Amber’s Australian Mountain Pepper Berry Lager

Amber’s Brewing Company
Brewed at Alley Kat Brewing Company
Style: Fruit Beer
Edmonton, Canada

Pours yellow with a moderate white head. Smells of fruit. Tastes of... spicy pepper... with a tad of sweetness. Finishes of pepper. Pretty good!
Earlier Rating: 7/10/2008 Total Score: 3.2
pours a dark golden colour... thin white head that dissipates quickly... aroma of honey and berries... tastes of moderate hoppiness, with a light hint of fruit and a distinct tartness... finishes with a bit of bitterness... this one is pretty unique; I’ve never had a fruit beer quite like it...

Beer looks pretty boring, very pale yellowy gold, and no head to speak of just a few random bubbles floating on top. Just like the appearance the smell is very boring, if I wasn’t trying really hard I’d swear I was smelling water, I could just barely make out the slightest hint of hops, but some times no smell is better then a horrible one. Wow on my first sip this stuff is different but good, very light crisp taste, just a hint of berry flavor that leaves a nice sour taste in your mouth, there is just a touch of hops in the taste and no malt can be detected. This is a very unique tasting beer that’s very easy drinking it only took me 2 minutes to pond this back, and I think I could pound a lot of these back in one evening, the only draw back is so very light but I think that’s why I like it."

**re-review May 2009***
Just had it on tap and it has improved from the original bottled version - still holds on to its unique flavours - I think this was a bit too far off the beaten path early on in my reviewing

***review from July 2006***
...must pawn remaining bottles on the rest of the Edmonton drunks...Starts off looking good enough. Nice deep yellow, very cloudy and a little head. Near zero effervecence...then the head disappears and thats that. Smells sour and exotic, slight malt, leafy?? and low quality. Unpleasant sharp bitterness. Tastes almost like it smells. Too sour. Mouthfeel is dry, tangy and not much else, except for that unsavoury aftertaste. Yeck.

A superb and unique new lager from a new craft brewery in Edmonton... very quickly became one of my favourite beers.... pours light gold, fruity aroma without overt sweetness, a subtle hint of pepper hits your palate in a bold but not overwhelming fashion... the wine of beers.

341ml brown bottle. Pours light gold colour, head forms a short lasting white cap. Fruity aroma of berries/jam, rather sweet. Flavour is grainy malt, some berry flavour. Finishes drier with mild tartness with some grains and a trace of leafy hop. Medium body with slight carbonation.

Bottle: A sharp pour puts a delicious looking hazed translucent gold beer in the thistle...decent sticky-rocky cap with good retention and lacing properties. Interesting nose on this one; pungent malts over a distinct berry tone and a ground pepper tone...pretty unique. sufficient malt spine, light fruity body, frutiy-light character Up front a good dose on those sweet malts you got in the nose then a distinct berry pulp infusion joined with some tastefully done hopping...finished clean crisp lightly drying ( some wheat?) with a mild berry tartness and a light bittering aftertaste from the hops. A very pleasant and unique brew...certainly one of the most interesting tastes I have had from a fruit beer..

Bottle courtesy of Poperinge. Almost no head. Thin clear gold colour. Golden sweet berry aroma. Has the fruit bitterness but no sweetness or fruit flavour in the taste except for a trace of apricot.

A new craft brewer on the Edmonton scene, apparently bottles its product through the Alley Kat folks. I was very interested in this, having spent over a year in Australia recently, and having had pepper berry jam etc. I haven’t come across any Aussie beers that incorporate this berry though. This one pours a clear yellow gold with a thick foamy white head. Clean and fresh aroma mostly of grain and bread (I couldn’y discern any fruit/spice character in the aroma). The palate is a bit of a let down I suppose, as the pepper berry character is very subtle almost to the point of not existing. After a few sips it becomes faintly evident in the finish as a black peppercorn note. Otherwise this plays out as a straightforward clean-tasting pale lager, with a little bready malt as its chief trait. Still, it’s always nice to welcome a new brewer to the local beer scene!