Dortmunder
Schlafly Beer - The Tap Room

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had this on-tap at the brewpub.

A: Poured a crystal clear liquid gold, with about a 1/8 finger head that stayed sudsy for just the right length of time. Textbook dortmunder!

S: Great! Fresh clean cotton scent, with a nice, sweet grain malt bill, and just a tinge of musty, mothball-esque hops.

T: Crisp and golden, with a slight bitter bite at the end, but just enough to make this interesting. The sweetness and malts marry remarkably well together.

M: Fairly low carbonation and lots of lacing. Like I said before, nice bitter kick!

O: This was a fantastic example of this style. Fresh and golden!

 

Pours a clear, golden color. 3/4 inch head of a white color. Great retention and great lacing. Smells of sweet malt, pale malt, slight grain, and yeast. Fits the style of a Dortmunder / Export Lager. Mouth feel is smooth and clean with an average carbonation. Tastes of sweet malt, slight earthy malt, slight pale malt, yeast, and a hint of grain. Overall, good appearance, blend, and body.

By this point in my journey to the taproom I was getting a bit tight and decided to try something light. Trouble is, I had already had most of their light-tasting beers. So I figured what I'd do was I'd trick myself by ordering up a beer that looked like but packed a bit of a wallop. And as I had just finished up a growler of Town Hall's Dortmunder the night before, I considered myself quite the expert taster of this rare style.

Pours yellow. Straw yellow. Goldeny sunshine yellow. Not much of a head, though.

Smells funky like peat. Nice balance between the bitter grain and sweet grain. Bit of a soapy node in there, which may sound odd but it was actually pretty nice.

Tastes exactly like it smells. Bitter grain like potting soil dukes it out with sweet grain like honey. This ends with a nice node of soapiness.

This beer was a real surprise for me. They pulled it from stock they were holding for the “Hop in the City” Celebration, because they ran out of pilsner. I’ve never tried this style from Schlafly before, and really enjoyed it. It poured a deep gold in color with a thick lacy white head. Nose has a nice hop flower touch plus some grapefruit and a little pineapple. The taste has more apple pineapple, light fig flavor from the malt and a citrus orange back. Smooth rich mouthfeel, very drinkable. The nose was light, but the flavor was fruit forward. This was a real bonus.

The 2004 version of this seasonal . . .

Solid gold, with an extra fine white head. Nice retention and lacing.

Malty nose, with a bright sharp edge to it. Touch of grapey fruitiness as the pint warms.

Much more complex on the palate, where there is a lovely interplay between the solid crackery malt, and the slightly earthy bitterness. Touch of chalkiness on the finish, which accentuates the bitterness on the finish, and allows those hops to linger for a very long time.

Quite full mouthfeel for a lager, and very quaffable in quantity. Bitterness is not too much for food. Solid offering.

A solid Dortmunder from this quality brewer, but not to be mistaken for the famous Dortmunder from a Cleveland brewer. This one has a very nice deep golden to light amber body and a substantial milky head and laces quite well. The flavors are a bit bready, but not nearly so much as would appear in a Helles. A touch of grain are in both the aroma and flavor, and there is even a bit of a modulated hop sense.

Nice body feel and a decently crisp finish. No doubt as to its drinkability - this one you could stay with for a long while.

Clear deep golden in color with a small white head that doesn't last very long, Bready and flowery aromas, starts sweet and bready with a hint of grains, light to medium bodied, nice smooth mouthfeel, finishes and crisp and dry, very tasty and drinkable.