Fish Tale Organic Amber Ale

Brewed by Fish Brewing Company/Leavenworth Beers
Style: Amber Ale
Olympia, Washington USA

Bottle, Kona, Hawaii, Dec 2005. Head is initially average sized, frothy, off-white, mostly diminishing. Body is dark amber. Aroma is moderately malty (toasted bread, cookie, caramel), moderately hoppy (flowers, herbs, orange, apricot), with notes of peach, honey, and black tea. Flavor is moderately sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, lightly acidic, moderately bitter. Medium body, watery texture, lively carbonation. Was quite surprised with this one, especially wrt the aroma; beautifully complex and attractive, especially for the style. Well-balanced in the mouth as well. Maybe a particularly good batch (organic ingredients are precocious), but it rocked my socks. I wish restaurants in the Kona area had had this available.

Bottle shared with HogTownHarry courtesy of presario. Pours a slightly hazy sparkling amber-orange with a small off-white head. Very sweet aroma of fruit and sugar. Flavour’s also quite sweet and sugary with some caramel malt, grain, breadiness and very mild hops -- strangely you can taste the alcohol which is weird for a beer that’s only 4.5% (Maybe it’s something else entirely?). Thin bodied. This doesn’t have much or any of the qualities I look for in a good beer, I wouldn’t get it again.

Bottle (12oz). Shared with blankboy, his bottle via trade with presario. Poured slightly hazy orange-amber with plentiful tiny bubbles and a miniscule off-white head. Extremely sweet aroma, reminded me of hard candy and something sweet from my childhood I couldn’t place, dry and no hop character other than the dryness - too sweet. flavour of dry roast sugar/caramel malt, quite candyish, very thinly yeasty with mild non-US vaguely sharp/funky hops on warming; mostly just malty and lightly grainy sweet. Sticky, flattish mouthfeel, average body - maybe this is what natural malted barley is like, but to me it was sort of boring and way too sweet ... developed an interesting crushed grass aroma on warming.

Bottle. Aroma had a forest cedar and pine aroma. Amber body with decent head. Flavor had a mild sticky sweetness along with some wood flavor as well. Left a dry like nicatine aftertaste. Decnt brew concidering some other organics had been aweful.

$8/6 pack at Bottleworks. Copper color, not much head. Honey/toffee aroma...Immediate earthy/smoky malt flavor with a little sweetness. Good taste, and not overwhelming...could definitely drink several of these...

Poured deep brown wth no head. The lacing was thin and oily. I picked hints of pine, bananas and fruity hops before taking a sip. Once I took a sip, I immediately picked up hints of flowers and fruits (bananas and grapefruit). It left a subtle aftertaste. Dry and smooth. A great session beer that is neither understated nor overpowering.

Poured a cloudy ice tea colour. Thick-looking though without any real head. Herby, vegetal aroma. Closer olfactory observance reveals solid malt. Floral hops and a fairly intense bitterness grasp the tongue. What I really noticed was a pleasant pipe tobacco flavour with a hint of smoke balanced with complex hops. There’s even some peanut butter and, to top it off, apricot. Compared to what I’ve had his one puts other ambers to shame.

Very dark orange body that is somewhat amber. The thin head is light khaki colored. The aroma has walnuts with some dry leaves. There is a hint of of citrus, but it is very light. The taste is light with some oranges and a little bit of peanut butter. There is also some light caramel. The peamuts butter is distracting. I was expecting more from Fish Tale on this one.