Marin Albion Amber Ale

Brewed by Marin Brewing Company
Style: Amber Ale
Larkspur, California USA

Pours with a lightly hazy, concentrated amber color and is topped by a frothy, initially fat-one-finger thick, amber tinged, tan colored head. The aroma has a nice, grassy hop character to it up front, but then moves into some fruit notes reminiscent of berries, grapes and even some darker raisin-like notes. The aroma finishes with an inviting, dry toasty, biscuit like malt character.

The flavor, like the aroma, is quite a bit hoppier than I was expecting. Again a grassy, herbaceous hop character leads the charge, but notes of berries and citrus round out the hop flavors. Salty, chewy, crusty multi-grain bread flavors as well as some notes of caramel round out a malty middle. The finish is a mix of dry, toasted grain as well as a lightly lingering hop bitterness. As the beer warms up, the already mentioned malt notes become more noticeable as does a light, caramelized sweetness. The sweetness also brings out some fruity notes of raisins, sweet - slightly concentrated plums and even some notes that are like tart plums. For a beer of this strength, it really has quite a body to it; a thick, chewy character accentuates and is accentuated by the malt flavors here.

This is actually quite a nice brew. I really like the balance between malt and hop here, especially since I was expecting a boring Amber ale.

Bottle poured a clear amber color with a nice off white head. Aroma was caramel, some roastiness and hops. The flavor was mainly malty as expected from an amber with a good balance of bitterness and hop flavor.

Fresh hoppy aroma. Some malt too. Hazy reddish amber color with a firm beige head. The flavor starts with malt, and a hint of sour - that Siletz aspect again. It’s a bit thin, but English ales tend that way. The finish is a bit of roasted malt, and the barest hint of hop bitter. But it doesn’t claim to be an ESB. Not the most enticing Marin product.

Pours out a clear dark amber color with a minimal sized head. Aroma was sweet malts with an underbelly of spices. Flavors were more malts, roasted nuts, and a slight unpleasant astringency. This is clearly a malt vehicle as I couldn’t pick up anything that resembled hops. That’s okay though. I doubt it would have gotten a higher score because the malts were so dominating.

Pours very nice, with a thick dark amber, brown color. Has a ton of head. Took about 20 minutes to pour the entire bottle. Aroma is kind of nonexistent. mouthfeel is fair and smooth. Flavor is strong and more malty than most ambers. Overall a very good beer.

22oz bottle acquired in trade with DarkElf (thanks!). Poured a dark amber, almost brown color, with a huge (5.5 finger) off white head. Aromas of caramel, toasted malts, pine, and citrus. Tastes of citrus, roast, and very light caramel. Fizzy and somewhat thin body.

Bottled, pours a dark amber brown. Thick off-white head, nose of hopps and caramel malts......I love all Marin beers!

Bottled. Pours a dark ruby/brown. color. Malty and roasty aroma with some hop presence. Roasted malty flavor right up front. A touch of sweetness follows. The finish is roasted and a little watery.