Flying Dog Old Scratch Amber Lager

Ideal for the Lager drinker who prefers amber beers, the "Scratch" is a smooth, malt-accentuated lager. Brewed in the "Steam-Style" tradition, scratch is a so-called hybrid beer that is fermented at medium temperatures to develop some ale and lager characteristics.

Ingredients: Water; Malted barley; Malted wheat; Hops.

1323 reviews

Frederick, United States

Community reviews

2.5 "kind of a miss for me. decent malt/hop balance, but the flavor just wasn’t there for my tastes. supposedly a hybrid amber ale/steam beer, but i’ve had many examples of each style i liked better. just ok."

3.3 0.35l bottle poured in chalice. A: Pours a beautiful deep amber clear color and a medium beige head. Small retention and few lacings left S: Nice caramel malts in the nose. A bir fruity too. Reminds mainly raisins and nuts T: Caramel malts, toffee and pine hops M: Light body and medium carbonation. Mild bitter aftertaste D: Good drinkability. Good beer [ BA Review @ 3/14/2010 ]

3.4 amber color; malty, caramel aroma; a nice clean, well balanced lager with a smooth malty body and mild hoppiness

2.9 Botella de 35,5 cl, en Cerveceria Internacional. Color ambar. Sabor a malta, ligeramente a caramelo, muy ligeramente amargo.

2.7 Yellowish frothy head. Obvious floral taste. Starts smooth, quickly turns foamy.

3.7 12 ounce bottle into lager glass, best before 11/26/2013. Pours crystal clear deep orange/copper color with a 1 finger dense light khaki head with great retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Spotty soapy lacing clings down the glass, with a moderate amount of streaming carbonation retaining the head. Aromas of caramel, toast, toffee, biscuit, light nuttiness, herbal, grass, light pepper, light fruitiness, and yeast earthiness. Nice and pleasant aromas with good balance and complexity of dark/bready malt, earthy hops, and yeast ester notes; with solid strength. Taste of caramel, toast, toffee, biscuit, light nuttiness, herbal, grass, light pepper, light fruitiness, and yeast earthiness. Light earthy hop bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of caramel, toast, toffee, biscuit, light nuttiness, herbal, grass, light pepper, and yeast earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Nice complexity and robustness of dark/bready malts, earthy hops, and yeast ester flavors; with a good malt/bitterness balance and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth and lightly creamy/bready mouthfeel that is nice. Alcohol is well hidden with zero warming present after the finish. Overall this is a nice amber lager style. Good balance and robustness of dark/bready malt, earthy hops, and yeast ester flavors; and very smooth to drink. A nicely enjoyable offering.

3.9 Transfer from BA review on 12-1-12- Poured from bottle into pint glass Appearance – Pours an amber brew with red highlights showing through. Upon pouring there is a two finger off-white head that fades rather fast. Upon fading it leave a light amount of lacing and a persistent film on the top of the brew. Smell – A strong sweet smell of caramel and molasses are mixed with some fruit aromas of orange and apple. The overall sweet aroma has notes of roasted malt and a light biscuit smell. It has quite a wonderful smell. Taste – The taste begins with sweeter and breadier tastes. The sweet are mainly caramel in nature with the bready taste being of a lightly toasted flavor. As the taste advances more sweetness comes to the tongue. Flavors of the light fruits detected in the nose (apple and a little bit of orange) come to the tongue. These sweet flavors linger on to the end of the taste, but are balanced out by an upsurge of roasted flavors that come at the finish of the taste. Some lightly bitter hop flavors of an earthy and floral nature work their way into the taste at the end as well and with the rest of the flavors leave a nicely hopped sweet flavor to linger on the tongue. Mouthfeel – The beer is average in terms of its thickness and creaminess with a carbonation level that is rather average as well. Both the body and carbonation suit the sweet and lightly hopped and roasted flavors nicely and maintain the brew as an easy drinker. Overall –A nice blend of roast, sweet and hop make this beer a good easy drinker with a nice smooth flavor and taste transitions. Rather tasty.

4.1 Melon fruit and malt aromas. Rich amber colour with nice head. Rich toffee malt flavours with a smooth slightly bitter finish. Medium to heavy body with low to medium carbonation.

