Alaskan Amber

Brewed by Alaskan Brewing Co
Style: Altbier
Juneau, Alaska USA

I can’t believe I haven’t rated this before... This is their flagship beer and to be honest, I’ve never been much of a fan. I’m going to skip the formalities since just about everyone has had it. I can never get much head on it like they have in the picture, but I’m guessing that was poured on tap. It’s too sweet for my liking, so in that way I think it’s more of an Amber than and Alt, but it definitely has some Alt characteristics. Alaskan brews a few great beers, but this isn’t one of them.

This orange beer poured with a decent beige head and a bread aroma. The malt flavor is too thin, even for an altbier, but it is thicker on the palate. Perhaps an ok session beer.

Remarkably thin and wimpy - this tasted like a light beer. No hoppiness to speak of. This is drinkable, but very boring.

A: Poured with a large, off-white, fizzy head that diminished to a size of about 1/4-finger, and stayed that way until she was all gone. S: Smells of average malt, kind of a cookie-like aroma. T: Mmmm, this is a sweet beer... starts with sweetness and ends with sweetness, with a faint touch of bitterness at the end as well. Average duration, goes down very smooth. M: Light-bodied and slightly creamy, with average carbonation. D: A very enjoyable altbier; don’t have too many experiences with the style right now to compare, but this was my third Alaskan Amber and I enjoy it every time. Extremely drinkable.

Bottle in the rake. Alround rating: Sweet brown bread like malts, infact quite cloying for the %, seriously lacking any hop character. Not into this at all.

On tap at the Knitting Factory. Flavors of nut and roasted malt permeate this beautiful beer. Not bad at all. I used to not be a fan of this one. I guess my tastes are changing?

355ml bottle from the USA bar, Bières Sans Frontières. Shared with Finn H. Nice label design. Off-white, lacing-head. Clear, amber body. Smell of dried fruits. Jam-like flavour with apricot added by a malty touch. Quite well bodied and rounded on the swallow (GBBF, London 04.08.2009).

I can’t believe I haven’t rated this beer. The first time I had this one was sitting at SeaTac after a trip back from Okinawa to see my girlfriend (now wife). This was when the world of beer changed for me. Pour is the same rusty Texas orange with a fizzy white head. He nose is loaded with Munich malt with a bit of sticky Snickerdoodle. There’s a certain citrus hop character in the aroma as well. The flavor is full of dry biscuity malts with a bit of a dark honey sweetness. Pretty big body and it a bit oily. Its a little sweet in the finish. Still, this beer was my first.