Sunday, April 6, 2008

Flying Dog Brewery: Old Scratch Amber Lager

I hope you all enjoyed the flurry of posts. I too am entering beer hibernation until the end of May. I'm not looking forward to it.

As a result, I made the effort to clean out and imbibe all the beer from my fridge this weekend in preparation for the dry season. I was careful to save one bottle of Flying Dog's Old Scratch so I could give it a proper review. Here goes:

I picked up a sixer of this amber lager simply because of Flying Dog's ground level marketing campaign and customer service. Most of the readers know by now how this brewery contacted Hofer and sent him some microbrews to review. I was impressed by this move. I had only previously tried Flying Dog's version of the pale ale. So wanting to see more of what this brewery was about, I went out searching for their other beers. After a quick shopping scan, I found Flying Dog's amber lager in most local markets. So to make a bad pun, if Flying Dog is going to scratch our back I'll give Old Scratch a try.

And I'm glad I did. This beer is exceptional. I love how this amber lager almost tastes like an amber ale. Most American lagers are weak and lack any powerful flavors. This beer has great caramel malt flavors and a hop bitterness aftertaste reminding me of stronger styles. But since it is a lager the beer is still very drinkable. I could easily corner myself with an entire six pack if in the mood for a day of heavy consumption. So I guess I'm OK with the fact that this will be the last brew that touches my lips for over a month. Cheers.

4 comments:

Hof said...

I dunno if we'll ever get another chance, but this would make a superb lockdown brew.

Mattie said...

I agree.

In addition the days of 7.1% beers used for lockdowns is over.

Old Sratch has a nice 5.32% alcohol by volume level.

Eef said...

I always tell people about the lockdown concept, and most of the time they thinking I'm joking. It was pretty ridiculous.

Thanks to the both of you for this onslaught of reviews, as I'll be posting more this month while ya'll hit the books.

AL said...

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