Bar Harbor Lighthouse Ale

Brewed by Bar Harbor Brewing Company (Atlantic Brewing Company)
Style: Mild Ale
Bar Harbor, Maine USA

beer decants a fairly bright red-brown with an off-white head that retains well and leaves great lace. lightly roasted malt aromas has some dark toast and light chocolate notes. light floral hop aroma. almost a fudge-y flavor up front, with a dusting of dry bitter chocolate in the finish. a bit of earthy hop flavor compliments the toasty/roasty malts in the finish. light bodied beer does what the style is supposed to - delivers an easy-to-drink beer with enough flavor to keep it interesting thru the whole pint. well done.

Pours a two-finger cream head that stays leaving some lace. Nice deep amber color. Light-medium carbonation and medium bodied. Slight malty/bready nose. Start with some sweetness, finishes clean and mellow. Even though the ABV is very low (3.2%) this ale has good flavor. A lot of chunky bits in the bottom of the glass. $3.99 for a 22oz bottle from Tully’s Beer & Wine Wells, Me.

Has a nice dark reddish brown color and a malt smell. Taste is nice and malted with little bitterness. Overall a good beer, but a little too pricey.

It’s no exaggeration that this is a mild beer. While lacking in a strong flavor profile, however, it more than compensates by going well with food. I drank this with a Native American style meal - wild rice cakes, succotash, fried chicken, and it harmonized nicely. Nothing auspicious to this beer - well balanced. Long lasting whitish head. Darker in color than I expected, and didn’t seem excessively hopped. Lots of fizz, obvious that the yeast is still kicking. This bottle was old, 2004 consumed fall 2005, but it seemed to hold up well.

2005 bottle consumed on 11/9/05. Very deep amber-crimson body with very fine, bottle conditioned bubbles rising to create a large, beige head that is well-retained. Lacing is in large quantity as well. Surprising for such a low gravity beer. Hops in the aroma give notes of nuts, damp earth and underbrush. Malts provide notes of baguette, soft caramel, honey and light toasted grains. Flavor comes alive with light roast, chewy, dry caramel and balancingly bitter, nutty hops. Fruitiness in both aroma and flavor is quite light, surprisingly. Chocolate malt apparency really comes out as it warms while the roast dies down. Gives a soft, fluffy landing as you near the bottom of the bottle; right as you get tired of the roast, the chocolate softens the experience. Impressive amount of flavor depth when drunk over a range of temperatures. Yeast in the nose creates some drying. Quite light bodied, but not for the style. Everything is dry, but the little bit of sweet malt is used VERY efficiently and artfully. Mouthfeel is soft, with a moderately tight carbonation. No wateriness and no astringency as in some of their other beers. Perhaps just a bit too salty/seltzery. But I think this is just the dulling yeast influence.

22oz bomber purchased at Florian’s Market in Auburn, Maine, split with BA CheckMate. Pours a murky brick red with less than a half inch of off-white head that dissipates quickly. Caramel, biscuit, with earthy hops and a slight fruitiness in the aroma, along with a touch of butterscotch. Butterscotch, nut, spice, slightly vinous, earthy and slightly herbal. Medium-bodied with light carbonation. Fairly quaffable overall, my favorite example of the style but a fairly decent beer.

Bottle (650ml). via trade with Ruggedman. Poured bright clear copper with a huge lively foamy-creamy lasting off-white head. Light roast caramel malt, somewhat sweet and chocolatey, some fresh grain and very light hops. Mild taste - again, caramel/chocolate malt, mostly very light grain, sweet but not annoyingly so - this is really good! Quite thin-bodied but on-style, soft, lightly carbonated and very faintly astringent - excellent beer, I drank the bomber in no time flat. Well done! Thanks again for the trade, Ruggedman.

Pours deep amber into a shaker. Slight off-white head quickly recedes to skim rim. Biscuit and malt notes. Light-bodied, but flavorful with slight bitter finish. Very sessionable -- wish I’d picked up more.