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Santa Cruz Mountain Amber Ale

Percentile
23
overall

bottling
unknown

on tap
unknown

distribution
unknown

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RatingsAverageScoreABVStyle PctlServe in
302.72/5.02.73/5.05.4%20.5English pint, Shaker
Commercial Description:
Our Amber is an all grain, close fermented, lightly hopped, handcrafted ale. We steep and sparge the freshly milled grain, in a slow and deliberate process using both a mash tun and a lauter tun, before pumping it over to our kettle. Once in the kettle, we bring it slowly to a boil and add hops in incremental stages, for bittering, aroma and flavor. While in the kettle, the wort must be carefully attended too as it threatens to boil over. After the boil is complete and all of the hops have been added, the beer is slowly cooled through a water chilled cooler and brought to a perfect temperature for pitching our yeast. After a period in closed fermentation, the ale is passed through a filter into a brightening tank where it awaits packaging. Nothing in our brewery is automated, ensuring that each step in the brewing process is hand crafted. We use a hand selected blend of organic malts with a primary base of Briess organic 2-row brewers malt. The Briess 2-row malt is known for it's smooth and mild qualities. We add top-secret amounts of caramel malts to give the ale a richer flavor and colour. The results are clear. Hops selecting in our recipe formulation is difficult since there are so many amazing organic hops to choose from. Again, we use a top-secret blend of organic whole hops in our Amber Ale but we favor an aromatic beer so we use an age old method of 'dry-hopping' - adding a final 'tea-bag' of organic Kent Goldings in the brightening stage. Organic Kent Goldings hops are grown in Belgium from the original rootstock and are known to be one of the finest hops in the world. Check the results for yourself! Stop in and try Santa Cruz Mountain Amber Ale for yourself. We have a tasting bar.
 Most Recent Top Raters Highest Ratings Who's Rated This?  
 Papsoe (14996), Frederiksberg, Denmark
2.8 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
6/103/56/102/511/20
Jul 28, 2009  
On tap. Slightly hazy amber with an off-white head. Very discreet caramel notes in the nose. Medium body, sweetish roasted malt and caramel. Hardly any bitterness. 090709


 yespr (12173), Copenhagen O, Denmark
2.5 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
5/103/55/103/59/20
Jul 24, 2009  
From tap at the brewpub. Pours almost clear and golden orange to amber with a small white head. Light toffeish aroma. Sweet caramel malty flavoured, vague butterish to the toffeish flavours. Ends roasted caramelish and sweet.


 hopdog (5576), Lansdale, Pennsylvania, USA
3 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
6/103/56/103/512/20
Apr 11, 2007  
22oz bottle acquired in trade with Larry_Pitonka (thanks!). Poured a medium amber color with an averaged sized off white head. Aromas of caramel and citrus. Tastes of caramel, citrus and light toasted malts. Thinner body. Drinkable but boring.


 BückDich (4847), McCall, Idaho, USA
2.7 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
6/103/56/102/510/20
Jun 12, 2007  
Bottle: Caramel color, light head and lacing. Nose of diacetyl and toffee, light hops, fresh milled caramel malt. The flavor is semisweet and metallic lingering with dull diacetyl and a nutty caramel not. Meh!


 Ernest (4487), Boulder, Colorado, USA
3.3 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
7/103/56/104/513/20
Aug 28, 2007  
Bottle. Head is initially small, frothy, light brown, mostly diminishing. Body is medium to dark amber. Aroma is lightly to moderately malty (toasted grain, cookie), lightly hoppy (apricot), with notes of sour apple, autumn leaves, nutmeg, oak, cherry, light note of band-aid. Flavor is moderately sweet, lightly to moderately acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly to moderately sweet, lightly to moderately acidic, lightly to moderately bitter. Medium to full body, creamy/velvety texture, lively carbonation. Nice mouthfeel and actually not too badly balanced, but the aroma is VERY odd for the style...definite sour and wild tones made me think it was infected prior to tasting. Not an unpleasant amount/type of tartness, though, but man...the aroma is definitely more in line with a rustic biere de garde than an American amber. A loony sample, perhaps. More alcohol evident than the 5.4% would suggest. So all in all...weird and difficult to rate, but admittedly not unpleasant. If this is what they were aiming for, I’d probably rate a bit higher, but somehow I don’t think that’s the case.


 bhensonb (4274), Woodland, California, USA
3.2 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
5/104/56/104/513/20
Sep 5, 2007  
Bomber. Nice aroma of malt and ripe fruit. Amber color with a white head that ringed. A bit thin in body, with very mild carbonation. The flavor is caramel malt with a fruity accompaniment. The finish is relatively dry, and there is a decent amount of bitter. Could be a malty IPA.


 Braudog (3762), Dayton, Ohio, USA
2.4 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
4/103/55/102/510/20
Jul 9, 2009  
Draft at the brewery. OK, so here’s the deal with every beer I had here: buttery. Adjust the color and basic flavor component to match the beer otherwise, and that pretty much wraps it up. This had the overall character of caramel candy. (#3583, June 2009)


 ratman197 (3206), Arvada, Colorado, USA
2.3 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
5/104/54/102/58/20
Jul 14, 2009  
Bomber poured a clear reddish amber with a lasting amber head. Aromas of carmel, butterscotch, earthiness and fruiottiness. Palate was light bodied and crisp with a thin sharp finish. Flavors of carmel, butterscotch and a strange fruittiness with a crisp thin sharp finish. This is the second beer(Dread Brown) in a row I’ve had from this brewery that’s had weird flavor profiles.



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