Dogfish Head Golden Era (Shower)

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

750ml bottle thanks to CaptainCougar. Text printed on the glass reads "bottled on 3/21/2006", and the label reads "Golden Shower", not "Golden Era". Foam spewed forth from the bottle from the simple act of popping the cap. The beer then poured a very deep and quite cloudy orange with gold highlights. Despite the volcano of suds from the bottle, the beer poured with a nearly-white head only one finger thick. The head is wavy and pillowy and consists of a very small bubbles - almost like whipped egg whites. The aroma is intense with malts. There are heavy tones of caramel and hints of soft fruit - more like the aroma of a barleywine than an imperial pilsner. From the aroma, you certainly wouldn’t know that the beer was dry-hopped; it has only a subtle, perfumy smell hinting of aroma hops. The flavor starts very sweet with caramel and malts, but it also has a nice, balancing level of hop flavor with a perfumy and citrusy character. The middle of the palate continues to find chewy malts with some notes of perfumy hops. The finish is clean with a nice balance of spicy, noble hops and sweet malts. The mouthfeel is thick and full-bodied. The texture is mostly creamy with a slight zing on the tip and sides of the tongue from the carbonation. Overall, I think it could use more hops (it is very rare that I say that when talking about a beer from Dogfish Head...)

Pours a beautiful gold with a good frothy head that dissipates to a thin cap and leaving lacing down sides of the glass. Nose of sweet malt, honey, and faint hops. Taste is not of a pilsner, heavy on sweet malt and light on the hops. Definitely atypical, but tasty. Smooth and clean mouthfeel. Low on carbonation. Good drinkability, but for a brew more typical of this style try Morimoto Imperial Pilsner or Sam Adams Hallertau Imperial Pilsner.

THOUGHTS: I don’t like pilseners much and the few European strong lagers I’ve tried have been OK, but this one is really nice. This will never be my favorite style, but beers like this will make me keep trying styles that I don’t normally like. Hid alcohol incredibly well. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a clear, medium to dark yellow with large carbonation bubbles and an average to large, white head that mostly diminished but left line after line of excellent lacing. The aroma was light to moderate malt and moderate perfume and pine hops with a little bit of band-aid aroma that was not very strong but was a little stronger if the beer was to cold or too warm. The initial flavor was lightly sweet, acidic and bitter, while the finish was moderately to heavily sweet and bitter with an average to long duration. The flavor had a slight bit of the rubbery band-aid taste, but not enough to destroy the nice malt and hop balance. Sweet malt then pine and perfume hops. The medium body was lightly syrupy with lightly fizzy carbonation and a metallic finish.

Very clean hoppy flavor overall. It pours a golden color with white head. It has slight citrus notes. The hops come through at first sip and continue to the end. I am not a huge pilsner fan, but this is a crisp beer.

hazy golden color, sweet citrus notes on the nose, decent head, some light fruit undertones flavor wise and breadyness some acidic flavor and slight alcohol. decent beer, not a huge fan though

What better than having a nice golden shower for # 400. Brew poured like your standard American lager, maybe a little deeper gold. Nose of herbal hops, pale malts, coriander and other spices. Very nice clean body, slightly bitter on the finish. Golden showers for everyone!!...haha

The aroma was fruity with an estery character of hops. The hops were spicy and had a bit of a floral/herbal presence. As it warmed the aroma became slightly citrusy. The beer poured into the glass lightly hazy golden with a white frothy moderate head which laced the glass. The flavor was malty with a citrusy flavor and a substantial malt and hop presence. The bittering was spicy and while strong, was not overdone. The malt presence was fruity and had a bit of spicy note. The finish was ultimately dry with just a bit of light citrus lasting into the aftertaste. The body was medium-full and the carbonation level was moderate but the beer was slightly creamy on the palate. A nice beer, much better than when I had it and when it was called Golden Shower. 12 ounce bottle.

slippin ^ slidin, making me happy. sooo malty, a mildly bitter you look like pee, but i dont mind, im not so superficial & you beet the sjiy out of the SAimpils, you officially made it your biatch