A Flowery Song

Background: This fall release from the wonderful Great Lakes Brewing Company is a highly-hopped amber ale named after a vampire.

Nose: Caramel and treacle, with citrusy hops in abundance.

Taste: Big punch of hop flavour contributing piny, citrusy, and vegetal leaf mould accents on a bed of rich caramel malt.

Overall: It’s very good.

Background: The Budweiser brand’s attempt at breaking out of their line of pale lagers, light lagers, and pale light lagers and speaking to the Bud aficionados that have been considering trying different beer but didn’t want to stray outside their comfort zone of high-concept commercials. The preceding sentence has requested that it be taken out and shot as a service to the readers. This beer is the first ale to be included in the Budweiser lineup, and thank God they chose something other than a cream ale.

Nose: Caramel, grassy hops, and copper.

Taste: Light caramel sweetness, fruity esters, grainy malt, herbal hop flavour, light to medium hop bitterness.

Overall: Safe, solid amber. I’ve seen people blast it for not being hoppy enough—c’mon, it’s an amber ale not Imperial Hop Juice. It wouldn’t stand out among the offerings of most craft brewers, which in a way is damning with faint praise, but on the other hand it’s not supposed to be a blow-your-socks-off taste sensation and it succeeds at what it tries to do.

Background: Ballast Point Brewing Company in San Diego makes this American Amber (though their website spends quite a lot of time telling you that it was inspired by English pale ales).

Appearance: Coppery body, half an inch of rocky head from the pour.

Nose: Moderate citrusy hop aroma, fruity esters.

Taste: Light caramel malt, more citrusy hops, and a bit of toffee.

Overall: I'd have liked a slightly stronger malt presence, but it's a light, tasty beer.

Background: The brewery's flagship ale, an American Amber crafted from “mainly” pale malts.

Appearance: Pours a beautiful amber with a dense off-white head. Very pretty.

Nose: Sweet, toasty malt. Any hop aroma is masked by the malt and a slight amount of esters.

Taste: Medium malt sweetness, some citrusy hops and floral notes. Malt has light toasted accents and a bit of caramel character. Medium hop bitterness to balance the malt.

Mouthfeel: Moderate body, high carbonation. Finish is oily, and the hops stick around.

Overall: Solid, middle-of-the-road example of the style. I don't particularly care for it, but then again it's not a style I particularly care for.

Appearance: Slightly hazy medium brown body, coarse tan head.

Smell: Sweet malt with some citrusy hop aroma and a bit of caramel.

Taste: Starts out sweet, toasted malt; some earthy and yeasty notes in the background along with just a hint of diacetyl; nice medium hop bitterness in the finish.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied, medium-high carbonation.

Drinkability: Excellent example of the style. Full of flavour and well-balanced, easy to drink quite a few.

Appearance: Pours a deep amber red, with minimal head retention.

Smell: Clean malty aroma with grassy undertones.

Taste: Caramel malt, clean roasted flavour with subtle lemony hops. Coffee notes in the finish.

Mouthfeel: Smooth and fairly light, with medium carbonation.

Drinkability: Really quite drinkable. Not a lot of depth, but no real faults either.