Stamp Hammer Oak Aged Amber Lager
Lake of Bays Brewing Company
- From:
- Lake of Bays Brewing Company
- Ontario, Canada
- Style:
- American Amber / Red Lager
- ABV:
- 6.5%
- Score:
- +1 rating needed
- Avg:
- 3.58 | pDev: 6.7%
- Ratings:
- | reviews: 2
- Status:
- Inactive
- Rated:
- Jun 29, 2017
- Added:
- Aug 29, 2015
- Wants:
- 0
- Gots:
- 0
NO SCORE
-
-
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews.
Reviewed by biboergosum from Canada (AB)
3.45/5 rDev -3.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25
3.45/5 rDev -3.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25
750ml bottle, with strange skinny brown tree trunks running down its length at even intervals - ok, got it, an ode to some sort of logging tech.
This beer pours a clear, dark copper amber colour, with two fingers of puffy, finely foamy, and mildly bubbly ecru head, which leaves a few sparse specks of diacritical mark lace around the glass as it quickly dissolves.
It smells of rather sweet doughy caramel malt, slightly phenolic yeast, muddled vanilla and grainy wood from the 'oak', more diacetyl than in the copious amounts of butter my kid likes on his toast, a wan pale orchard fruitiness, and not really any hop bitterness of which to speak. The taste is bready, grainy, and doughy caramel and wheat malt, a still too edgy yeastiness, more understated spicy booze and generic vanilla oak chip 'character', ethereal and plain fruit esters, and a suggestion of creeping, yet subtle alcohol.
The carbonation is fairly laid-back in its playing hard to get frothiness, the body medium-light in weight, and not particularly smooth, as a growing clammy nature precludes me getting all fan-boy all of a sudden right now. It finishes sweet, sure, but moderated by the wrong things - meathead yeast, and an oakiness that has likely seen better days.
I'm pretty sure that there may have been a decent amber lager underneath this bloated beast, but the homebrew-worthy addition of oak chips has produced the same result here that I 'achieved' the first time that I added the same to my otherwise decent homemade red wine - oakiness, sure, but none befitting the gentle je ne sais quoi nature that I was expecting - I suspect the same flaw here.
Nov 01, 2015This beer pours a clear, dark copper amber colour, with two fingers of puffy, finely foamy, and mildly bubbly ecru head, which leaves a few sparse specks of diacritical mark lace around the glass as it quickly dissolves.
It smells of rather sweet doughy caramel malt, slightly phenolic yeast, muddled vanilla and grainy wood from the 'oak', more diacetyl than in the copious amounts of butter my kid likes on his toast, a wan pale orchard fruitiness, and not really any hop bitterness of which to speak. The taste is bready, grainy, and doughy caramel and wheat malt, a still too edgy yeastiness, more understated spicy booze and generic vanilla oak chip 'character', ethereal and plain fruit esters, and a suggestion of creeping, yet subtle alcohol.
The carbonation is fairly laid-back in its playing hard to get frothiness, the body medium-light in weight, and not particularly smooth, as a growing clammy nature precludes me getting all fan-boy all of a sudden right now. It finishes sweet, sure, but moderated by the wrong things - meathead yeast, and an oakiness that has likely seen better days.
I'm pretty sure that there may have been a decent amber lager underneath this bloated beast, but the homebrew-worthy addition of oak chips has produced the same result here that I 'achieved' the first time that I added the same to my otherwise decent homemade red wine - oakiness, sure, but none befitting the gentle je ne sais quoi nature that I was expecting - I suspect the same flaw here.
Reviewed by thehyperduck from Canada (ON)
3.38/5 rDev -5.6%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25
3.38/5 rDev -5.6%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25
750 mL bottle from the LCBO; bottled Sept 10 2015 and served at cellar temperature. It seems that this is Lake of Bays' new fall seasonal, having taken the place of 10 Point IPA (which was upgraded to a year-round offering).
Pours a translucent orange-amber colour, topped off with one centimetre of frothy, off-white tinged head. It quickly fizzles out over the next sixty seconds or so, leaving behind a thin, foamy collar and a few wisps on the surface. Not exactly a looker, this one, and the aroma doesn't really inspire me with confidence, either. Caramel sweetness and some buttery biscuit notes come through on the nose, in addition to subtle, woody oak, vanilla and hints of orchard fruit.
Tastes alright; as I suspected, Stamp Hammer seems like an attempt to appeal to the I&G market. The flavour profile is highly malt-focused, with notes of toffee and butterscotch overlapping milder notes of fruity apple and leafy hops. The chips start to dominate by the back end, imparting flavours of woody oak and vanilla that last through the finish and into the aftertaste. Not quite cloying - but once the beer warms and the alcohol starts to breathe, it's not too far off from there. Medium-bodied, with relatively light carbonation levels and a smooth, somewhat soft mouthfeel that suits the sweet, slightly warming nature of this strong amber.
Final Grade: 3.38, a B-. I want to say that Lake of Bays' Stamp Hammer is best thought of as a poor man's Innis & Gunn Original, but on a dollars per volume basis, I&G actually costs considerably less. The oak chip flavours here are heavy-handed in their application, and one-dimensional in character. In the end, this is still a passable amber lager - nothing more, nothing less - I've given it a decent grade, because frankly I don't expect very much from this style. Given the premium price point and middling quality, I don't think that I'd recommend this bottle to other beer geeks with much enthusiasm. One of their weaker seasonals, I'd say.
Oct 31, 2015Pours a translucent orange-amber colour, topped off with one centimetre of frothy, off-white tinged head. It quickly fizzles out over the next sixty seconds or so, leaving behind a thin, foamy collar and a few wisps on the surface. Not exactly a looker, this one, and the aroma doesn't really inspire me with confidence, either. Caramel sweetness and some buttery biscuit notes come through on the nose, in addition to subtle, woody oak, vanilla and hints of orchard fruit.
Tastes alright; as I suspected, Stamp Hammer seems like an attempt to appeal to the I&G market. The flavour profile is highly malt-focused, with notes of toffee and butterscotch overlapping milder notes of fruity apple and leafy hops. The chips start to dominate by the back end, imparting flavours of woody oak and vanilla that last through the finish and into the aftertaste. Not quite cloying - but once the beer warms and the alcohol starts to breathe, it's not too far off from there. Medium-bodied, with relatively light carbonation levels and a smooth, somewhat soft mouthfeel that suits the sweet, slightly warming nature of this strong amber.
Final Grade: 3.38, a B-. I want to say that Lake of Bays' Stamp Hammer is best thought of as a poor man's Innis & Gunn Original, but on a dollars per volume basis, I&G actually costs considerably less. The oak chip flavours here are heavy-handed in their application, and one-dimensional in character. In the end, this is still a passable amber lager - nothing more, nothing less - I've given it a decent grade, because frankly I don't expect very much from this style. Given the premium price point and middling quality, I don't think that I'd recommend this bottle to other beer geeks with much enthusiasm. One of their weaker seasonals, I'd say.
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