Posts Tagged ‘amber ale’

I’m calling this the “Western Mass. Edition” due to a weekend OAB roadtrip to the I-91 corridor of Massachusetts. We decided we needed to get out of town for the weekend and decided to use the beer map in Yankee Brew News as our guide. There are many upcoming articles about the trip, but I decided to kick things off with a beerventory update that is now decidedly Massachusetts heavy.

As we were staying in the Northampton area, we THOUGHT we would do the beer run at Spirit Haus in Amherst on our way out. No such luck. We’ve see great reviews for this place, but the selection on a Sunday morning pretty much sucked. Perhaps we missed something other than the weak selection of bombers and 6/12 packs on the floor near the register. Perhaps it had been a heavy Saturday night – though to me most of the shelves looked stocked.

Thankfully, we had gone to Greenfield, MA on Saturday and looked around in Ryan and Casey Liquors. So after the Spirit Haus disappointment, we hit the highway, headed up to Greenfield and stocked up before heading back to OAB HQ. Looking forward to the coming weeks and drinking these. (Also looking forward to another beer run to Massachusetts.

Bombers
Berkshire Brewing Hefeweizen Ale
Berkshire Brewing Coffeehouse Porter
People’s Pint Pied pIPA
People’s Pint shWheat Ale
People’s Pint Natural Blonde
High & Mighty Two-Headed Beast Chocolate Stout
High & Mighty St. Hubbins Abbey
High & Mighty Purity Of Essence Lager
High & Mighty Beer of the Gods
Pretty Things Baby Tree Quad with Dried Plums
Pretty Things St. Botoisph’s Town Rustic Dark Ale
McNeill’s Ruby Ale
Southern Tier Mokah Stout
Southern Tier Creme Brulee Stout
Jolly Pumpkin La Roja Amber Ale
Arcadia Ales Cocoa Loco
Arcadia Ales Cereal Killer
Southern Tier Jah-Va Imperial Coffee Stout
Ommegang Biere de Mars
Flying Dog Wild Dog Weizenbock

40 oz.
People’s Pint Tap & Die Malt Liquor

12 Pack
Opa Opa Sampler featuring Opa Opa Light, Red Rock Amber Ale and Opa Opa IPA

6 packs : cans
21st Amendment Brew Free! or Die IPA
21st Amendment Hell or High Watermelon Wheat

6 packs : bottle
Saranac Summer Brew

Brewery: Widmer Brewing
Location: Portland, OR
Style: Amber ale

When I picked up the Widmer Drifter Pale Ale, I decided to also grab a six of the Widmer Drop Top Amber Ale. In the end, the Drifter definitely won the day, but the Drop Top is certainly a solid utility ale.

This has a nice deep copper color with a foamy white head that falls quickly. As one would expect from an amber, the aroma is basically malt with a slight bit of hops. It’s a light-medium bodied beer making it a great deck/BBQ beer. The malt flavor plays out nicely with a balance of light hoppiness. This is perhaps the very definition of a utility ale. Nothing massively special – just a perfectly simple and drinkable beer with flavor. There is a bit of fruitiness from the interplay of the mild hops with the malt.

Really nothing more to say about this than definitely worth the buy if you’re looking for a simple solid amber.

I haven’t really done much of a restock lately to the cellar. We’ve been a bit too busy around OAB HQ drinking various foamybeers – our own line of brews. A recent trip to pick up more brewing supplies lead us to drop by Oliver’s discount Beverage in Albany. so, the latest beerventory…

Growlers
Cave Mountain Hefeweizen (bought at the brewery on $8 browler Sundays)

6 packs
Widmer Drop Top Amber Ale
Widmer Drifter Pale Ale
Saranac Summer Brew
Wolaver Ben Gleason’s White Ale
Sherwood forest Friar’s Belgian White ale
Boulder Brewing Hazed & Infused
Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA

12 Pack
Smutty Nose Sampler featuring Shoals Pale Ale, Old Brown Dog, IPA and Robust Porter

Bombers
Long Trail Brewmasters Series Double IPA
Jolly Pumpkin Bam Biere
Jolly Pumpkin La Roja Amber Ale
Arcadia Ales Cocoa Loco
Arcadia Ales Cereal Killer
Southern Tier Jah-Va Imperial Coffee Stout
Southern Tier Iniquity Black Ale
Smuttynose Really Old Brown Dog Ale
Smuttynose Gravitation Belgian Quad
Ommegang Biere de Mars
He’Brew Jewbelation 12
Elysian Bifrost Winter Ale
Flying Dog Wild Dog Weizenbock

Brewery: Troegs Brewing Co.
Location: Harrisburg, PA
Style: Amber ale

I’m finishing off the recent Troegs Fest with one of my new favorite beers: Troegs HopBack Amber Ale.

The Summer of 2009 has been declared my summer to embrace the hops. Up until this point, most of my ale tastes have stayed firmly in the malt realm. It’s true that perhaps the hop bomb revolution is a bit played out, but I’ve got a bit of catching up to do and plan to continue exploring the big hop beers. What I’ve come to love about Troegs HopBack Amber is its big hoppiness without being an extreme beer.

This has a great deep amber color with a foamy head that falls rather quickly. the scent combines a strong hop front with a nice malt back. Taste follows suit starting with a citrusy earthy hop flavor and ending with a mellow malt sweetness. The balance between the hop and malt makes this an extremely enjoyable drink. A medium body ale with a reasonable 6% ABV allows for a couple of these while hanging out on the deck and grilling.

This is certainly detined to be a fixture in the OAB cellar – especially during the outdorr drinking months.

A recent client meeting meant a trip to New Paltz, NY and a return visit to K & E Discount Beverage. Our mission was to add a few more bombers to the cellar and begin the transition to ale drinking season. I did end up buying one six pack.

Six pack
Troegs Hop Back Amber Ale

Bombers
Troegs Flying Mouflan
Wells Banana Bread Beer
Avery Ale To The Chief
Docs Draft Black Currant Hard Cider
Smuttynose Really Old Brown Dog Ale
Smuttynose Wheat Wine Ale
Smuttynose Gravitation Ale
He’Brew Bittersweet Lenny’s R.I.P.A.
Long Trail Brewmaster Series Coffee Stout

A run into downtown Roxbury for some chips to accompany some grilled chicken added another – and quite unexpected – six pack to the cellar. (Trust me – Roxbury is not known for any store having a fine selection of craft beer…)

Six pack bought locally
Hook & Ladder Backdraft Brown Ale
(very surprised to see this in our local convenience store)

Brewery: Ommegang
Location: Cooperstown, NY
Style: Belgian style amber ale

As a resident of upstate NY and a craft beer fan, it is basically a requirement to drink Ommegang brews. They are one of the few NY crafts readily available even in the local gas station. Sampler packs, 4 packs and 750ml bottles can be found practically everywhere. So on a recent bulk shopping trip to BJs Club, we ended up grabbing a 12 pack sampler of the four main Ommegang brews.

First up: Rare Vos. This is a fairly simple but lovely Belgian style amber ale. A slightly cloudy amber color with a nice big foamy head. A solid malty aroma with hints of spice and fruit. This is – however – not a fruit beer. It is a great spicy ale. Coriander, orange and cinnamon dominate with an somewhat fruity after taste. A fairly light drinking ale but big on flavor. Probably my favorite out of the Ommegang standard line.