North Star Amber
Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery

 

 

 

 

On tap 1/31 at the Boston location

Appearance: clear, amber, minimal head, medium carbonation

Smell: toasted malt and caramel

Taste: toasted malt, caramel, and some hops towards the end..some grains

Mouthfeel: moderate carbonation, medium/light body, semi-sweet

Drinkability: very average amber in every way. Nothing is offensive about this beer, but nothing jumps out either. It is balanced and hits the marks. I will probably look for other beers there.

(draft @ Rock Bottom Pittsburgh - Homestead, PA) Very nice copper color with a smooth flavor of coffee mixed with caramel. Aroma is a smooth blend of hops and malt with a little touch of caramel. Not overly sweet and not overly hoppy. Finishes smooth.

Had on a sampler. The drink had a clear amber appearance with a thin head but thick lacing on the side. A smoky, caramel aroma was prevalent in the drink, mixed quite well with hints of spice. However, the taste itself lacked what I felt from the aromas. Although it did have a smoky aftertaste to it, it was a mostly dry amber ale, with no real sweetness to it from malts of hops. A generally medium body with a pretty potent carbonation hindered from a complete appreciation of the drink. The mouthfeel was just way to crisp for my tastes. Overall, this is a tough beer to love but it does have some good attributes.

This beer had a dark copper then amber color. Had a light head that left a little lacing on the glass. Also some film left from swirling. The beer also seemed to be a very little bit cloudy. The aroma was of sweet caramel malts with a light undertone of hops. The flavor was very balanced sweet to bitter ratio. The aroma doesn't prepare you well enough for the taste. Also a bready character is added to the taste. This is a firm bodied beer that stays strong to the finish. Leaves a little oily, but still a very easy to drink beer.

Appearance: clear amber in color with a short 1/2" head that lingers a bit. Light spotty lacing sticks to the glass during the session.

Smell: hint of caramel is tough to pick up by the nose.

Taste: a bready and caramel malt profile dominates the flavors, with some softer plum sweetness and mild bitterness bringing up the rear. Not a very exciting beer here.

Mouthfeel: smooth from start to finish. Medium bodied. Bread like aftertaste is short lived.

Drinkability: geared as a session beer, this is a so-so beer that is geared towards general public to enjoy with the pub styled food.

This beer pours a dark amber with a medium foamy head. The smell is malty and nutty, not bad,but just not that strong. The taste is very chewy with nuts and a real strong malt presence,very nice. The m/f is light and well balanced making this a good beer, one of Rock Bottom's better beers.

Reddish amber in color and slightly cloudy. Single bubble head that does leave a little lace.

The aroma is mostly malt. I could not detect hop but that may be more a condition of the full glass.

The hop bite shows up on the flavor. Smooth (round) body that exentuates the malt. Excellent balance with a full body. Moderately lingering aftertaste.

This is an easily consumable beer. No extremes here, just a very good middle-of-the-road beer.

First off, I'm not a huge fan of chain brew-pubs, but my girlfriend brought me back a growler so naturally I couldn't say no.

A: Pours a dark shade of amber with a hue of purple in there, though that effect may be due to the low lighting. Nice half finger off white, almost toffee colored head. Not much going on inside the glass. I like the color of this one.

S: Aroma of malt, caramel and chocolate rear their heads first followed by a ting of dark fruit also. ever so slight though, almost unnoticeable--you have to swirl her around a bit.

T: Tastes of bready roasted malts. Leaves with a dry finish and a tad of that dark fruit I smelt before. Very refreshing taste.

M & D: Mouthfeel is very good on this offering from Rock bottom. Nice refreshing taste with good carbonation (especially for a growler). I would have this one again if I were ever at the brewery--Definately a good choice if you are in the mood for a very drinkable nice tasting Amber Ale.

Appearance: Dark amber with a small, slightly off-white, slowly diminishing, thin-feeling head. Good lacing.

Smell: Moderate to heavily malty with scents of molasses and caramel up front. Hops are a bit lighter, adding a citrus spiciness to the aroma. But it’s the very good malts that take center stage here and are most noteworthy.

Taste: A little more grainy that I expected, but still quite good. Caramel, citrus rind, and hints of charcoal (that wasn’t expected!). Different.

Mouthfeel: Light to medium body, watery texture, soft carbonation.

Drinkability: This was a pleasant beer… but it was also a little bit lacking. Too thin and weak in flavor. But highly sessionable. Not one of my favorites, but I appreciate how it is different from your average cookie-cutter amber.

Pours a brilliant brick red. Absolutely clear. No head and very slight carbonation. Aroma is all but non-existent. Was not bad or anything, I was getting essentially nothing for a nose. MAlt base is not overly complex. Slightly sweet, but with lots of toasted grains. Tasted like toasted white bread. Slight hints of dried apples too. Medium body with a fairly dry finish.

A: Clear amber in color, smallish head which lasted quite a long time.

S: Anemic malt smells, overshadowed by a dirty dish smell from the glass itself. I had a few samples and all their glasses smell like a wet dog, WTF is that all about?

T: Caramel malt sweetness, bit of a hop flavor underneath it to balance. Finish is a bit on the dry side.

M: Crisp and clean, moderate levels of carbonation and warmth. Medium body.

D&N: I think this one might have been better with a few more aromatic hops, the smells just weren't there (at least, I hope "wet dog" isn't some new hop varietal I haven't heard about). Not a bad beer, just bland compared to something like a HopBack. I'll pass on this.

On cask at Rock Bottom, Braintree, Massachusetts, Nov 10, 2004

This was a fantastic looking beer. I haven't seen such a beautiful head on a beer since Boddington's pub can. Thick, creamy and perfectly aligned white head atop an amber body. It was a thing of beauty.

The rest of this beer was good, dont get me wrong, but the looks of it were almost too good to drink. Everything else was almost a let down, except that this was a nice session beer, no more, no less. Nice malty flavor, enjoyable and more refreshing than you'd think a cask ale might be. Consistant with my earlier impression that Rock Bottom's casks are cooler than your typical cask beer, if only by a handful of degrees.

Well worth a try if you're in the area.

Pours a dark amber, topped with a two finger khaki head, leaves thin bands of lacing.
Roasted, caramel aroma. Earthy and a bit herbal. Sweet overall with a toffee note.
Caramel taste, some tea/herbal hop, a bit sweet but not as much as the aroma hints at. Nutty and a touch bitter.
Medium bodied, on the light side. Good, but they'll always have something better on.

I must have gotten a really good batch of this. My friends got a good head on this one, while I got little to none. It had a nice malt profile which was backed by an excellent Cascade hops flavor on the back end. It had an excellent taste. Given my previous Rock Bottom experiences (which I thought their beer was ok but not great) I was pleasantly surprised by this one. To be honest, the hops really made this a very good beer.

The beer pours an amber color with a thin white lace head. The aroma is average. It has a light crystal malt scent with some light hops. The taste is decent. It is light and slightly malty with a grainy flavor that's not too bad. The mouthfeel is decent. It is a medium bodied beer with good carbonation . This is a pretty lame brew. It's slightly above average, but it drinks well. There is little character here.

I had this at the Braintree, Ma. location. The color was dark amber with traces of gold. The head was small and vanished rather quickly. There was no lace.The carbonation was good. The aroma was yeasty, citrusy, and a bit sour. The taste was yeasty, sour, and astringent with some caramel taste. The finish was bitter and dry. There was almost a complete lack of sweetness and mellowness that I expect in an Amber ale. It seemed to be a case of "We all put the yeast in". It was an unpleasant beer.