Alaskan Amber

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

As the name indicates, a true amber. Small white head. Nutty robust malted nose. Slightly bitter but not as much so as most German alts. Sweet with earthy, fruity hints. Finished a little watery but quite nice overall.

Pours a red/brown color, non-cloudy medium sized head, very quickly diminishing. An aroma of hops, malts, sweet, flowers. Good smooth nutty taste, clean finish.

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.

From draught. Pours a cherry amber translucent color with a medium layer of creamy off-white head. Aroma of fried plantains, a splash of hazelnut liquore, and a touch of anise as well. A bit of fruity bubblegum notes as well. Light bodied mouthfeel with an exceptionally creamy texture. Flavors are nice and relatively sweet with some nice almond nutty tones and light raspberry fruits composingt the malt-biased palate profile. Final smack of lightly toasted banana bread.

Draught. Pours, well, amber, with a pretty good offwhite head. Aroma is mainly caramel malt and some nuttiness, moderately sweet, with noticeable roast and with a hint of floral hops. Flavor is similar; mainly nutty caramel with a fwe hops, and quite smooth. A good session beer.

Pours a nice copper with a decent tan head. Sweet malty aroma, mostly caramel. Nice sweetness, easy to drink. Palate is a little thin and fizzy. OG has the bestest mom in the whole wide world! Thank her for me.

First time I had this beer, I wasn’t too keen on it and thought it was a basic amber ale. Second tasting (June ’06 rerate) was much better. Usual appearance, good initial head and good lacing, amber colored (not as deep a copper as I like in an alt). Malts were mildly sweet and moderately rich: nutty, bready, very light caramel. Hops were bittering, nicely done. Unfortunately, a little bit too much fruitiness sticking around in the aftertaste, leaving this a bit sloppy for the best of the alts, yet a good stateside example. Third tasting, 3/07, a little too malty, although the comments stand. Re-rate on draft, 11/07: A product that is continually slipping, too imbalanced to the sweet side to be a stellar altbier. Sweet, slight breadiness, caramel, in need of more toasty nutty notes and more balancing hops to be a better example of the style. Appearance within style was a bit weak too. No lager crispness anywhere in this product.

Looked better than it tasted. Beautiful pour. Sweet malty notes and taste, but lacking that little bit of hop balance that this style requires. There are better ambers out there - this one is not the best, but certainly not a bad beer by any means.