Alien Amber Ale - Sierra Blanca Brewing Company

    Alien is an Amber Ale brewed by the Sierra Blanca Brewing Company in Moriarty, New Mexico. Ever since the Roswell UFO incident in 1947, New Mexico has been a hotbed of supposed alien activity. The state attracts hundreds of UFO hunters per year, each one hoping to have even a "far-away encounter with the Third Kind". Is Alien Amber Ale a novelty that visitors are suckered into just like that plastic UFO on your desk, or will it turn out to be an out of this world beer drinking experience?

    The ale pours a brown-copper color with little to no head forming. A slight ring of bubbles forms where the glass and liquid meet. So far, there's nothing stellar about this beer.

    Alien has a light aroma of sweet caramel and lightly roasted malts. There's something sharp, almost sour about the scent that I find unpleasant.

    The Amber Ale is medium bodied with a medium level of carbonation. The beer has a much better mouthfeel than I had expected. It is actually nice and creamy rather than watery like I was afraid of. The ale has an alcohol content of 5.2% ABV, so it's not really going to make the alien's work any easier when it comes to abductions.

Friends don't let friends drink and fly.

    Alien Amber Ale tastes mainly of sweet caramel malts with just a bit of dark, roasted malt flavor. Similar to the nose, there is an almost sour flavor to the beer that is very off-putting. There is only a slight bit of hops bitterness to balance the beer's sweetness, and not enough to keep the brew from the too-sweet side of things.

    I don't know if this beer was brewed to lure UFO fanatics into buying it, or if it was introduced to humans by aliens as a means of subduing them long enough to experiment on their bodies and return them home with a new tattoo and text messages describing everything they did while they were "asleep". Either way, the beer's off-flavors aren't going to keep either intended target occupied long enough to get anything out of them.

    Now that my Alien autopsy is complete, you know to avoid this beer and it's possible creators' intentions! The beer's sweetness and strange flavors really don't make this an ale I'm looking forward to trying again. Pass this along to keep your friends from being probed!

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Giddy Up! - New Belgium Brewing

    Giddy Up! is an Amber Ale that is infused with espresso. New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins, Colorado brewed a limited amount of this ale, and at this point the beer is no longer being made. Unlike Fruit/Vegetable Beers, where the fruit is added before fermentation or in secondary, this espresso infusion is achieved by adding actual brewed coffee to the finished beer. Now that's two different kinds of brewing in the same bottle!

    The infused ale pours a dark, chocolate color with an amber tint. A thin white head forms upon pouring, but subsides to a thin white ring around the glass that leaves light lacing on the edges.

    The beer smells like sweet roasted malts and strong coffee. The sweetness and coffee scent really reminds me of coffee flavored jelly beans. The coffee scent kind of turns me off as it makes me think of how old, spent coffee grounds smell.

    The beer's body is on the low to medium side with a similar level of carbonation. There is an alcohol content of 6% ABV.

What do you mean it's a bad idea to mix uppers and downers?

    Giddy Up! hits the pallete with the same, old coffee flavor that is present in the aroma. Sweet cocoa and caramel malts back the coffee, bringing to mind sweet espresso drinks. There is some bitter lemon peel flavor in the beer as well which seems to be at odds with the other flavors.

    Everything about this beer makes me wish that it were a porter or a stout. I wish it had a thicker body, that the coffee flavor was better accompanied by roasted malts, and that the lighter Amber Ale flavors were better suited to accompany such a strong coffee flavor.

    I honestly cannot drink this beer wtihout thinking of old, gross coffee grounds that have sat in a machine overnight. I wonder about the quality of espresso used in the infusion, and if it were better, if the beer would taste better overall. Though the flavors are interesting, I can't recommend this beer to anyone that would be looking for anything but a novel, strange flavor to try.

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Forsaken - Evil Genius Beer Company

    Forsaken is a limited release Amber Ale created by the Evil Genius Beer Company which is located in West Grove, Pennsylvania. The bottle explains that Forsaken is a hoppy Amber Ale which is brewed with Simcoe and Zythos hops.

    The Amber Ale pours a dark amber color with around a finger of khaki head. While the head quickly disappears, a hearty white ring remains around the inside of the glass which leaves some nice lacing behind.

    The beer smells mainly of floral hops. I get a scent like that of tropical fruits as well as the normal piney hops scent. There is also a bit of a caramel malt sweetness to the beer's nose.

    Forsaken is light to medium bodied with a medium level of carbonation. The beer's mouthfeel is somewhat disappointing. I detect only the slightest bit of alcohol warmth. The beer has an alcohol content of 6.5%.

