The Woodsman Amber Ale
Wolf Of The Willows

This once came in a 355ml can, best before 13/09/2021, poured into a tulip.
Look: a quite dark brown amber, with about 2cm of slightly off white head that sticks around for a little while. Leaves some lacing down the sides of the glass.
Smell: Malty, a touch of caramel, there is a little hop towards the end but I can't really put my finger on a flavour.
Taste: Malty, caramel, toffee, a little nuttiness, a litte herbal hop towards the end.
Feel: lighter to mid bodied, a tingly carbonation at the front and back of the palate.
Overall: Not too over the top, but tasty and could easily have a few.

Another Wolf Of The Willows brew kindly gifted to me by none other than Scott “Mr. Wolf Of The Willows Himself” McKinnon while he was up in Brisbane for a mate’s wedding. Well, I’m intrigued, at 4.5%ABV this is the lightest beer I’m aware of from WOTW, and they are a brewery known already for being subtle and complex like a Monet painting of water lillies, it’s hard to not think that this brew might be a bit too delicate, but we’ll soon find out. Also just noted this beer might be avoiding the American Amber Ale style and going for more of a lighter, one might say “English”, version of of this style, so let’s not expect too much on the side of hops Doc, and a bit more of a malty backbone [great!].

Poured from a 355ml can into a nonic pint.

A: Nice slightly hazy caramel-coloured body with a 2 centimetre Ecru head that slowly drops back leaving some sticky lace inside the glass. Looks tasty, plenty of carbonation action inside the glass, this should be good. 8/10.

S: Nutty with sweet toffee, biscuit and caramel malts, touch of almost melon-like hops in the background. If the theme is supposed to be sweet, malty and easy-drinking WOTW are nailing it. A bit on the lighter side, as expected though, hopefully it won’t be too easy-drinking (there is definitely such a thing). 7/10.

T: Flavour is as expected: nutty, toffee/biscuit/caramel malts, hint of melon hops, with a herbal bitterness in the finish balancing it all out. It is, as I feared, too subtle – despite being well crafted there needs to be more oomph in the flavour for it to win my taste-buds over. However I do like the nuttiness in the aftertaste, makes me want to eat a truffle/mushroom pizza with this… hmmm, that’s a good suggestion for below [thanks me!]. 7/10.

M: Mid to light bodied with a light/semi-dense carbonation, good not great texture, not too much of a surprise from WOTW who’ve been hit n’ miss with the mouthfeel of their brews. 7/10.

D: One of, if not (for me), WOTW’s weakest beers. Which is a shame, because I’ve tasted such great stuff from the Wolf, however it’s just a bit of a boring brew on face value. Normally WOTW come in soft with well-balanced and nuanced beers, but Woodsman is too soft for me to notice the nuance, it’s the one time I’ve felt with WOTW “come on, give me a bit more flavour!”. Drinkable? Make no mistake. Lovable? Sorry, no. [tough crowd: me]. 7/10.

Food match: Italian tartufo pizza (with Shiitake mushrooms) yum!