Clipper City Oxford Class Organic Amber

Brewed by Clipper City Brewing Co.
Style: Amber Ale
Baltimore, Maryland USA

12oz bottle. Deep amber brown color with a frothy head. Mellow doughy aroma. A crisp hoppy taste at first sip, which fades into a smooth, medium to light bodied malty sweet finish. A pretty pleasant session beer, but nothing special.

Bottle from BOTM. Well, this one is not very exciting, perhaps it is also because I have a prejudice against organic beers and wines. In any case, it is fairly thin, has some metallic notes and some hops if you search for it and malts that clash with the thin body.. best drank with food, by itself it is not very good.

Thanks to Ian for the bottle. Dark brown watery pour with a thin white head. Sweet malty aroma. Taste is malty sweet. Easy drinking, but nothing special.

Beer of the Month Selection July 2008. Poured from the bottle into a pint class. Nice amber color with smallish head. Aroma a bit malty. Not as much flavor as I would have expected from an amber ale. A little weak and flat. Went down too smoothly, with no aftertaste. Overall impression was not as good as I had expected. I finished the beer and still wanted to drink a beer. Not much more than a typical lawnmower beer.

This is a nice amber ale. Nothing extraordinary, but that’s not a bad thing in an amber. Aroma was pretty weak. Burnt caramel comes to mind. Pour was a nice deep amber with a thin off white ring for a head. Taste was nice and full. Burnt caramel and semi sweet roasted malt in the front with just a hint of stale hops in the aftertaste. Nice strong carbonation rounds this beer out.

poured aa dark copper hue with a slightly off white head that had no retention. It did seem pretty dark to me for an amber ale. Aroma was all caramel and other sweet malt notes. The flavor was similar but had some bitter hops to balance out the sweetness. A decent beer from a style in not a fan of.

Beer of the Month Selection (July 2008): Poured form the bottle into a pint glass. Pour produced a dark amber body topped with a medium head of tan foam. Aroma is that of a sweet malt, with some caramel notes, though it took some warming up in order to coax it out. Smooth mouthfeel with a medium body, this beer is neither too sweet or bitter, and went down quite easily, perhaps too easily. The palate was not complex, with some caramel maltiness, but that’s about it. I would drink this again, as it isn’t a bad beer at all, I just know of better ales and would choose those first.

This beer was refreshing but tasted and smelled like very little. Not much here to react to, for better or for worse. So, inoffensive, but can’t be rated at anything better than average. Color was quite nice - a gorgeous copper with nice head. Aroma - I got nothing. Flavor was slightly sweet maltiness, but I struggled to taste much. Mouthfeel was smooth. This was a refreshing beer for a warm day, but I have trouble recommending it. This was a Microbrew of the Month offering.