Ballast Point Calico Amber Ale

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

650 ml bottle from local liquor store. Pours a rich reddish-copper color with a big sudsy off-white head that lasts forever and leaves plenty of lacing. The aroma is moderate in strength with caramel and malts. The flavor is rich with malts, set prominently in a biter hops backdrop. Other flavors I detect are citrus, pine, toffee and walnuts. The mouthfeel is full and creamy with lively carbonation. The finish is long, dry and biter. Overall: This is the best example of the style "Premium Biter" I have tried to date. Recommended.

Transparent red-orange pour with a yellowed off white head. Aroma of caramel maly, light earthy hops, brown sugar and light spice. Flavors of brown sugar, light honey, caramel, and earthy hops. Medium body, sweet/malty witha malty/bitter finish.

I didn’t like this much but it’s ok. It is red amber with a thick, light tan head that lasts a little while. The aroma is wheat, honey, citrusy hops, and dust. The taste is malty, fruity, bitter before becoming a bit sweet, with faint flowery hops, a hint of toffee. It then leaves a very bitter, dry aftertaste with a strong hoppy pine aftertaste lingering long past its welcome. The hop bitterness gets more prominent as one drinks more. It is somewhat similar to Lagunitas Censored (one of my favourites) in appearance and flavours, but more hoppy, rough, and much more bitter.

22 oz bottle. pours a very deep red with a cloud head. has a deep almost musty aroma but at the same time appealing. My initial reaction to the taste is that of an intense inviting, sharp biting ale(very much full bodied) I enjoy the taste and the hops mix-in well with each other.. Good robust ale!!

Bottle. Dishwatery, copper color with an ivory head. Grainy malt aroma with some citrusy hop notes. Malt forward but bitter as well. Very British in style with an obvious American hop presence.

Pours a clear, dark brown/red with a nice head. Aroma of fruit, sweet nutty malt, hops. Flavors of piney hops, citrus, nuts, malt, and a bit of metallic taste which seems to be standard for ESBs.

Bottled, opened on 9/10/07. Beer welled up and out of bottle immediately upon opening at refrigerator temperature. Pours dark, clear amber with lively carbonation and modest head which soon shrinks to proper thin skin of foam atop beer’s surface. Aroma is strong malt balanced with resiny hop notes. Flavor is very hoppy for an amber ale with citrus bitterness dominant over the malt. Mouthfeel is smooth and a touch creamy. Finish is a lasting hop bitterness with a hint of astringency that lasts a long time. A good beer, to be sure, but not what I was expecting from an amber ale.

Bottle. A very pretty nose of floral hops and roasted malt. Pours a rich amber with a rocky off-white head. Excellent head retention. Excellent balance on the palate. Decent amount of grassy hops and sweetly roasted malt with neither being excessive. Medium to full bodied. Fairly creamy. Like other offering from this brewery, it is rock solid.