Skydog
The Tap Brewing Company

The Tap has been crushing styles no one bothers to make recently, and on top of that they've been canning and distributing these creations! Maize-A-Faire, for example, was an amazingly well-made example of a craft American Adjunct Lager made with corn, and this is kind of a Munich dark lager style beer. Who does that? Good for these guys!

Beautiful appearance on this one... one of the best I've seen lately. 100% filtered and gorgeous with a deep brown/garnet color topped off with khaki-colored head covering the whole surface of this lager. I'd say this is in the 30-32 SRM range, color-wise. Awesome drippy lace as the initial head fades down to about a finger-and-a-half. Solid legs here, too. Just a total knockout, appearance-wise!

Nose is redolent of toasted bread crusts, molasses, light caramel and toffee with baking spice, anise/black licorice and subtle herbal/botanical (wormwood, arrowroot) notes. Extremely solid and stylistically-appropriate. A neutral and clean yeast character assists the Munich-heavy malts and Noble-type hoppiness. No sulfur, off-notes or ethanol present here at all. Simple, clean, slightly-characterful... love it!

Soft and supple palate with a toffee-like sugary note, some bready and herbal flavors along with a note of baking spice as noted in the nose. Super clean with no esters or anything out-of-the-ordinary going on. The light spice element comes across a bit earthy, and I like the translation of the anise/fennel from the nose to a broader and more wide-ranging malt/spice flavor with light floral and herbal elements. Can't say I'm blown away, but this is 100% solid for the style. I'm amazed a small local brewery even bothered making something like this!

Feel is on the lighter side of medium for the style, with some nice levity provided by semi-bitter hops in the finish. There's a kiss of sweetness as each sip fades, and the carbonation is on the moderate side. Not much else to say here, but this is a super-solid dark lager in a style very few newer breweries in my area bother to even attempt, never mind succeed at. The only remotely-similar thing I can think of with any kind of distribution around me is Jack's Abby's Red Tape, which this is slightly better than anyway. Good job, Tap!

 

Light coffee color in a Brooklyn Oktoberfest glass with a 1F head.

Excellent fruity aroma, esters, sweet.

Biscuity, malty with a semi light body.

Biscuity, malty, fruit taste.

Excellent approach to style. Very European.