Dogfish Head Golden Era (Shower)

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

Slightly sweet and malty. ABV is very noticeable. Mild spice and banana in the aftertaste with some citrus hop bite. Very barleywine like. Interesting beer for sure.

(Bottle at OT, Stockholm) Pours clear orange with a small withe head. Smells malty sweet caramell and sugar. Some yeast and notes of "belgian" sweetnes. Matallic and ripe bananas. Pretty thick body. It has a bit of the metallic pilsner taste. Good Afterbitterness. Some dried fruits. Syrup. Thick malty mouth feel. Rasin and salt.

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.

Sampled at State College BrewExpo. The nose was a bit musky and had notes of orange juice, for some reason. Medium amber clear with mild head to it. Had a great pilsener taste - they called it an Imperial Pilsner - whatever that means. Medium bodied with medium carbonation. Easy drinking despite its 9% abv, not any warming, but jut smooth. A nice lager.

Bottle split with Muenster during my Great Lakes region brew tour. Okay, I thoroghly enjoyed Rogue’s Imperial Pilsner and have been looking for another American brewer to replicate something pleasingly quirky in that ilk. I thought for sure DFH would create something along those lines especially given the description about the dry-hopping. Boy, was I wrong. Pours copper and very bubbly with a tall white head. The aroma is of bright pears, sparkling acidity, bark, then thin caramel. The first thing that raises a brow is the dense, syrupry caramel. Unfortunately there really isn’t anything else to accentuate the thickness nor is there any hop flavor that can come close to achieving a balance. Sure, the hops are there. They do little more than add a small woody taste. This brew is quite warming, but does not taste good at all when it gets warm itself. This is not enjoyable under normal circumstances that make me want a pilsner, nor is it hearty enough or complex enough to make me crave it in standard beer conditions. The finish gets very sticky halfway through the bottle and reminds me of hard candy. We had to pour out probably 8 ounces of this stuff because we just couldn’t take it anymore. Way over priced for what it is.

Bottle, poured golden with a small, bubbly, off-white head. Aroma is strong sweet caramel, with a certain funk that I best related to banana flavored baby food. Flavor was strong on the sickly sweet caramel malt, with alcohol warming. All of my journeys into Imperial Pilsner territory have been so different from each other, what a crazy style.

Thanks to Degarth for this one! Dark yellow body that makes a huge head of off-white that sticks and lasts. Moderate flowery hop aroma, caramel. The hops in the aroma aren’t enough to balance out this sweet mess. Too sticky and sweet for me.

Bottle. Golden colour with a big white head. Sweet caramel malty aroma and taste. Medium body with a sweet finish.