sweeter brews. Even better, the Dwarf opens up at warmer temperatures, with a firm, but not overpowering, flavoring of hops that rounds out the aftertaste and cleans things up in a satisfying and spicy finish. Do me a solid and get to Detroit ... and for those who prefer the darker side of "red lagers," it’s good stuff. Serving type: bottle