Full Sail Nugget Special Red Ale

Brewed by Full Sail Brewing Company
Style: Amber Ale
Hood River, Oregon USA

Bottle. Average creamy off-white head that mostly diminished. Fair lacing. Clear flat body with an amber color. Aroma of caramel, elderflower, herbs, citrus, grapefruit, peach and fruit. Medium bodied with an average carbonation. Light to moderated sweet and bitter flavor. Light dry and sweet finish.

Pours mahogany. Nice head, quickly diminishing. The beer was nicely balanced, bitter and hoppy with mild caramel sweetness.

Has kind of a dark amberish pour, with a small frothy head. Has a toffee and caramel malt type thing mixed with a bit of fruit bread, some sweet figs and prunes, perhaps some apple skins as well. Not really enough of a push by the hops, it could be a little more assertive. Still enjoyable and easy to drink, just a slight bit unbalanced. Not really sure where they were going with this one.

Aroma of sweet malts and citrus? hop. Color approaches ruby red or ruby orange, and the white head didn’t stay long. A bit thin. Seems to start with malt, develops a different malt character, finishes with a decent amount of bitter, but the a lightly roasted malt flavor sticks around. Not a dry finish.

Pours a transparent orange amber with a spotty-lacing froth of light tan head. Aroma of lemony grapefruity, slightly soapy hops with a touch of pale malt. Body starts fully carbonated and lightly sweet with some sticky resiny hops toward a crisp, bittersweet, slightly earthy finish. An average amber.

Bottled. An amber beer with an orange head. The aroma is sweet with notes of citrus, malt, and over ripe fruits. The flavor is sweet malty with notes of caramel and fruit, leading to a dusty hoppy finish.

Pours with a fat-two-finger thick, amber tinged, tan colored head that sits atop a brilliantly clear, concentrated red beer. The aroma is enticingly hoppy from a distance with notes of herbal & citrus like hop notes. Aromas of grapefruit, berries, tangerine, pine, and a solid, spicy / herbal backdrop are all quite noticeable. A touch of malt peeks through the hop notes, contributing a touch of sweet aromatics and some biscuit-like malt notes. What the malt does accentuate is the fruit, mostly berry like notes.

Fairly dry up front (I have a feeling that is the steak I had for dinner though), it does pick up a light, malty sweetness towards the middle. A slight, bitter, hop bite finishes this beer off and lingers on for a bit in the finish. Aggressively hoppy throughout, this beer has a pronounced herbal hop character that is a mix of pine, green-hay and perhaps a touch of menthol. A backdrop of citrus flavors help to round things out (mostly grapefruit notes) as does some malt character that leans towards caramelized malt sugars, biscuit-malt and some soda cracker notes towards the finish. This has a certain heft to it that allows it to stick just a bit to the mouth; this is still fairly easy drinking though.

Not a bad beer, seems to be a slightly bigger version of Full Sail Amber, or at least of that heritage. It could almost use a bit more malt character to stand up to the sharp hop notes in the finish (a sort of astringent, almost menthol like note). This is not bad, but for some reason it just can’t hold my interest for long.

Purchased: <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp? Liquors, Tucson, AZ

Pours amber/red with a slight haze. Head is thin and offwhite. Aromas of citrus and malt. Flavor is dry and bitter. Body is medium. An OK brew. Nothing special.