3.1 Goûtée le 7 août 2014 en bouteille, acheté chez un Beer Store après ma visite à la Microbrasserie Flying Dog à Frederick près de Washington. Œil: cuivrée et légère mousse. Arôme: malté/blé, levure. Goût: blé, levure, très légère au goût. Une bière facile à boire. Note: 4/5

3.1 Pours true amber with light tan head. Aroma primarily malt. Flavor also primarily malt, but with a slight bitter hop finish. Heavier body than expected. It does seem to straddle the difference between a lager and ale. Light for an ale, robust for a lager. It seems to work.

3.0 Poured with a bright amber color with soft ruby high lights. Over it sat an under performing foam head. About average carbo’s. A decent aroma of caramel malts, Vienna maybe. Hop bouquet seems absent. Flavor was a fairly robust malt bill with a dry finish and a bitter aftertaste. I could detect low levels of diacetyl. Seems to have a medium mouthfeel. A pretty decent beer. I just think they could bring up the flavor a little bit.

3.3 Drank from bottle. Not a bad lager. Nothing too complex here, just straight toward good beer.

2.0 ________________________________ COMING SOON ________________________________

2.5 A straightforward amber lager. Not much in the way of complexity, but not a bad brew.

2.9 Amber/orange color with red highlights. Malty aroma, woth caramel and hints of chocolate. Malty taste followed by a hoppy bitter finish.

3.2 Bottle at home. Aroma of spice, wheat, and earth. Light bodied with fizzy carbonation. Flavors of cinnamon, pine, root beer, husky grain. Bitter finish. Clean and crisp.

3.9 Woody in aroma with earth and Treebark. Appearance is Amber and clear with a large persistent off white head. Flavor is Woody earthy with a balanced malt and hops. Slightly dry cleaning finish. Mouth feel is medium bodied with medium carbonation.

3.4 Surprised by the low reviews. Scents of dough and cinnamon. Hint of cinnamon within each sip. Not at all dry, with a strong traditional amber taste and the right amount of hops. Perhaps not the most complex beer, but easy to drink and the right flavor for a simple daily drink.

3.5 Very small off-white head... clear orange/amber colour.. smell wheat yeast.. wheat grass.. not bad.

3.7 A- Pours a copper color with a fizzy, off white head. S- Mettalic tinges, light wheaty maltiness. T- Very light, lots of grain and breadiness with very little hop getting through. M- Medium bodied, fairly dry with medium carbonation. D- After the smell I was a little worried but this one came together nicely. A good session beer and one I wouldn’t mind having again.

3.1 bottle. amber with small head. lager with a bit of a malt base and light hops. slightly nutty.

2.6 A very light aroma with minimal head. Dark amber appearance. A dominant malt taste with a long mild bitter finish. Would drink again.

3.3 Ins Glas ergießt sich ein kupferfarbenes Bier mit geringer Schaumkrone. Geruch leicht röstmalzig, hopfig, blumig. Geschmack röstmalzig, hopfig, blumig, Karamell, leicht bitter, leicht süß.

1.9 Just a brutally generic amber beer. Begs the question why so many are available.

3.6 Pours an amberish brown with a tan thin head. I was very pleasantly surprised by this beer. Some caramel. Very smooth. Medium bodied. Hoppy but not overbearing. Still tasted the malt. Very nice beer.

2.7 Tranquilla e senza pretese, con un gusto che non impressiona, di malti e caramello, con una leggera sfumatura floreale. Piacevole, equilibrata, ma si scorda facilmente.

3.4 Draft at the brewery. Pours clear copper brown with a bubbly, frothy off white head. Tastes nutty, creamy, malty, slightly sweet and buttery. Light/medium body and carbonation. Smells nutty and malty, slight booze.

2.4 Bottle into shaker. Copper, clear, effervescent. Malty aroma, floral hops, licorice. Medium sweet taste, bubblegum, very smooth, sweet finish. Overall it’s a flat taste with nothing much going on. I’ll pass next time.

3.1 De olor maltoso, dulce, tostado, pasas, algo de vino dulce, frutos secos, en la boca más dulce, más pasas. Colo rambarino intenso, poca espuma

3.2 Decent amber ale, ran across a bottle of this recently, pretty light and easy to drink