Uncommonly Tweaked
Saugatuck Brewing Company

Got this brew at a really good deal for 4.80 a six-pack.....packaged January 2018 so still under the 6 month freshness window. I am drinking this now... late afternoon as the first beer of the day. If you are a big coffee fan, you should like this. I am thinking I'd enjoy it more as an after dinner choice.

 

Taste: crisp, refreshing, smooth roasted coffee bean, some malty sweet. Same with the nose.Copper color hue, mostly clear, some head and lace. medium body. Nice. 23 IBUs

Pour a clear copper color. 1/4 inch head of an off-white color. Slight retention and slight lacing. Smells of coffee, sweet malt, and slight pale malt. Fits the style of an American Amber / Red Ale. Mouth feel is smooth and clean, with a low carbonation level. Tastes of coffee, sweet malt, and slight pale malt. Overall, weak appearance, simple, good feel, but mostly coffee.

 

 

Today is the ocCANsion of New Against the Saugatuck Grain Beer Sunday (Week 699), but I have finished The CANQuest (tm) phase of the Saugatuck portion of today's adventure, forcing me into the bottles until they are likewise exhausted. Oh, the shame!

From the Bottle: "Amber Ale Brewed with Coffee"; "Brewed with Organic Peruvian El Cautivo coffee beans from our friends at: Uncommon Coffee Roasters located in Saugatuck, MI".

I have not Pop!ped a cap in some time, CANcentrating my efforts on The CANQuest (tm), so this actually makes for a nice change of pace. Uncommon & unCANmon in recent memory. Sorry. I gave it a heavy-handed pour following the Pop!, and while it raised just under a couple of fingers of soapy, foamy, fizzy, tawny head, it was gone pretty quickly without any lacing to remember it by. Color was Deep Amber/Light Copper to Copper (SRM = > 13, < 17) with NE-quality clarity. Nose smelled like weak coffee, kinda thin & watery. Mouthfeel was thin-to-medium, not watery, but not far past it, either. The taste was much like the nose - it had a coffee presence, but it was kind of weak. I am a coffee drinker from 'way back & so I was hoping for more. It is also tough to rate to style since coffee as an adjunct is Uncommon. There is no way that I would have guessed that this was an American Amber/Red Ale, but that was due to the coffee. Hmm. We have a Catch-22 in that its adjunct made it difficult to identify its style & yet there was not enough of the adjunct to do it justice. They're making it tough on me! Finish was dry, mostly because of the coffee's bitterness, but there simply was not enough flavor to make it worthwhile.

 

 

 

 

16oz draft on a guest tap at Marzoni's Pizza / Brewing

Fantastic beer...If you are a coffee lover, that is! Amber ale with perfect amounts of malt, hops and coffee.

 

 

 

 

 

12 ounce bottle into pint glass, bottled on 1/18/2018. Pours slightly hazy deep orange/amber/light copper color with a 1-2 finger dense cream colored head with great retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a light amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of big nutty medium roast coffee, caramel, brown sugar, and toasted brown bread; with light notes of vanilla, cocoa, herbal, grass, and roast/toasted earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of dark/bready malts, coffee, and mild earthy hop notes; with great strength. Taste of big nutty medium roast coffee, caramel, brown sugar, and toasted brown bread; with light notes of vanilla, cocoa, herbal, grass, and roast/toasted earthiness. Light herbal/grassy hop and roasted coffee bitterness on the finish. Lingering notes of nutty coffee, caramel, brown sugar, toasted brown bread, vanilla, cocoa, herbal, grass, and roast/toasted earthiness on the finish for a while. Great complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready malts, coffee, and mild earthy hop flavors; with an awesome roast/hop bitter/sweet balance; and zero cloying/acrid flavors after the finish. Lightly increasing dryness from hop/roast bitterness. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth, creamy/bready/grainy, and lightly sticky/chaly balanced mouthfeel that is great. Zero warming alcohol for 5.5%. Overall this is an excellent coffee amber ale! All around great complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready malts, coffee, and mild earthy hop flavors; very smooth and easy to drink with the mellowly bitter/drying finish. Nicely rich dark/bready malts and balanced nutty coffee complexity. Same concept as coffee blondes with more malt presence. A very enjoyable offering, spot on style example. Very clean flavors.