Jungle Hustler
Ausable Brewing Co.

 

 

 

Poured into a becher pint glass, the appearance was a nice looking semi-dark red color with a finger’s worth of white foamy head that dissipated at a nice level pace. Sly messy lace. The aroma had some roasted nuts, earthy tones and a light caramel backbone. The flavor had the roasty and earthy tones in front of a light buttery caramel-ish maltiness. Buttery, but clean and not necessarily diacetyl, which is good. Is that intentional? I’m not sure. Lean sort of semi-sweet caramel malty to earthy aftertaste. Sly crisp wet sweet crackery caramel finish. On the palate, this one sat about a light to medium on the body with a decent sessionability about it. Moderate carbonation. ABV felt appropriate. Overall, decent amber ale that I could have again. I didn’t mind that butteriness, I want to say it seemed intentional.

not super easy to make an amber of any significance these days. seems like they all need to be super hoppy or have some weird yeast in them to stand out, since flagships like fat tire and alaskan amber are pretty old news, but this one is good without any of the weird stuff, and maybe the time is coming again for the style, who knows. this has an oddly dry presence on the palate, a sturdy malt base, heavy toast and dry earthiness from the grain, and a grassy slightly bitter hop profile thats well behind the malt, its balanced and delicious, if a tad under carbonated (most of them were here). smooth on the way down, lots of body, maybe some oats in here, or a lower mash temperature, this is much more rich feeling than a lot of these. not overly different or weird or distinctive in any way, but its really well made. i felt that way about a lot of the beers here, pretty classic styles only slightly tweaked to be their own, but all really well done across the board. easy drinking beer for all seasons.