Alaskan Amber

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

Draft at O’Briens in San Diego. Slightly caramel aroma with metallic hints. Slightly sweet notes in the nose as well. Transparent amber/mahogany color with virtually no head. Mildly sweet, sugary, creamy beer. Roasty and malted. Nice finish. Not extraordinary, but not poor either.

Rich teak wood or overripe tangerine rind in color. Medium head when beer is not too cold (in which case hardly any head is present). Rich, sweet and cake dough malts on nose with flirtation of apple and orange blossom, Outstanding. First taste is caramel, malt, cooked apple, and a surprise of allaspice that makes a brief appearance on each sip. Body is quite sweet and somewhat syrupy, but balanced by the spice and a mild hop finish. A well balanced and pleasing beer for such a ubiquitous brand. Consistently high quality from bottle to bottle.

Aroma:Caramel,nutty,light hops... Appearance:clear amber,light head... Flavor:very nutty,light caramel......

Bottle courtesy of jake65 - thanks! Malty, slightly caramellous aroma, dark with slight toast and roast. Slightly fruity. Clear copper body with a soapy beige head. Somewhat crisp beginning smooths out quickly, medium body with dominate caramel notes and lesser tones of red berries. Good balance between gentle sweetness and dry bitterness. Touch of that house toast-toffee which I love so much in their porter. Aftertaste maintains a dry fruitiness. Easy-drinking but, in the end, not all that interesting. duff’s comparison to a Newcastle Brown is apt, though this does not cloy. A very good Amber, yes, but NOT AN ALTBIER.

On tap at the Skidmore Fountain open-air market in Portland, 7 August 2004. Wouldn’t have guessed it was an altbier, but that makes sense. The body was quite malty with layers of caramel and touches of toast, but grassy, spicy (almost peppery) hops provided a nice complement to the malts. Good stuff, even though it was served out of a plastic cup for $5.

(bottle - 12 oz) Copper in color with a good white head. Aroma is malty with some caramel and some light hops. Flavor begins rather hoppy and blends well with a smooth and malty middle. Finishes clean and crisp and leaves a light bitter aftertaste. Pretty tasty.

Pretty amber color out of the bottle with a small beige head and a slightly roasted malt nose. Some white sugar sweetness with apple juice notes. Faint hop notes keep it from being entirely one dimensional. Okay beer with food.

GABF 2002: Bright amber color. Strong caramel aroma, with clean caramel flavors up front. Light bitter finish. Well balanced. One of the best ambers I’ve tried.