Silver Gulch Copper Creek Amber Ale

Brewed by Silver Gulch Brewing & Bottling Co.
Style: Amber Ale
Fairbanks, Alaska USA

(bottle) Clear copper body with small beige head. The aroma is not beer -- it is dessert: very sweet, fudge, caramel (the candy not the malt). Taste is still sweet (milk chocolate, caramel), but not so much as the aroma suggests. A hint of earthy bitterness in the finish. Watery medium body. This beer may work for those who don't like beer, but I can't say this is anything a beer lover would crave.

Thanks to JSquire for sharing the bottle. Amber hue with solid off-white head and good lacing. The aroma hints of pine, citrus, butterscotch, grassy and herbal hops, and a off nose of band-aid. The taste starts malty swet with some buttered biscuit tone. The finish displays a very bitter long finish and an off industrial aftertaste I just couldn't get over. The mouthfeel is thin and fizzy. Starts nice but finished badly, another disappointing amber ale.

Bottle at Eielson AFB AK 7/9/05: Dark copper, almost brown, thin head. Almost a vanilla nose. Mellowly flavored, almost hazelnut primarily, but little to no bitterness.

Bottle. Pours flat amber with a small and quickly diminishing off-white fizzy head, spare lacing. Aroma is heavy malt (cookie, molasses, toast), light hops (grass), average yeast (dough) with notes of cola. Average duration, moderate acidity and bitterness. Medium bodied, slick texture, soft carbonation and metallic finish.

Pours a light copper color with a thin off-white head with decent lacing. Aroma has some molasses notes with a bit of spruce. Faint citrus notes in the flavor. Has a sort of dusty, moldy flavor. Needs some work, or perhaps it has been on the shelf too long. Finishes with a bit of a stingy mouthfeel.

Bottle thanks to AmericanBrew. Pours with an off-white head over a hazelnut colored body. Aroma is nutty with some caramel. Taste is watery and a bit corn like. Not amazing.

Light copper and clear; nice head. Lightly carbonated. Malts were syrupy and sweet with toffee notes and a hint of molasses. Sadly, hops seemed rather one-dimensional -- they just seemed to offer bitterness, and hardly any flavors or aromas to speak of. Overall, not a bad beer, but I found it much too predictable and a little too sweet.

(12 oz bottle: Some tiny roadside liquor store on the Richardson Highway, near Wrangell-Saint Elias NP, Alaska) Moderately malty, lightly sweet, lightly roasted flavor, balanced by a moderate bitterness. Medium bodied with a substantial mouthfeel. Fairly malty nose. Orange amber in color. Off-white head has solid retention. Another nice one from Silver Gulch, too bad this brewery isn’t distributed more widely.

I bought a six-pack of this beer while driving to Wrangell-Saint Elias NP for a week of back country hiking, and managed to save one bottle to bring home with me. Several months later, here I am, doing a real rating, not one in the back seat of Jim’s SUV, half wasted, doing a rating while drinking out of the bottle. I still think this is a decent beer, but I’m lowering the marks just a bit. It has a decent malt backbone with a moderate, balancing hops and a lightly toasty finish. While it’s mildly sweet with a touch of caramel, it’s not sugary. There is a slight sourness hanging over the beer, but it’s not unpleasant. Medium in body, with enough hops to clean out the palate. The nose is toasty and lightly hoppy. The color is a deep ruddy amber color with a slight haze. Light tan head retains a thin layer fairly well and leaves some patchy lacing on the glass. About average as far as amber ales go.