Wild Goose Amber

Brewed by Wild Goose LLC (Flying Dog)
Style: Amber Ale
Frederick, Maryland USA

Clear and glassy reddish-orange color. Puffy head. The top of the glass is nice, with fluffy foam and lace. Smooth and buttery aroma. Sweet and biscuity malt. Only a hint of butterscotch. Honey and a mild sweet grape. Really good. As it warms, more roasted. Nice balance of very bitter roasted amber malt flavor and some sweetness. Bready yeast. Tiny hint of chlorine in the pale malt, but not bad. Like a pale amber. Not overly burnt or too sweet. Appears to be ringwood yeast. Sweeter as it warms. Thick and milky feel. Leaves a bitterish mily film. A nice sweetish ale; ringwood and roasted malt make for a nice combo. A good, solid beer.

I almost confused Wild Goose Brewing of Frederick, Maryland with Goose Island Brewing out of Chicago, IL. The latter I am pretty familiar with, but once more Wild Goose is a brand new frontier for me. Who needs space; beer is my final frontier, and I was lucky enough to stumble across a newly discovered territory: English Style Amber Ale. I don’t know what awaits me and if it will be a memorable experience, or a horrifying disaster. Let’s find out, shall we. That is, after all, half the fun of exploring the vast expanse of beer.

He pours like liquid amber into my glass, shimmering and fracturing in the light with deep reds and soft coppery-orange hues. Faint streams of bubbles lazily make their way to the surface where a soft nose waits for the taking. Crunchy melba toast with a sweet glaze of caramelized maple syrup. Cinnamon and nutmeg sprinkles add spice as a whisper of bay leaves flit through the background. Dry, toasty, brisk and clean with a naughty snap of crunchy sweetness. Licking damp lips, I raise my glass to sup on her liquid bounty. Light with a clean presence that neither lingers too long nor cloys while crunchy caramelized sugars hint of maple. His finish is dry and spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg while the bay leaves flitter through the distance. Breaking him down, his spiced and faint herbal nature hits my senses first, leading me into a toasty, dry, and crunchy finish. As we near the end of our virgin tryst, burnt sugar crystals add another touch of crunchy sweetness with brown sugar relations. Balanced, sessionable, and complex enough to appreciate the flavors but not so much I have to put forth really serious thought.

I love all beers at all different kinds of occasions and times of days. What I drink and when depends on availability, time of day, mood, food accompaniment, and what possible further quaffing plans lay yet still before me. From sipper to easy tasty quaffer, all good beer is good. Wild Goose realizes this with their English Style Amber Ale. Not all beers have to be a 20 page essay unto themselves. There is much to be said about a good session brew. That being said, may I have another please.

interesting English style amber i get steel and butterscotch....buttery and malty with a touch of something like rye. nice rich orange brown amber with no visable carbonation just a white head that dissapates in time. actually decently balanced with some hops it is rich, flavorful and probably something that most officiananos of beer would find demonstrative and pretty decent.

Overall Impression: These guys make a decent Amber, it’s nothing special, pretty simple and subdued, but still tasty, and it’s a solid local (sort of) beer to where I live, so it’s got that going for it...

Orange Park, Fl. - Broudy’s Liquors - 12 oz bottle. Medium copper pour, slightly transparent - decently thick off-white head. Malty accents in the aroma - hints of spices - nothing jumps out - but pleasant. flavor has some subtle chocolate notes, some day old coffee, some faint Christmas spices and a hint of citrus. Mouthfeel is thick enough. Pleasantly surprised.

12 pack variety. pours amber, beige head. Aroma is hoppy with some toasted malts, thin chocolate aroma and caramel. Taste, hoppy, sweet caramel malt presence and thin layer of chocolate for a light bitter finish.

Bottle from the Otown throwdown. Amber pour. Typical malty aromas with some caramel and light hints of hops. Flavor is benign and malty. Hops are barely around. Fair at best.

12 oz bottle. Poured a clear amber color with a two finger cream colored head. The aroma was toffee and caramel with faint hop notes. The flavor was caramel, chocolate and toffee, with an earthy finish. The palate was average with good carbonation, a medium body and a chewy mouthfeel. This was an enjoyable, drinkable brew.