On tap at Ginger Man, lightly creamed helles-styed lager brings doughy corn flouring to mild grassy-hopped easement and fizzy Seltzer-watered steam. Lemony maize dryness and milky rice-like neutrality provide minor detail to dankly grained moderation.

Long-time Virginia brewery specializes in midrange medium-bodied ales like this golden-cleared German-styled pale lager. Reedy earthen hops and caramel-roasted barleymalts pick up vegetal astringency by honeyed rye finish. Diacetyl buttering is a drawback. Nevertheless, one of the better Dortmunder knockoffs.

On tap, robust Dortmunder-styled Bavarian lager with billowy white-headed yellow-bellied dry body reveals earthen peat fungi soiling not unlike a proper English Extra Special Bitter. Wheat-cracked barley-corned graining comforts moderate wood-dried grassy-hopped bittering and teasing citric twang to toasted bread base.

Sour doughy malts contrast honeyed wheat insistence of mildly creamy medium-bodied pale-toned ‘helles’ lager. Lemony herbal hop nuance defers harsh astringency.

Swampy skunked veggie waft, dank clay-like hop sedation, and mild sourdough impression confront peppery lemon-spiced zest of hardy German-styled Viet Namese. Beechwood-smoked herbal-tinged husked corn dryness lags at metallic finish.

On tap, murky fruity malt aroma fits dark berry pleasantries and nut grain bitterness like a glove. Teasing hops tickle the tongue while impenetrable caramel malts provide much-needed assertion. A smidgen less imaginative and too watery and inconsequential than serious Dortmunder-styled lager competition. In bottle, dank-smelling German-styled light body brings unwanted metallic twinge to phenol citric-berry lark, benign sourdough breading, and washed-out nut grain bittering. Impenetrable caramel malting needs better assertion and leathery straw-hay earthiness gets acrid. Off-putting corn-oiled splotch blotches floral-spiced alacrity.

Traditional tea-colored eggshell-headed Dortmunder lager offers dry Scotch frontage to soft-grained wheat-toasted hop-roasted mildness, but tinny metallic finish and delusional nutty bittering lower potential. Best consumed from 1-gallon pony kegs, where delicate sweet and sour malting juxtaposes polite hop bitterness above watery texture for refined elegance.

Though lacking distinction (and currently defunct), creamy Dortmunder-styled amber-toned medium body retains smooth dry grain uniformity and wispy caramel dash. A touch of hop bitterness caresses reserved toasted oats finish.

Blah pale appearance, dank malt aroma, and slim flat head not redeemed by soapy phenol sourness. Soft-grained flow lacks full-bodied German traits, finishing thin, plain, and watery.

Uneventful lower-rung pale-toned Eastern Euro tedium with skunked malt musk, mossy barley-oats-corn easement, and dry popcorn hop fizz flops, befouling grassy hay backdrop of rudimentary dortmunder styling.

Dank fungi basement waft shouldn’t prohibit true blue-collar drinkers from discovering dry medium-bodied flaxen fluid. Raw honeyed lemon rind souring and unripe orange tartness stay above hushed hop spicing. Herbal ginger, eucalyptus, and lemongrass illusions counter sweet glutinous egress.