    Evil Genius's Amber Ale tastes of piney hops right up front, followed by sweeter caramel and roasted malt flavors. I didn't get any roasted scents from the beer, so these were a surprise to taste. The smell of tropical fruits was also misleading, as none can be tasted in the beer. The ale is definitely hoppier than other Ambers, but nothing really stands out as special.

    I can only guess that this beer is called Forsaken because it has been abandoned by its beer friends due to being "different". Hoppy Amber Ales aren't extremely common, so it's likely that the other Amber Ales refuse to play with Forsaken. Unfortunately, the other hoppy style beers refuse to hang out with Forsaken as well, since Forsaken is much too sweet to hang out with the bitter crowd. I kind of feel bad for the beer now, I better drink it out of its misery.

    Whether or not I feel sorry for Forsaken, I can't say that I particularly like the beer. I wish that the beer had a thicker mouthfeel and a flavor profile which stood out more. The beer is quite easy drinking, though its taste is only average.

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Rusty Chain - Flying Bison Brewing Company

    Rusty Chain Vienna Style Beer is an Amber Ale created by Flying Bison Brewing Company which is located in Buffalo, New York. The beer was created in an attempt to promote bicycle culture in Buffalo, and to celebrate life on two wheels. As someone who hasn't been on a bicycle since middle-school, I'm a little worried that this beer won't like me very much...

    Rusty Chain pours a rusty red-amber color with a small off-white head with low retention.

    The beer smells very malty-sweet, toasty and lightly spicy. There is a small bit of a citrus hops presence as well.

    Rusty Chain is light-bodied though the carbonation level is quite high, making the mouthfeel seem larger at swallowing. It's not quite such a high level of carbonation that you feel as though you are just swallowing foam, but it's close. There seems to be a bit of alcohol warmth to the beer, even though it has a low alcohol content of 5% ABV.

The only beer that can give you Tetanus.

    This Vienna Style Beer is dominated by sweet, toasty malt flavors. This has to be one of the sweetest beers I have ever tasted. The aftertaste reminds me of brown sugar, though there is a bit of a nuttyness to it as well. Only the tiniest hops bitterness can be perceived in the beer's flavor.

    I've heard from friends that craft beer culture and bicycle culture overlap in many cities. The unfortunate truth of the majority of my city's "bicycle culture" involves most of the population swerving to hit bicyclists for being hippies (ok not really, but it's close). The only overlap between beer and bicycle culture here is  DUI offenders having to ride to work after losing their license. As the rustychainbeer.com website for promoting bicycle culture in Buffalo now routes to some random Chinese language blog, I'm assuming Flying Bison had little luck with championing their cause.

    Overall, Rusty Chain is an extremely sweet Amber Ale. I'd almost call this a brown ale, except for its red/amber color and light body. The beer is drinkable, though the sweetness gets to be overbearing after many sips of the beer.

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Rare Vos - Brewery Ommegang

    Rare Vos is a Belgian style Amber Ale created by the Cooperstown, New York located Brewery Ommegang. When translated from Flemish (a dialect of Dutch spoken in northern Belgium), Rare Vos means Sly Fox. I have yet to see why exactly this name would be chosen for this style of ale, but i look forward to learning!

    Ommegang's ale pours a fitting red-amber color like the fur of a fox. A gigantic off-white head forms after pouring, though it quickly settles down leaving no trace on the glass.

    The Amber Ale has an interesting, metallic scent to it, like that of mineral water. There is also a very sweet scent of dark fruits and the banana-like Belgian yeast. Earthy spices entice the nose with their homey scents.

    Rare Vos is medium bodied with a medium-low carbonation level. I'm shocked at how smooth this beer is. Perhaps it is called a Sly Fox because it goes down so easily, yet leaves you surprisingly wobbly at 6.5% alcohol by volume.

    The beer tastes very sweet. There is no hint of metallic flavors, but instead, a surprising hint of orange peel. With the wonderful spices in the ale, Rare Vos reminds me of a fresh fruit pie for some reason. The Belgian yeast flavor is present, though it is much more subdued than in other Belgian style ales I have tried. Everything is very well balanced in the beer, making for an easy to drink ale.

I think you would be safer in my mouth!

