Phonebox Amber
Pints Pub

 

took me a long time to get around to trying this one. its had to go in and not order the ipa from the engine, such a great and classic brew. this is a sold amber, a little less english tasting right off the bat than many of their others, with more of an almost german red malty vibe to it, still bakery yeast aromatics and a little tannic tang to balance the sweetness in the grain, but less obviously an english style beer than almost all their others, and as such perhaps their beer with the broadest potential audience. i found it smooth and a little fruity among the grain sugar, raisin and even apple. not much hop to very many of their beers at all, but this has a soft leafy bitterness there later on too, green tea complexion. a great beer for drinking glass after glass, and for not thinking too much about it while you do. i dont like hearing people say their beer here is an afterthought, because its not, its way better than that. sometimes a somewhat mindless glass of ale can be a real joy, especially with the lamb skewers in here, which rank among my favorite bar snacks in town...

I remember having this beer once a long time ago, and it was pretty good, though I think I like the blonde a little better. I'd drink this one again if it's still available.

 

This beer takes most of the weird elements that make up the Lancer IPA and dials them down a little bit. I don't think the effect works quite as well - this isn't bad, but go for the Lancers instead.

Pours deep copper with a thin head and great lacing. The taste malty and raspberry-like, clean and malty with slight floral hops, with a slight sourness, bit of raspberry. The mouthfeel is thin and watery.