Foggy Bottom Lager

Formerly brewed at Matt Brewing Company
Style: Premium Lager
Utica, New York USA

Yet another beer popular in Washington (obviously because of the name, for one), which is made far, far away from here. Were local breweries bought out in spades here recently? Despite popular confusion, there is a difference between Foggy ale and lager, though the taps don’t always say which it is. This was the Lager, Timberlake’s, Washington DC. Slightly creamy, not terribly easy to drink, but retains the hops. Almost like a poor imitation of the Brooklyn Lager style. It’s often seen as the better option in pubs, but I’m not so sure.

Tap at the Froggy Bottom. Nice amber color with a white head. We got a whole pitcher for about 7 bucks. Not a top beer but definitely something I like better than most of the macros around. Malty flavor, big on malts not much hops.

Amber with lots of bubbles. Good head. Not much on the nose, but some caramel and citrus is noted. Nice and malty, and somewhat refreshing. Not much going on with this beer, but it is very non offensive and would be great to pound 5-12 before a football game. Party on.

Dark amber/golden, generous head and good lacing. It looked good enough to cause my wife to take a sip of it - that’s a bit of an accomplishment in itself! Sweet caramel with a dusting of hops. Finish left too much residual sweetness, but other than that, it was a pleasant brew.

Caramel malt and yeast dominate the aroma, stemming from a modest and short-lived head atop cloudy dark amber. The malts also dominate the flavor, with a moderate yeast diacetyl character more like ale than lager. The yeast character disrupts the palate, along with its alcohol afterbite. If only the finished beer were as good as the malt, Heurich would be back on the map.

On tap, pours a dark golden red. Head is small and quickly dissipating. Dark malty aroma, but nothing particularly powerful. Malty taste that ends with a hint of cherries. Not very carbonated, and almost flat, though it may just have been the end of the keg.

Darker than other lagers. Bready, warm and lightly nutty aromas. Lots of grain going on here combined with malts and caramels. Taste is somewhat light, but still with a mix of flavors equivalent to the aroma. No real hop bite, this beer is a bit flabby. Even though this is a low alcohol brew, there is a hint of it toward the finish. Still, an open and drinkable lager with some unique characteristics. I like this better than the ale.

I wasn’t expecting this to be very good, but I was wrong. Light amber colored with a small eggshell head. The aroma has some nice fruit notes initially, followed by some bready-malt-pilsner-like scents, with some mild caramel & toffee notes as well. Medium bodied, crisp, and excellent carbonation that is enough to tingle the tongue yet not get in the way of any flavors. Taste is sweet light malts up front, some light hop bitterness, followed by caramel, mild toffee, light fruity (hops or esters, I can’t tell) notes, and a tiny bit of lager yeast flavor. This is a great session beer.