    I mainly picked up this beer due to its label. I have had other Ommegang ales and have liked them well enough, but I'm a sucker for animals on labels. Add in the fact that the animals are partaking in one of my favorite hobbies, beer tasting, and I'm nearly 100% sure to buy your product based on the label alone. Thinking on the ale's name, however, reminds me of the old tale about the fox and the gingerbread man. We all know the story, the fox is an investment banker who offers to carry the Gingerbread man on his back across the river of homebuying with an amazing loan. The silly gingerbread man agrees, excited to be a new homeowner. Before too long the fox convinces the gingerbread man to invest in some overseas stocks and bonds, and trustingly, the cookie dude agrees. Next thing you know Mr. Gingerbread is so in need of dough that he sells his kids before they are baked to the fox. Long story short, the gingerbread man dies a painful death while the fox, feasting on the gingerbread man's hopes and dreams, retires to a condo in Hawaii.

    Ommegang's Rare Vos will not take advantage of you like the fox in the story, but it might sneak up on you and surprise you with its smoothness. This beer is definitely one of my favorite Belgian style ales that I have tried. There's just something so, safe, and homey about the spiced fruit flavors in the ale that makes me want to curl up and read a book. I'm really glad I tried this one!

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Fat Tire Amber Ale - New Belgium Brewing

    Fat Tire is an Amber Ale created by New Belgium Brewing which is located in Fort Collins, Colorado. Fat Tire is interesting, as it is commonly the first craft beer that people try. When New Belgium recently expanded their distribution to new parts of the country, I started hearing all about this new "Flat Tire" beer that I just had to try. Now that I've had a good number of different beers I find Fat Tire to be somewhat of an average Amber Ale, though I'm not at all surprised that people were blown away by it when they first tried it. When you go from drinking only light (or lite, as the case may be) beers to drinking an actual craft beer it's not surprising that it would be world changing. I can just see it now, "Hey! there's something strange in my beer! I think..I think it's..flavor!?"

    Fat Tire pours a fittingly amber color with around a finger of off-white head. There is some very light lacing.

    The beer smells lightly sweet with biscuity malts and lightly toasty. There is a very slight floral hop aroma to the beer.

    The Amber Ale is light to medium bodied with a moderate level of carbonation.

Fat tired bikes, you make the rockin' world go 'round!

    Fat Tire Amber Ale tastes of lightly sweet cereal malts. There is only the slightest bit of hops flavor, keeping balance against the sweetness and making for a very drinkable beer. There is no alcohol character at all. The beer has an alcohol content of 5.2% ABV.

    While I find Fat Tire to be only an average beer, I have to give New Belgium credit for introducing new markets to craft-style beers. As I mentioned before, I really am not surprised that some beer drinkers were blown away by the new style. Before the craft wave really hit the Midwest, all we had was basically the macro-brews and Samuel Adams, who might as well be a macro-brewer anymore.

    As with so many other beers, Fat Tire Amber Ale does nothing wrong, yet does nothing to stand out from the crowd. I have a special respect for New Belgium, however, for changing the minds of bad beer drinkers in my area. If nothing else, this would be a great starting point for someone to jump into the craft brew scene. If you have any interest at all in trying new beers, get on your bikes and ride!

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Prohibition Ale - Speakeasy Ales and Lagers

    Prohibition Ale is an American style Amber Ale created by Speakeasy Ales and Lagers which is located in San Francisco, California. This beer came in my second shipment of beers from my craft beer club.

    The ale pours a dark amber color with one finger of cream colored foam on top.

    Prohibition Ale smells very malty. There is just a tiny bit of hops in the smell, but the beer's scent is mainly sweet.

    Speakeasy's Amber Ale is medium-light bodied and has a mid-level of carbonation. The hops leave a slight oily film in the mouth after swallowing. With an alcohol content of 6.1% ABV, the Amber Ale has no hint of an alcohol warmth or flavor.

N'yeah see!

    The beer's flavor is actually somewhat surprising from what one might expect from the smell. Lots of roasted, malty sweetness is present as the scent of the beer suggests. Unexpectedly, there is actually a good amount of hops flavor and bitterness in the beer as well. This bitterness sticks around long after the malt flavor has subsided, creating a somewhat unpleasant aftertaste.

    The real problem with this beer is not its flavor or character, but what it turns you into. After drinking a bottle of this American style Amber Ale, I had to be stopped from running around the apartment with a Nerf gun screaming "You'll never take me alive coppers!!" I was finally stopped by my wife when I attempted to make our cat an offer he couldn't refuse, with just one caveat, that he send our other cat to the "big litterbox in the sky." She hadn't been paying her protection money after all!

    Prohibition Ale is a decent Amber Ale though the hops come through a bit more than I think they should. This hop-heaviness doesn't stop the ale from being an easy-drinking beer, however.

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