Gila Monster Amber Lager

Brewed by August Schell Brewing Company
Style: American Dark Lager
New Ulm, Minnesota USA

12oz bottle pours amber with a short white head that didn’t stay long. Aromas of caramel malts, and a touch of biscuit with some grassy hops. Flavor is quite malty with notes of caramel, a touch of yeast, and some sweet roasted malts. Palate is light and rather airy with carbonation. Pretty drinkable and woudl be a decent sumer session. I thought htis to be an amber and not a pale actually.

Clear pale copper. Caramel and yest in the nose and on the tongue. Very light hops at the finish. Just OK.

Pours clear caramel with an off-white head. Aroma was roasted caramel malts with some sweetness. Medium bodied and moderate carbonation. Taste was roasted malt with sour caramel aspects. The finish starts spritzy and and then turns sour further down the glass. An okay beer. Nothing to get excited about, but its doesn’t cost much.

Bottle from, where else, Trader Joe’s. A pretty malty smell with a lacing of hop nose. Pours a touch light for an amber, thin temporary head. Some definite malt taste, but the hops I smelled are somewhat missing. Kind of phenolic. Of course for the price, it’s pretty good.

Bottle. Pours a light copper with a substantial foamy white head that quickly fades. Mostly caramel malts with trace amounts of bitter hops on the finish. Ends slightly sweet. Alright.

I had almost forgotten this beer. One that turned me off to ambers for a long, long time. In retrospect, it probably isn’t that bad ... chose it many a day over the macro-brews available at the corner liquor store. Copper colored. Slightly hazy. Fast disipating head that leaves almost no lace. Perfumy (not floral ... definitely perfume). Nutty, caramel, slightly astringent, but not terribly dry maltiness. Medium body. Earl Grey tastes ... not terribly hoppy (minimal, floral, orangey hoppiness - Earl Grey) a midling entry in the amber scene.

Pours a hazed, amber/copper with a fast head that leaves a wisp of film. Aroma is fruit and floral in the guise of a heady man’s cologne with some chewy caramel malt. Nutty bitters with astringence makes for a boring flavor after such an interesting nose. (Additionally, I agree with Cornfield on the style discrepancy... this is darker than a simple Pale Lager and has some caramel to back it up.)

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A bit thin, but respectable amber. Sweet caramel and toffee notes, and some tea leaf bitterness as well. I wish the hopping had been more robust.