Clavis 12°
Dutchess Ales

Handsome dark amber with plenty of foam in the Chimay chalice. Pleasant grainy and roasted malt aroma. Taste is nutty and browned. Fairly sweet with malt and then the slight bitter aftertaste. Nut skins with a touch of caramel. This is all quite jolly and not a bad darker sort of Lager, but minus the burnt taste of the black ones. Spritzy mouthfeel with a light body. From the 16 oz can purchased on the West Coast. Not dated.

 

 

 

 

RB transfer

 

 

Pours a dark amber, cola like in the light. Nice light tan head stays around. Malty toasted dark bread aroma., some nuts as well. Flavors - toasted bread, caramel, toffee, mostly sweet with some herbal floral at finish. Good lacing, a nice option if you like this category. Czech Amber, very close to dark lager.

Mostly murky amber body, big tan head, spotted lacing. Smell has the amber malts with mild earth, but has a weird bready off tone with nuts. Taste hits the amber sweeter malts hard, lightly roasted dark nuts, mild brown bread, yeast, maybe a touch of herbal hops. Feel leans malty over yeast, but is dry and drinks easy and a bit frothy.

PKG021624. Poured into a Samuel Adams Perfect Pint.

A: Dark burnished amber with 1-2 finger off-white foamy head with decent retention and spotty lacing.

S: Heavy caramel aroma with herbal hop notes

T: Flavor is excellent with waves of medium and dark caramel and toffee without cloying character. Herbal hopping is evident especially in the finish and aftertaste. Bitterness is light medium.

M: Feel Is solid with light, medium body and clean but full finish.

O: Reminded Me of a very caramelly Vienna lager With a lot of depth of flavor and excellent feel.

Appearance: Clear dark amber, almost brown. Frothy khaki head with good retention.

Aroma: Malt forward with toasted malt, toffee and nutty notes.

Flavor: Malt forward with toasted, toffee, roasted and nutty malt notes. Low, bitterness on the back end. Sweet.

Mouthfeel: Medium to full bodied, effervescent carbonation, dry, moderate length finish.

Overall: Reviewing vs other Czech Amber Lagers. Pours a nice clear, dark brown color forming a big frothy khaki color head that lingers. Doesn't look much like an amber lager. Aroma and flavors follow closely. Malt forward profile with toasted, toffee, roasted and nutty malt notes. Semi-sweet with balancing bitterness. Prickly, effervescent carbonation right away with malt flavors following. It actually may be better with less carbonation - maybe. Quite different than many Czech Amber lagers I've had. It's an amber that rolls right up to Czech Dark Lager but doesn't quite step over the line. This beer is very enjoyable but does not lend itself to large quantities. It does come off a bit heavy. Good quality. Oddball scoring, does not get high scores because it has some roasted notes that are not quite to style. But got a higher Overall score because it's a tasty, enjoyable beer to drink.

16 ounce can - $3.50 at Woodstock Beer Market in Woodstock, Georgia.

Appearance: Pours a relatively clear albeit rather dark amber-brown body. Medium-sized, off-white head. Light lacing.

Smell: Subdued toast though with an ashy roast-like quality (almost a faint smokiness gleaned at times) paired with cola nut and a callous dark fruitiness.

Taste: Ashen, crumbles-at-the-faintest-touch toast with a splash of store brand cherry cola and an overall earthy nuttiness. Some black licorice mingled with a bit of fruitiness akin to prunes. Starts and stays fairly dry through the thinning, nonchalant finish.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. Medium-light carbonation. Slight creaminess in the mouthfeel.

Overall: A little too dry and too thinning, lacking in some meager amount of hoped-for richness.