Maine Beer Company | Zoe

Maine Beer Company's Zoe, an American Amber Ale, made by a very small brewery in Portland, Maine.

Zoe has a nice deep dark amber - almost chestnut color with about an inch of fluffy off-white head. Lots of sticky lacing coats the glass. The aroma is loaded with piney, fruity, and floral hops with a nice strong amount of sweet caramel malt. The taste is intensely bitter at first with lots of pine hop flavor. Fruitier hop flavors mix with copious amount of sweet malt to really deliver a… dare I say, perfect beer.

Zoe is honestly like drinking the freshest and best tasting Stone Arrogant Bastard I've ever had; big malt, big hop. What makes it even better is that it's made by a super small brewery in the northeast that places more value on quality, freshness, and environmental stewardship, rather than money.

Personal: 10/10
Style: 10/10

Get this beer while you can, absolutely worth it!

Jolly Pumpkin | La Roja

Jolly Pumpkin La Roja, an "artisan amber ale brewed in the Flanders tradition," comes from Dexter, Michigan. Put simply, this is categorized by most as a wild ale, which means that it uses wild yeast strains in fermentation. Jolly Pumpkin, in particular, allows open air from outdoors to flow through the brewhouse, which inoculates their beers for secondary fermentation. Then a blend is created from multiple batches aged from 2-10 months in bourbon or red wine barrels. So, even though the initial brew is created to follow a Belgian Flanders Red Ale style (which is quite sour itself), Jolly Pumpkin puts their own twist on La Roja, making it more "wild."

Poured into a flute glass from a 750ml bottle (blend 11 - bottled July 7, 2011). La Roja has a slightly hazy deep burnt copper color with a creamy light tan head. Head retention sits somewhere around the 1cm mark and there is lots of frothy lacing sticking to the sides of my glass. The smell is pungent and tart. Strong aromas of red wine vinegar, sour cherries, with hints of oak, spice, and very funky yeast.

The flavor, much like the aroma hints at, is very tart and refreshingly mouthwatering. Bright fizzy carbonation injects flavors of red wine vinegar, citric and lactic acids, Maraschino cherries, pomegranate, woody oak, and musty barnyard funk. The initial blast of sourness fades to a sweeter flavor for a moment, creating a delicious tug-of-war between sweet and sour. La Roja finishes just slightly bitter, with lingering tannins. This beer has a lot going on!

These sour ales, with their wild yeast strains and extended barrel aging, create a cacophony of flavor and aroma that is sometimes hard to put into words. If you are new to the style, you will without a doubt question that this is even a beer. It's something that upon the first sip seems a little off putting, but by the time you get halfway through your glass, you won't be able get enough of the delicious mouthwatering sensation created by the sourness. Unfortunately sour ales are often hard to come by, as the style is only recently gaining popularity in the US, and most are created in small, hand blended batches. This means that only a handful of the sours made in our country make it to nationwide distribution. That being said, don't be scared off by the somewhat higher price of Jolly Pumpkin ales, as they are well worth every penny.

Getting back to the beer in the spotlight... I mean, pint glass. La Roja is a very well crafted beer, and it's one that I justify the $12.50 price to treat myself to every few months. It's easily passed by, but definitely one of the most complex and delicious beers in our store. Personal 10/10, for the style 9/10.

Troegs | Hopback Amber Ale

Troegs Hopback Amber Ale, which they claim to be their flagship brew. Not too surprising to hear considering we all love their seasonal classic, Nugget Nectar, which is an imperial version of Hopback. This beer gets it's name from the (optional) brewing stage called "hopbacking," which is no more than a little airtight container filled with hops. The brewed wort flows into it, and essentially gets filtered through the hops before heading out towards chilling and fermentation. As you can imagine, this extra stage of hopping adds a significant amount of aroma and flavor to the beer.

Poured into a pint glass from a 12oz bottle, Hopback has a deep amber/copper color with a moderately thick light-tan head. The aroma is of sweet and bready malt with some floral and pine hop. Smells pretty balanced, slightly more on the sweet side.

The flavor starts rather smooth and malty sweet, but hop bitterness starts to creep in. Citrus, pine, and floral hops shine with a slightly bitter finish. The malt really holds up well here and keeps the beer very drinkable despite noticeably aggressive hopping.

All in all Troegs Hopback is a very smooth, almost syrupy ale, with LOTS of flavor. Simply put, it's smooth and sweet, with a crisp citrus & pine hop bite. Personal: 8.5/10 and for an amber ale: 9/10.

Anderson Valley | Boont Amber Ale

Upon pouring into the pint glass, (out of a can) this ale has a slightly hazy amber (hence the name amber ale) appearance. The color of the beer actually was quite similar to the color of the can. It started off with one finger's worth of off-white head which quickly receded. Very minimal lacing was left behind. The nose is reminiscent of sweet caramel, dried raisins and sugary dough. This is a very malt forward ale with not much hop intensity. The hops are detectable but are over powered by the maltiness.

This is a highly drinkable version of an amber ale. The taste has a very smooth mouth feel with bready/doughy malts. The hops didn't show through when smelling this brew, but they were more noticeable upon consumption. Not overly bitter with hints of floral and herbal notes. This ale wants to be more intense but it just doesn't quite make it over the hump.

Overall, this would make a good entry-level Amber Ale for someone not familiar with the style but is looking to try something new. Personally, 6/10, for the style, 6/10.