Mountain Series: Hoppy Amber Ale
Breckenridge Brewery & The Farm House

 

 

 

Tastes like a generic amber loaded with hop bitterness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poured into a balloon glass.

Look: The body is a very deep, dark ruby color, good clarity when held up to light. A cream colored top settles to a wisp while sheets of lacing coat the glass initially.

Aroma: Hoppy and woody up front with cedar coming out. On the back end, subtle malt sweetness can be found with a fruity cherry note.

Taste: Very woody to begin. Cedar and pine mingle throughout. The finish is not unlike cherry cough syrup, both bitter yet thick and sweet as well.

Mouthfeel: Pretty heavy, syrupy.

Overall: I like this beer overall, but the more I think about the syrupy thick mouthfeel and bitter cough medicine finish, the more I realize this is probably one of my least favorite beers from Breckenridge. No worries, I still enjoyed it.

 

Nabbed this as part of the variety 12-pack. Expectations are average given the brewery.

BOTTLE: 12 fl oz. Brown glass bottle. Generally appealing label art. Branded pry-off pressure cap.

Served cold into a Sam Adams perfect pint glass.

No bubble show forms as it's poured.

HEAD: 5 fingers wide. Khaki colour. Nice creaminess, good thickness, and good (~6-7 minute) retention. Leaves no lacing on the sides of the glass as it recedes.

BODY: Vibrant copper-amber. Translucent and transparent. Clean; no yeast particulate or hop sediment is visible.

Seems well-carbonated. Not unique or special, but nice looking for an amber. I'm excited to try it.

AROMA: Pale malts, floral hop character, amber malts, light caramalt, cream, and a kiss of pine. Faintly bready. This aroma suggests a well-balanced albeit subdued brew with crowd-pleasing attributes. Aromatic intensity is average.

No yeast character, alcohol, or off-notes are detectable.

TASTE: Pale malts and amber malts combine to comprise the foundation, not lending too much sweetness. Unfortunately, no toastiness comes through - an attribute I look for in a good amber. It's also a biteen light on caramalt. Hop character is uninteresting - floral hops, faint herbal character, maybe a dab of evergreen. But it pairs well enough with the malty sweetness. Balance is decent, but wanting. In fact, this flavour profile as a whole is wanting. It's not a gestalt build; it's fairly shallow; it's neither complex nor subtle...but I do like it. Does it satisfy the premise of a hoppier-than-average amber? Not really. But it's enjoyable and has no off-notes or obnoxious (and off-style) yeastiness. Average flavour duration and intensity.

TEXTURE: Medium-bodied, smooth, wet, moderately thick, and slightly overcarbonated. Decent overall presence on the palate. This texture neither elevates the beer nor accentuates individual notes in the flavour profile, but it suits the taste decently. Could use some custom-tailoring to the taste, but overall it gets the job done.

Not oily, gushed, hot, boozy, astringent, harsh, rough, or scratchy.

It's not heavy or overbearing on the palate.

OVERALL: Exactly the level of quality I expected given Breckenridge is behind it. It's precisely the kind of brew you'd expect in, say, a variety box, and while it won't impress the discerning drinker, it won't be disappointing. Consistent with Breckenridge's usual quality, which is to say it's middle of the road. I wouldn't buy a sixer of it or anything, but it's by no means a bad brew and will scratch either your amber or pale ale itch. Far from world-class, but for its price point you'll be satisfied. That said, it's rather forgettable. Though it does avoid the obvious pitfall - it doesn't have any overt hop bitterness.

Constructively, I'd like to see it hopped up more - both in terms of quantity and quality - and some toasted malt would help hide the hop bitterness, if not even some caramalt. It leans too far towards a pale ale on the malt end, with pale malts (not amber malts) providing the backbone.

C+

Poured out an orange/amber color with a tan, two-finger head. It smelled of sweet malt, hops and some pine. It tasted very malty. The hops were subtle and understated. It was crisp and dry.