Jumping Cow Amber Ale

Brewed by Firestone Walker Brewing Co.
Style: Amber Ale
Paso Robles, California USA

Appearance: Pours a dark, clear amber with a 1/2 inch of dense off white foam. Aroma: Bread crust at first, then spicy and sweet malt. The aroma is very faint on this beer. Taste: Dry, bready malt and a bitter Euro hop presence. Mouthfeel: On the thin side, almost watery. Overall: A balanced amber session ale that doesn’t excite me like most beers made by Firestone Walker.

12oz bottle brewed in New Ulm. Filtered orange-amber color. Head fades out into an oily layer. Mild clean vanilla-amber malt aromas. The taste is similar, with a simple toasty amber malt center. Maybe some light vanilla tones, as well as a mild, sticky bitterness in the aftertaste. A touch underwhelming, an awkward light-medium body. Pretty simple, straightforward, and inoffensive.

Pours a nice clear orangy amber with a decent, if not persistent, head. Aroma is fairly strong, malty and just a bit fruity-sweet. Flavor is mainly malty with an undertone of orange and just a tang of hop bitterness. Texture is fairly smooth and just a little fizzy. Overall, OK if not superb.

12 oz bottle bought at Trader Joe’s. Pours amber with lots of carbonation and an short lived small head. Aroma is sweet caramel malt and citrus hops. Medium body, with citrus hops dominate the flavor, with some balance from caramel malts. Finish is long and pleasantly balanced. I’m not sure which version I tried, but looks like it was hoppier than in other reviews. More like American Pale. Good beer for the price.

12 ounce bottle from Trader Joe’s, Short Pump, VA, brewed at Schell. Pours a clear amber color, appropriately enough. Thin head with decent head retention and lacing. Aroma is caramel with light nutty and floral hop notes. Taste is caramel, caramel and caramel with faint citrus hops that grow into a fairly finish. Medium bodied.

Bought at Trader Joe’s. Am amber hue with lots of carbonation and an attractive light golden head. Good retention. Aroma is sweet with malt and fruit. Caramel malt dominates the flavor with some grain and fruit. There is a hop presence but it is in the background providing more bitterness than flavor. Malt lovers, such as myself, will like this one.

Bottle. Clear, amber color with a decent white head. Decent, malty aroma with some caramel and a bit of hops. Nice, malty flavor with an earthy hops presence. Decent amber ale.

Clear amber with one finger of white head. Recedes fairly quickly to a ring. Modest lacings. Nice fruity aroma. Taste is candied fruit sweetness with some leather and earthy bitter hops. The hop character was decent and if the malts were just a little less I would have rated it a bit higher. A very sessionable beer and an excellent value at Trader Joes.