Ballast Point Calico Amber Ale

Brewed by Ballast Point Brewing Company
Style: Amber Ale
San Diego, California USA

Pours a beautiful deep amber with a thick creamy tan head that leaves lots of lace. Aroma of caramel and citrus peel, with noticable hops and malt. Flavor is well balanced between hops and malt, sweet and bitter. Some nice toffee and fruitiness as well. A good solid brew.

Very good, sweet ESB. Not as bitter as I expected, very toffeish and caramelly. Solid Beer.

12oz. Bottle: Sweet aroma. Smells of malts, toffee, caramel, hops, pine, resin, grapefruit, and fruit. Poured amber in color with a medium-sized, rocky, dense, tan head that lasted throughout. Clear. Sparkling. Excellent lacing. Flavor is medium sweet and medium bitter. Tastes of hops, malts, toffee, toasting, resin, sourdough, pretzel, grapefruit, pine, and a hint of lime. Medium body. Thin, sticky texture. Average carbonation. Hoppy, malty, lightly dry finish.

the beer is a pleasant and deep amber and it rolls well into the glass. the head is equally tart and tangy and the body is rich and full. this beer has a powerful hop character that is citrusy to grapefruit rind. the malt is recessed due to the hearty hop profile, but you can detect a pleasant mild sweetness. that sweetness does have a nice fruit punchy component to it. overall somewhat unbalanced but, hey whaddaya want you’re here in a power brew. seemed the alcohol would be a bit higher. an over the top amber that works and takes amber to a more interesting level.

From a 22oz. bomber purchased locally. Appearance - Copper, amber with a tan head.half-inch tan head. Clear. Aroma is of floral hops, toast and caramel. Flavors are citrus and pine hops, followed by toasted biscuit followed by a little caramel. The backend flinshes to lemony bitterness in the hops. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, and fairly dry. Fairly easy drinking. Overall, an average American Amber. The hop flavor cuts through too much of the complex malt.

22 oz bomber-Pours a clear amber color w/a slight foamy head & good lacing. Aromas of toffee & caramel. Strong, bitter malt flavor w/traces of caramel, toffee, roasted almonds, & some hop bite. Long bitter finish. Solid Amber, not spectacular.

22 oz bottle from Liquor Outlet. Amber in color. Aroma: citrus and floral hops, some toasted malts and dry biscuity malts. Taste is caramel and toasted malts with a moderate citrus and floral hop presence. Medium bodied, finishes light to moderately bitter. A clean, well made amber.

a hoppier amber than i expected (last one i had is Slo Brewing’s Amber), but still good; like an american pale ale trying to be an amber... overall not what i want, but drinkable, of course; the pine and grapefruit overwhelmed me and i felt like i was trying to taste two different styles--how about some different hops to let out the malts?