Amber Ale
Ellison Brewery & Spirits

Pours a medium dark copper color with a minimal head. Slightly bitter finish.

 

Received 9/8/20 in a Ninja box from @foundersasap. Reviewed 9/23/20. Thanks Jeff!
Undated can. Stored at home at 42 degrees and served at 45 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter.
Appearance – 3.75.
First pour – Medium amber (SRM 12), slight chill haze.
Body – Amber brown (SRM 18), murky. When held to direct light, translucent and medium amber. Unfiltered.
Head – Large (Maximum4.5 cm, aggressive center pour), off-white to light tan, high density, average duration, diminishing to a five to twelve mm jagged crown and a complete cap of varying thickness with many rocks.
Lacing – Fair. Wide band of very tiny to small bubbles, with a few windows.
Aroma – 3.5 - Sweet and fruity-malty. No hops, no yeast.
Flavor – 3.5 - Starts mildly sweet with weak malt. No alcohol (5.7% ABV, as marked on the label) taste or aroma. No diacetyl or dimethylsulfide. Ends with an astringent aftertaste of malt with a loooong hangtime.
Palate – 3 – Medium, slightly creamy, soft carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 3.5. Minus 0.25 point for undated can that admonishes me to “Drink Fresh”! Pretty average example of American Red/Amber ale, not overly complex.

Ellison Amber Ale is a SOLID ale. I would highly recommend this Ale if you haven't tried it. Nice toasty flavor with a slight bitter essence (not bad). Great representation of this type of beer!

Maybe mine was old. No date on can.

I enjoyed this exceptional beer. It was pleasing to the smell, taste and packs a subtle wallop. I drank two pints quickly after a long day and was giggly. Great job in the brewing process. I like local beers that have the best by date.....nice touch. Thanks for giving me a new every day beer.

 

 

Interesting. The reviewers (including me) like this amber and the raters drag it down.

A pretty Looking orange tinge to this amber. Smells mostly of malt to come. Tastes both sweetish and refreshing simultaneously; indicating balance. Mouth is soft, full and pleasant... just enough bubbles to cleanse the palate.

My first from Ellison, so I went on their website. These young experimenters (started 2015) are making it go. And unusually large production facility and distribution for four years. A cool taproom. A stable lineup of standard brews and some interesting special releases. Food on selected nights from accomplished restaurants. And covering all bases, some wine and distilled spirits under their label. I may not make it to East Lansing, but I'm glad I Had Ellison's Amber.

This was poured into an English pint glass.
The appearance was a nice looking semi-dark ruddy hazed burnt amber to red color with a small cap of a little white foamy head softly dissipating, thus leaving some spotty lace.
The aroma carried a nice blend of cocoa powder substance, semi-sweet with a pulled bitterness controlling some roasty and toasty caramel/toffee malt features. The flavor was fully blended taking the roasty coffee line to the cocoa powder and caramel/toffee malts, fairly deep. Then a really nice fully meshed caramel/toffee to toasty and roasty aftertaste carrying a sly touch of coffee crisp character.
The mouthfeel was about medium bodied with a steady sipping to sessionable quality about it. Good carbonation and ABV. The finish was a bit sticky with a keen crisp caramel/toffee wafer to coffee-ish sweetness, some dryness.
Overall, wow, what a damn nice amber ale done in the modernized sort of way of seeing this in this day and age. I would definitely have this again.

This is one of the best ambers I've had.

16 ounce can into pint glass, canned on 1/17/2018. Pours slightly hazy medium orange/amber/light copper color with a 1-2 finger fairly dense and fluffy cream colored head with good retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice spotty foamy lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Aromas of big caramel, honey, brown sugar, brown bread, toasted biscuit, light nuttiness/roast, citrus, herbal, pepper, and floral/grassy/toasted earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of dark/bready/light roasted malts and light-moderate earthy hop notes; with great strength. Taste of big caramel, honey, brown sugar, brown bread, toasted biscuit, light nuttiness/roast, citrus, herbal, pepper, and floral/grassy/toasted earthiness. Light herbal/grassy/spicy hop and roast bitterness on the finish. Lingering notes of caramel, honey, brown sugar, brown bread, toasted biscuit, light nuttiness/roast, citrus, herbal, pepper, and floral/grassy/toasted earthiness on the finish for a while. Awesome complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready/light roasted malts and light-moderate earthy hop flavors; with an awesome malt/bitterness balance, and zero cloying/astringent flavors after the finish. Lightly increasing dryness from lingering hop/roast bitterness. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth, creamy/bready/grainy, and lightly sticky/chalky mouthfeel that is great. Zero warming alcohol for 5.7%. Overall this is an awesome American amber! All around great complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready/light roasted malts and light-moderate earthy hop flavors; extremely smooth and easy to drink with the mellowly bitter/drying finish. Rich Crystal/Honey/Munich malt complexity with balancing earthy hops. A really enjoyable offering, and spot on style example. One of the best true to-style ambers I've had.