Mac and Jacks African Amber Ale

Brewed by Mac and Jacks Brewing Company
Style: Amber Ale
Redmond, Washington USA

This is a great brew even though i still think its more of an APA than an amber. Very fruity apricot hop aroma, citrusy and crisp. Pours orange amber with a soft white head. Taste starts very fruity with a light bitterness to balance well in the finish, citrusy hops that bring out an apricot flavor. A light carbonation keeps this brew creamy and smooth. A very drinkable brew.

Draft at McGrath’s in their signature corny frosted pint-and-a-half mugs. Whaddayagonnado? The movie was playing right across the parking lot and this is where we were gonna eat and this is what was pouring. Thankfully, it was very fresh.
This beer has become something of an institution of this modern third wave craft brewing epoch in the Pacific Northwest. You can get it just about anywhere, and it’s kind of like the way both the public and musicians alike enjoyed Kind of Blue when it came out--newbs and veteran beer lovers alike can both enjoy this beer. Which means you can get it anywhere. Which means it isn’t always fresh or well cared for. Which means its ubiquity and the difficulty of getting a *good* pint of it has created something of a backlash of apathy about it. And that’s too bad. Because this beer really is a good one.
Pours seriously murky and grainy dark caramelly amber with a nice dense, slightly moussy off-white head. Gorgeous woody, herbal hoppy nose.
One of the great things about this beer for sure is the mouthfeel. Rich and creamy right from the attack, though not at all heavy, certainly not sticky. Maybe a bit grainy. Nicely balanced carb. It’s got that instant subcortical rush of pleasure that comes with a perfectly manifested, impeccably modulated mid-thick body--the kind that makes you think to yourself "whatever I was doing all day, whether I am celebrating it or trying to forget about it, it’s over now, because now I am drinking beer." This beer just instantly relaxes you, long before any hint of the booze hits your system (and there really isn’t that much of that, relatively speaking).
The flavors are notoriously sweet, even for an amber. Not compared to, say, an eisbock or a fruit beer, for sure. But within the nuttiness, toastiness, and woodiness on the mid-palate, there’s a caramelly malt sweetness that’s not quite what you’d call pronounced, but it’s very pleasing and it leavens the huskiness and the hops. Anyone, just about, can drink this beer.
The hops get particularly woody at the finish.
It’s hard to call any amber a tour de force, and I’ve had batches of this that were too sweet, and certainly too many pints of it in lousy shape when I was in places that had nothing else palatable. But fresh from the brewery, or well-loved in a nice place, this beer is the king of the hill looking over its kill within the world of amber ales. It’s well worth the drive down to the end of 520 to check out the lads at work and get a growler of this one fresh from the teat. They really know what they’re doing.

I think I had this in a bar at SEATAC. Cloudy, dark, deep amber. Kind of yeasty, malty, chewy. Hints of toffee, caramel and cocoa. Faint honey. Hops a little pine nip, but I wouldn’t call it a hoppy beer. Had a cask-like quality. Nice session beer.

Draught, all over the Puget Sound. Tasty beer. Pours hazy amber color with white foam head. Taste is that great mix of caramel malt sweetness and hop flavor. Nice full and chewy mouth feel. The finish still has the sweetness of the malt but now it is competing with a lingering hop bitterness and a bit of tang. Very good.

Wow, this is one of the best beers that I have had in a very long time. I had the pleasure of drinking this on tap, great carbonation, with lots of hops and great matly aftertaste to balance out. This beer had everything that I was loking for and more. A beer you can drink anytime for any occassion.

"Hey" I ask my Seattle resident host "what about that African Amber? Any good?" "No. Its a Yuppie Cult Beer. Too Much Hype" Well, granted, I had drank quite a few IPA so I noticed anything different, but I was pleasently surprised. Orange to brown, hop nose and initial flavor, but the are pronounced notes of blueberry and licorace, with a creamy malt presence as well. It finishes a little more dry, and clean - very little after taste.

(Draft: C.J. Borg’s Microbrews in SeaTac Airport) Kind of an odd beer; It’s lightly malty, fruity, a little peachy, with a sweet honey flavor, but mostly dominated by a prominent tartness and a mild bitterness; The nose is orange citrus, tart, maybe a little apricot; Medium bodied; The tart, lightly bitter finish doesn’t hang on the palate; The visually unpleasant color is somewhere in the dark amber / dark golden / light brown area and is very murky with lots of small to medium sized sediment floating around the beer; Bubbly, tan head has average retention and lots of patchy lacing; Overall, the tart, fruity flavor doesn’t appeal to me

Draught at Two Bells Pub, Seattle. Light sweet grain with smell of freshly brewed tea. Neutral fruity hops. Hazy amber with foamy off-white lacing head. Medium-light body with medium carbonation. A medium-sweet amber. Mild saccharin sweetness, light grain with little hoppiness. Mild finish and nutty sweet after. Fairly decent amber, and maybe not well served at this particular establishment.