Afton Amber
Blue Mountain Brewery

Beer Geek Stats
From:
Blue Mountain Brewery
 
Virginia, United States
Style:
American Amber / Red Ale
ABV:
5.5%
Score:
Needs more ratings
Avg:
3.89 | pDev: 3.6%
Reviews:
1
Ratings:
2
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Oct 13, 2012
Added:
Apr 26, 2011
Wants:
  0
Gots:
  0
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews.
 
Rated: 3.75 by ncaudle from Virginia

Oct 13, 2012
Photo of CrellMoset
Reviewed by CrellMoset from Virginia

4.03/5  rDev +3.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Described as follows: "A classic East-Coast amber ale, with attention to balance and malt complexity. A blend of nine different malts along with rolled oats and wheat malt form the light, bready flavor of this brew and create the amber hue. English and German hops round out the beer but remain pleasantly in the background, and a fermentation with three different ale yeasts—American, Belgian and Scottish—create a blend of flavors that add depth to this simple classic. 20 IBUs, 5.5% alc./vol." This one is allegedly part of a blend that includes Sandy Bottom and Lights Out, among others. Served on tap at Blue Mountain Brewery's taproom.

Appearance: Arrives a gorgeous and slightly hazed crystalline, garnet-hued and capped with a fine looking finger and a half of moderately tanned head. The hue is nice, dark but not opaque, showcasing plentiful carbonation racing upwards towards the head. The most impressive thing about this brew is the head retention - suggesting intense hopping, this one has a nice sticky bulb of lace that remains atop the surface for quite some time, and the lacing streaking and decorating the sides of the glass is even more impressive.

Aroma: A relatively straightforward if intense amber, showcasing a lot of dark malty notes - a lot of glassy toffee, hints of smoke or peat, waves of caramel, and some fresher and lighter but not necessarily sweeter notes - mingling with a good amount of spicy, mildly herbal and leafy hop notes. A Belgian spicy yeast note mingles well with the spiciness of the hop profile.

Taste: Very similar to the nose in a good way. Relatively dry and toffee dominated, this brew showcases a fine and complex malt profile that runs from the aforementioned honey sweetness to caramel to dryer and darker toffee all the way up to a few toasty and peaty notes, hitting a few stone fruits (particularly dates and cherries) along the way. The hops are fairly thick, providing a mild bitterness and a slew of leafyness, spicy, herbal, and faintly fruity notes.

Mouthfeel: A smooth and mildly creamy mouth with enough character to balance all the various flavor components - the evenness compliments the malt components nicely, with the slight prickle doing a lot to enhance the carbonation.

Drinkability: An interesting combination of recognizable flavors in a new package. At 5.5%, it's a pretty quaffable package, too. I'd been wondering how long it would take BMB to put out something that was just a straightforward amber, though I wasn't necessarily looking forward to it - ambers are definitely not my favorite style, and the ones I tend to gravitate towards are those which most closely approximate other styles (Imperial Ambers, aka barleywines, or highly hopped ambers like Nugget Nectar). This one is unique, however, showcasing a fairly interesting malt profile and enough hop action to keep one involved without overpowering the palate. I hope they bring it back.
Apr 26, 2011
Afton Amber from Blue Mountain Brewery
Beer rating: 3.89 out of 5 with 2 ratings