Amber Lager (Archive Series)
Minnesota Brewing Company

pours out a hazy amber colour with a tight foamy head that surprisingly leaves some fine lace. pleasant aroma of some sweetened malt, a bit of caramel and hints of burnt brown sugar. nice sweet taste...more along the lines of burnt sugar rather than a sturdy malted character. medium mouthfeel runs a bit thin in the finish, but no off or old flavours or anything else that would leave me to believe that this is past it's prime or "old". which leads me to my next point....since these bottles still have minnesota brewing co., st. paul (and not new ulm) on the labels, and since they closed last year....what the hell is this stuff still around for? the clerk at the store (one i visit very infrequently) told me they still can get this, and that if i thought it was "bad" to bring it back. well, it seems ok to me...and i can't decipher the bottling code on the bottom of the bottle, so i'm baffled. or maybe i'm just a sucker....

Wow...The "Archive Series" got me kind of excited but there is nothing exciting with this beer...Just a basic run of the mill amber lager from an under-rated macro brewer..this is another example of a bigger brewery trying to get in on the "microbrew" frenzy and missing its mark...little taste...some small maltiness evident but the operative word is "small"...aftertaste is not good..bad bitterness..appearance is OK, and there is a bit of sweeter type aroma but in general this is not one to seek out...