Dunkel Lager

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Dunkel Lager 

• Brewery: SlyFox Brewing Company (Pennsylvania)

• Style: Munich Dunkel Lager

• ABV: 5.3%

• IBU: 21

• Pour Color: A amber color that light traveled thru easily.

      The pour left a head that was slightly fluffy for a sip or two. Then the head was gone. The top of the beer had lacing. Only a slight sweet malt scent off the top. The color was a amber that looked rather thin and allowed light thru. The malts were a sweet sour dough. The hops really added little to no bitterness or flavor. A lager like beer, not much more. 
      I'm not a lager fan and it takes something special to impress me. This isn't one of those special beers. This is overly sweet and sour. The mix makes for a weird swallow while also tasting the bready finish of yeast and malt. I really don't see myself grabbing another one of these.

Rating: *

Eliot Ness

The Beer Stats: 

• Beer Name: Eliot Ness

• Brewery: Great Lakes Brewing Company (Ohio)

• Style: Amber Lager

• ABV: 6.2%

• IBU: 27

• Pour Color: A amber color that light got thru easy

      The color was a toasted amber color along the lines of almost a red. The head came up frothy and eventually mellowed, although it left a trace of it self the whole way down! The scent off the top is malty yeasty and toasty. Not really a hop lovers beer here. The taste is much sweeter then I usualy enjoy. That though is mixed with a toasty almost biscuity taste. The only hops come through as a earthy variety, not very bold though. Really a lager that has some soul not just fizzy yellow sugar like some. 
     This is a nice light amber that is light but not. 6.2% abv gives it a little kick that most ambers wouldn't have. The toasty flavor and easy drinkability make this a pretty good beer. Not something to go tell the neighbor hood about either. Any speak easy or every day bar should have something this smooth on!

 
Rating: ****1/2

Brooklyn Lager

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Brooklyn Lager

• Brewery: Brooklyn Brewing Company (New York)

• Style: Lager

• ABV: 5.2%

• IBU: 33

• Pour Color: Nice yellow golden color that has a slight haze. 

       The head was fluffy at the beginning and became a nice lacing at the top for the rest of the glass. The scent off the top was much more malts then anything else. The hops were only slightly noticeable. The color of this one is a little more amber then most lagers I've had. The caramel malts are there but don't add to much sweetness. An malt explosion on taste. Nice bready and yeasty flavor that gives you the bread in a bottle taste. The hops lend a bittering that makes it very ballenced though. This is a very nice beer.
      So if your like me lagers ain't the first beer you goin for. Usually, just a little to mellow on flavor and really easily forgotten. This is not one of those beers my friend. This one is full of flavor. It's on the malty side so you ain't gonna get that hop head fix. That said though it's not lacking on the floral hop tone either. This is a working mans beer that doesn't leave you feeling unfulfilled like one of those big market lagers! 

Rating:****1/2

SlyFox Octoberfest

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Oktoberfest

• Brewery: SlyFox Brewing Company (Pennsylvania)

• Style: Lager

• ABV: 5.8%

• IBU: 25

• Pour Color: Nice see through light orange color.

       First of the octoberfest beers and a great choice. It poured a nice orange color in the glass. The head was about two fingers high but disapeared quite quickly only leaving a film at the top of the glass. Smelling the top of the glass no hops are noticed. The malt and yeast both are easily smelt off the top of the glass. The flavor is a nice malty yeasty blend. Slightly sweet but not over the top. A real fresh bread or biscuit flavor hits you strong. The hops really only added a slight bitter to the mix. All and all a malt lovers delight that's very drinkable!
      So it's October and on top of the usual pumpkin ales we also got some Oktoberfest beers! Always expect malts on display when drinking a Oktoberfest beer. Every company this season seems to have it's own variety. This is one of the most easy drinking Oktoberfest I've had. Well worth the wait for fall. If you're lucky enough to find this one in your Face's hand, you know it's gonna be a nice malty bath!

Rating: ****

Common Man

The Beer Stats:

• Beer Name: Common Man

• Brewery: Three Heads Brewing (New York)
  

• Style: Lager/California Common

• ABV: 5.5%

• IBU: 36

• Pour Color: Golden and light easily past through

      On the pour this one was a perfect gold and see through. Light traveled through it with ease. It had a nice pale malt scent to this one off the top. The head fluffed up quickly. It fought it out with me for about a 1/4 of the first glass. The taste out of this one is bitterer then you would expect with a IBU of 36. A nice full wheat flavor or almost biscuit comes right at the sip. Unlike most lagers though this one has a nice lasting flavor. Echos of the full flavor go on forever in this one. 
      When I think lager I always have flashes of bud. That is not what this beer is at all. It's got a crisp bright flavor that isn't overly sweet and nasty. The common man name doesn't do this one justice cause it is a super beer in disguise. Giving the craft drinker just as good a journey as someone whose new to the craft beer world.

Rating: *****