Type: Beer – Lager
Name: Flying Dog Brewery Old Scratch Amber Ale
Price: $1.49
Made: Frederick, MD
Alc/Vol: 5.5%
“Some itches can’t be scratched. Like your fantasy involving latex and flavored lotions. So it’s best to concetrate on the ones you can scratch. Like your itch for this amber lager with a malty, mellow flavor. As for your other fantasies, you’ll probably need to find a chat room for those.”
Well if that isn’t a proper way of saying you’re a damn good beer than I don’t know what is and I surely don’t want to find out. Aside from the cockroach-doggie thing on the label, this beer was quite attractive. Not in a swing up next to a pretty lady and ask her if she’d like my banana attractive [I'm a monkey, not that kind of banana you sick sick....well OK I did that one on purpose 
]
No, this beer was attractive in the sense that before I finished my first sip, I already wish I had a second one.
I’m partial to amber lagers so I’m trying to give this a thorough analysis but that part got a little fuzzy half way through the bottle. This lager has a creamy texture to it when you drink it, kind of like what ice cream does to root beer in a root beer float, minus the ice cream and root but of course. The taste was an obvious malty flavor accurately described on the side of the label but also a subtle sweetness, which may tie back to that creamy root beer float comparison.
Good people drink good beer – Hunter S. Thompson
The finish gave a dry hoppy flavoring that made me want to take another sip to moist my pallet only to repeat my predicament. Overall I have to say that the beer was definetely enjoyable and their site was more informative than most, including a full ‘Brew Breakdown’, a light vs dark and malty vs hoppy low down, a beer information chart, place for tasting notes and a link to their website listing food pairings from Beer Dinners.com (Which is kind of exciting because alcohol-food pairings is something I want to work on next)
In the end, this scratch satisfied my itch, or was it the itch that caused the scratch? Either way I give this amber lager a strong 4 out of 5 bananas for the taste as well as the pride they seem to take in their beer and effort they put in to make your experience a great one giving you food suggestions and all (Where’s the beer that pairs well with a banana, eh?). Although I would add to their Hunter S. Thompson quote, that while good people drink good beer, a great monkeys chugs great beers.
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