Joker Amber
Northwest Brewing

 

 

 

 

 

Great color and great taste when at the right temperature.

 

 

 

Quite attractive beer in the Stella glass, nice reddish amber color with good foam. A hint of plastic lurks, however.

Not very flavorful. Just some random hints of malt, some bitterness, some burnt biscuit taste. Slightly earthy. Vegetable broth. Tart and dishwatery. From the 22 oz bottle.

Brewery says they used Cascade and Centennial hops and calls it 40 IBU. Either this is another example of the nearly meaningless subjective nature of IBU ratings, or it's simply not true. This is not very hoppy in any sense I can find. Just a rather dirty bitter aftertaste.

 

First beer out of the amber six pack from letspour.com I tried.

I was attracted to its bottle design....I like jokers what can I say.

A: Honestly? Calling this an 'amber' seems a stretch, it is red tinged but its mostly an amber mud color. It by itself is not a horrible thing, just was expecting more of a ruby or octoberfest coloring.

S: The right bled of hop to malt characteristics in the nose, the hops seem to be Centennial from the way it reminds me of an open campfire of my youth.

T: A tinge hoppy for what I expect from an amber or a red, but really not all that bad. Had a buttered biscuit after note that was surprising and relaxing.

M: wet, straight forward, slid down my throat easily.

O: If the rest of the six pack is of similar quality I shall happily send letspour thousands of dollars a year.

Poured (probably too) cold right out of the fridge with a thick, gold tinged cream head that quickly subsided and no lace. Color is a clear honey amber with some tiny bubble trails. Aroma is hop at first then a nice heavy caramel with a little toffee, malt. Flavor's like nose, fairly dry, heavy carbonic tang, not a lot going on. Body's a tad thin while carbonation is a bit overbearing. Finish is like flavor, short, and totally forgettable. Wish I could've let this warm a bit first.

 

Appearance: Clear amber. Nice clean color. Head is off-white. Some retention in the long run. A thin cap on the beer. Lacing is solid, but leaves only hints as the beer dwindles.

Smell: Powdery biscuit. Some sweetness from caramel malts. A touch of grass on the back of everything. Faint hopping adds a thin citrus layer.

Taste: Stronger hop presence than the nose would indicate. Nice grapefruit zest plays over some sweeter caramel malts. A touch grassy on the back. Biscuits. Powdery, crusty finish.

Mouthfeel: Moderate. Carbonation is on the low side for the style. Smooth and easy drinking. A touch dry after each sip, but not astringent.

Overall: Decent. I'd pick a bottle or two of this up if I just wanted to sit around and drink something decent for an evening. It's not loaded down with flavor, but what it has, is well placed.

Appearance is dark in the amber leaving a fine head that dissapates, but not fully leaving spotty lace. Smell seems to have a nice balance of light sweet malt with the floral hop. Taste does have that Northwest style with more bitter in the citric hops over the malt, but in good balance. Mouthfeel is medium with good carbonation. Overall a nice amber that I wouldn't mind having again.

Served in bubble pint glass. Poured a clean, clear reddish gold color with 3/4 of an inch of white head that had OK retention and good lacing.

The aroma was an even blend of malt and hops, nicely balanced with no one aspect dominating. The flavor profile was pretty similar, solid, smooth malts supporting some tastebud tingling hops.

The body was very good, full and smooth. Drinkability was also very good, you slide a few pints of this down while watching the game very easily. Overall, a nice example of what's often a breweries "red-headed stepchild" of a beer. Worth trying a pint if you see it.