Monsooner: Dortmunder Lager
Dragoon Brewing Co.

Canned 06-11-19
16 oz poured into a pint glass.

L - Pours a clear straw color with about a finger of soapy white head. Good retention and lacing that sticks throughout the session.

S - Fairly mild and tame with honey, bready malt, earthy/skunky hops, fresh cut grass, typical smell of a German pale lager.

T - Follows the nose with bready malt, spicy hops, cereal, corn, astringent alcohol bite in the middle, finishes slightly sweet but enough bitterness from the hops to balance it out.

F - Light-bodied, crisp, moderate carbonation, very drinkable/sessionable, slightly dry finishes, a nice pale lager mouthfeel that doesn't overpower.

O - Another great seasonal offering from Dragoon. I don't know the Dortmunder style specifically, but this definitely drinks like a German/Czech Pils with enough pale malt character to make it stand out. Very clean and balanced. I'll definitely pick this up again during monsoon season.

 

Canned 19 July 2018, purchased at Kings in Phoenix.

A clear straw yellow with a dense, white head with excellent retention and lacing, this looks solid. The nose is mild, with a blend of mild honeyed malt (Helles-like) and a firming earthy hop character. Cleanly fermented. Minimal sweetness, though there is a little bit of cotton candy. The palate opens with a blend of clean, mildly straw like malt, a little dough, a light honey note and a mild bitterness. The bitterness is mostly Old World, with mint, earth and we leaves. Creamy and smooth on the palate with a soft yet bitter finish. This is more Helles like then a Dortmunder. Excellent.

Dortmunder. Tucson local at Reds BBQ.

 

 

 

 

 

Pale straw color, clear, moderately thick white foam. The head has decent retention and a good lacing, but the carbonation isn't too lively. A crisp, clean nose of bready malt with some zesty hop balance presents to the nose. Smells like something I want to drink.

Bready, lightly dry malts have a nice intensity in the flavor, with a solid bitter balance throughout. Touches of lemon give it some fruity character, and overall we have a well crafted lager that is almost in the session range. The mouthfeel is nice, good carbonation, the body is not too thin.

I'm giving this beer high marks because it is a balanced and easy drinking lager, something I don't get to enjoy fresh very often. I'm very happy that Dragoon is putting out a beer like this. It would be easy to go another route, but they showed they could make a clean, relatively flawless Export Lager, which proves to me I can expect anything they put out to be of the highest quality. Another winner from my favorite local brewery.

A vigorous pour into my Large Tripel Karmeliet tulip produces a two finger thick, pale, almost white head that leaves some nice lacing on the sides of my glass and has the staying power to always leave a thin white layer of froth on top of the beer. The beer is a bright gold color that shows a brilliantly clear, yellow gold hue when held up to the light. The aroma has a grassy, clean bread like, and grain like cracker character. A hint of hop character adds some spiciness, and perhaps a hint of citrus, but this beer is really all about the pale malt character.

Light bodied, but with a malt fullness that balances the prickly carbonation quite well. The beer finishes with a light bitterness that leans a bit towards herbal and perhaps even has a hint of woodiness to it. Lots of pale malt flavors contribute rustic, but cleanly fermented, bread crumb (as in the white part of the bread inside the crust) flavors, a pale cracker like note, chewy straw like notes, and just a juicy pale malt character. The hop character is quite light, but adds a nice spiciness throughout the flavor profile. The beer is quite clean, and just about perfect for a lager; there is perhaps a hint of DMS here that might accentuate the grain character, but this is fairly light and I might just be imagining it. The texture of this beer is quite nice, eminently quaffable and light, but it still manages to have a fullness to it that just helps carry the chewy, pale malt character. As the beer warms up the malt character becomes more dominant, and the hop character recedes; with a fresh pour the hop bite is much more pronounced and there is quite a bit more hop flavor.

I really like the clean, pale malt focus of this beer, you will definitely need to be a fan of clean, subtle, malt focused, golden lagers to enjoy this beer; I certainly get a hankering for a good, fresh one every once in a while, and I consider quite lucky to finally be able to get a hold of a super fresh version brewed in Tucson. Definitely get this soon as it should be drunk as fresh as possible. This is definitely one of those beer that is meant to be quaffed in quantity; it has even grown on me more and more as I work my way through a ½ growler of it (though I liked it from the get go). But in the end, this transcends simply liking it and is a fantastic drinking experience; the vibrant pale malt character is what really makes this shine (not to mention the awesome mouthfeel, and a visually perfect lager), and the hop character while subtle contributes definitive flavors and aromas that make this all that much more intriguing.