Shed Amber Ale

Brewed by The Shed Restaurant & Brewery
Style: Amber Ale
Stowe, Vermont USA

(draft) Hazy dark amber body with off-white head. Aroma is medium sweet, chococaramel, light floral, orange. Taste is medium sweet, molasses, chocolate, caramel, some orange/grapefruit. Light-medium body, low carbonation.

on tap-pours a thin off white head and hazy amber color. Aroma is medium malt-caramel. Taste is medium malt-caramel, bready, yeast (apple?), some citrus hops.

Straight deep amber, off-white cover. Minty hops join the otherwise malty nose that has a pleasant earthyness to dose the caramelly crystals adequately. Tartish and mineral palate with that typical rocky dryness, saltiness that kills the malts. Light bodied, fair carbonation. Arduous.

The Lure:
Caramel sweetness and peachy fruitiness lay on wet soil. Faint roastiness peers through.

The Festivities:
That treacherous mineral water character is still there. A few citrusy hops precede an earthy, resinous bitterness. Caramel fruitiness is well-balanced with the hoppiness, but that invasive dirtiness always nags.

Transcendence:
Newspaper stains.

Orange amber ale with no head. Light caramel malt and faint hops in aroma. In mout, good malt with diacetyl notes and floral hops. Buttery mouthfeel. On tap, Feb.10, 2006.

Dec 01: On tap. This was rather a pleasant surprise; I don't expect a lot from American ambers or this brewery, and this beat my expectations. Not promising to start, with a dull brownish body and little aroma -- weak grain and smoke is what I got. The flavor is something else, very full and complex, sweet but not at all fruity, smoky, hoppy, caramel-tinged. More punch and body than most ambers, with a nice finish. Not great, but a decent, quality offering from this brewer.

March 03, at the brewpub. While I still think this is one of Shed's better offerings, I'm not nearly as enamored as I was a year and a half ago. Liked the butterscotchy aroma a lot, flavor starts out malty-smooth but ends up a just a bit too peppery and harsh for the style. Still not at all bad.

2004: can't take the diacetyl anymore, can't.

Original Rating (3-3-3-1-5=1.5): Sampled Summer 2003 - Fair amount of buttery diacetyl in the sweet aroma. Brownish-copper body with thin but lasting white head. Butter overwhelms the caramel malts in the flavour. Sticky, cloying body. Sampled at the brewpub.
Rerate (5-3-5-3-9=2.5): Mineralic, grainy malt aroma with some herbal hops and dark, sweet crystal malt apparent in the nose. Hazy, deep, amber coloured body is topped by a decent, off white, fine bubbled head that recedes to a lasting cover. Mineralic flavour is quite dry with moderate bitternessand some lingering caramel malts. Medium light body with moderate, fine bubbled carbonation. Sampled on tap at the brewpub with beerbuzzmontreal, MartinT, muzzlehatch, Rastacouere and Yowie.

On tap at the brewpub. Malt job, with an dd bitterness. Very light brown colour, tea-ish. Touch of lace. Thinnish whisp of head.Malty aroma.Above average carbonation. 5% a.b.v. Fairly weak and low drinkability.