Dogfish Head Golden Era (Shower)

Brewed by Dogfish Head Brewery
Style: European Strong Lager
Milton, Delaware USA

Bottle. Its actually pretty good flavour wise, as i’m always a bit scepticle of strong lagers, no matter what the style. This showed some strong plummy/peachy fruit, with a slight grassy edge. Alcohol is quite noticable, and the mouthfeel is a little bit sticky. Quite hoppy aswell. Drinkable of course, but i prefer a pilsner closer to its traditonal strength.

Clear fully golden colour with a white head. Hoppy, piney aroma with malty, sugary/ alcohol notes. Malty, alcohol sweet flavor with hoppy floral notes.

Any first impressions?
-A ring of foam surrounds the clear copper tinge.
-Biscuity malts and honey sweetness send a sugar-rich message to the nostrils.
-Silky honey develops into toffee in the goal of pleasing sweet teeth.
-The abundance of pils maltiness, coupled with sparse but lively carbonation, produces a slick, clean mouthfeel.

What if you dig deeper?
-Some peppery, herbal hop bitterness attemps to dry out the back end, but doesn’t completely achieve its goal.
-Some citrusy fruitiness is found in the distance.
-Alcohol, as in most DFH products, is efficiently hidden.
-This remains a very smooth, clean strong lager, but if you don’t have a sweet tooth, you probably won’t enjoy it that much.

Bottles; 6 months old and 11 months old.

Pours yellow with a decent white head. Smells unusually citrussy for a lager with some strong grapefruit elements poking through. Taste is fruity with a nice malt finish.

pale golden beer with a thick head, white and fluffy. Aroma is lightly hoppy with some light zestiness, light noble hop aroma. Some honeyish malts and a touch of light earthiness. Flavour is very fruity and zesty with a heavy peppery, alcoholic aroma. Hops have faded quite a bit and the beer (while still well-hopped) is heading south. It’s okay, but it’s not one of the better examples of this style.

This pours out a deep golden body with a frothy white head. Solid lacing activity. The aroma has some sharp floral hops over bready malts. Kind of an oily palate. The flavor’s grainy, fresh bread, and an obvious alcohol presence - the latter being about all that it has in common with the European strong lager style. Finishes on a sweet sticky note with a mild hop bitterness and a low alcohol burn. Not bad.

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Deep rich golden color with a taller ecru head. Light caramel, drenched in fresh saaz and hallertau hops. Quite simple, but not overpowering as many strong lager. Flavors are quite strong and pronounced. Alcohol does seem to hit from the start. Malt and sweet alcohol mix with orange zest, white pepper and white raisins. Quite clean and crisp, even with the heft. Mild return to hops in the finish. A vanilla and malt mix in the finish. This does transcend most imperial pilsners that I have had in that it does not come across as a malt liquor. It really does seem to be a strong pils. Not that I really think there is a real place for the style, but a change of pace, or just something different is sometimes OK.

Bottle: Pours a golden color, nice head and lacing. Nose of bright crispy hops and clean malts. A very nice strong lager with smooth flavors, lots of maltiness and a balanced hop character. Nice hop bitterness and light alcohol. This is certainly better than the "other" imperial pilsner that is commonly available. Very nice stuff.