Alaskan Amber

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

A nice amber color topped with a great off white head. bottle and draught are good.

Alaskan Airlines- good malt presence that dominates and satisfies. Low hop character was much appreciated.

My most favorite every day drinking beer. This beer is great from the first time you open it. You are greeted with an almost sweet aroma that promises nothing more than it delivers.

Bottle. Clear dark amber body, not much head. You know those worthless orange/black taffy-peanut butter candies they give out on halloween? This smells like those alongside crystal malt. Great malt flavor - clean clear sweet caramel and toasted malt finishing with a hint of minerals and grassy hops. Medium body with a ticklish carbonation.

Draught. Clear copper color with bubbly white head. Subtle caramel nose that takes more than one sniff to detetect. Dry with a malty cereal grain flavor with a spicy flavor. Maybe a bit too carbonated.

I enjoy this one from time to time, but my best experience came when I had it in Alaska with my wife while we were on a cruise. It went INCREDIBLY well with the king salmon chowder that a local micro-brew in Skagway was selling. While the bottle version is slightly different, it is still very good. Complex malt flavour, medium-bodied, and just the right amount of hops to let you know they are there. Copper colored with a nice white head. Nothing else can really be said that hasn’t. Always a good buy.

Alaskan calls this one an "alt style" beer. Like the classic altbiers of Dusseldorf, this beer is indeed an ale, and enjoys a long, cold conditioning, which is traditionally done with lagers not ales. The similarities end there however, as Alaskan Amber Ale ,just does not have the right amount of hop aroma and flavor stylistically to be a classic example of altbier. Alaskan Amber is actually based on a 100+ year old recipe, from the Douglas City Brewing Company, a 19th Century Alaskan brewer. So stylistically, if you are looking for a classic Dusseldorf altbier, you will not find it here. That is OK though. I have yet to find domestic version of alt, that really comes close, to the altbiers I enjoyed vom fass in Dusseldorf. So what you do have in Alaskan Amber Ale, is a rich, malty, smooth, and drinkable ale, just packed with character. Alaskan Amber Ale pours to a beautiful, bright, deep amber color with a thick and creamy head, and a moderate amount of carbonation. The nose on this beer is fantastic with lots of good sweet malty aromas paried with some light herbal hop aroma. The palate is soft and full on the tongue with lots of good sweet malt and biscuit flavors. Alaskan Amber finishes with more good malt flavor up front, then ends malty but with enough herbal hop bitterness to take the malty edge off this beer. Wow. This beer is just so fresh and flavorful, and just so smooth and drinkable. Alaskan Amber is a wonderful session beer, one you could pound with impunity. It is also a very food friendly beer that would match up with a number of dishes. I really enjoyed this one. Its only flaw is the fact that it too malty as an altbier, and it would have been a better example of alt if it had more hop character. That being said, this beer is one you will want to try, one you will enjoy, and one well worth seeking out in markets where Alaskan beers are sold.

Pours amber in color w/ a medium sized, short lived froth. Residual lacing is good. Aromas of pungent malts. Medium nectar w/ ample residual effers. This creates a semi creamy texture. A bright malty character w/ a mild sweetness that finishes refreshingly. Good ballance. Theres a briskness to it that makes it appealing to me. The finish is only mildly bittered.