Blue Ridge Amber Lager
Wild Goose Brewery, LLC

 

 

I really wanted to like this one. It's from a local brewery and so I knew it would be fresh. The color was great, with a nice foamy head (1/2" or so). Carmel notes in the nose and a rich, creamy mouthfeel. The taste, however, was less than expected. Monodimensional sweet carmel with a strange bitter aftertaste (metallic?). A bit overwhelming. Not as refreshing and drinkable as I had hoped; but fresh and tasty nonetheless. Perhaps it's just not my favorite style. Regardless, Frederick--er, I mean Wild Goose Brewery does make some great products.

Blue Ridge- Amber Lager

Appearance- copper orange with a thin weak head. No lacing and the head didn't last long.
Smell- caramel malt. smokey hops. All very faint though.
Taste- An equal balance of light woody hops and a caramel malt.
Mouthfeel- Light and watery, flavor is too subdued.

Overall- Not a bad Amber but falls just a bit short. Another Blue Ridge beer that fails to impress but I could easily drink!?

Dark gold, clear, minimal head that disappears rather fast, no lace and stray columns of carbonation. Musty malts with some bready notes, nothing off. Crispy malt flavor, no butteriness, with a clean finish. Mouthfeel is typically thin but drinkability is fine for this one. The beer is fine for a session, BBQ, or gathering. It has a little bit of character with no serious flaws. It works as a decent average brew. Try it if you have it available. Nice one to move your pals from Michelob or Dos Equis.

poured a medium copper color with only aprase off-white head. Smell was extremely mild with only a scant scent of malt. Taste was very good with nice toasted malt notes combined with caramel. First couple sips finished austerely dry, and enjoyable. Toward the end, the dryness was slowly replaced with a fruity maltiness. A nice all around beer.

Blue Ridge Amber Lager pours a brownish-copper body beneath an average-sized head fo creamy yellowed-white foam that holds well and leaves some partial rings of lace at the outset of the glass.

The nose is limited but offers a combination of caramel-drizzled maltiness and some grassy & spicy hops.

In the mouth it's smooth with a medium body and light caress on the tongue from its moderate carbonation.

The flavor offers a tight combination of caramelish, toasy, and slightly acidic (perhaps they're using roasted barley to achieve color) malt,along with grassy, spicy, and lightly floral hops. It's balanced by a solid bitterness; and it finishes dry with a short-lived dollop of toasty/caramel malt that fades to reveal some lingering grassy hops and bitterness.

Overall it's a decent enough beer that works well in many situations, from the Superbowl to a backyard BBQ to Thanksgiving dinner. Nicely done.

A: Amber color. Clear. Smallish white head that fades to a scant layer of foam.

S: Light, sorto toasty malt aroma. Hop smells are non existant.

T: Sweet malt profile. Low levels of hop to balance, but they give a fairly nice citrusy feel to the taste.

M: Light/moderate in body. Alcohol feel is about right. Low feel of carbonation.

D&N: Everything here is one of those "if it were just a little more...". There's nothing at all bad about this beer, but there's nothing really remarkable about it, either. Meh, it's average. I'm drinking this late at night, so that may be adversely affecting how I percieve this one. I would probably really like it after mowing the lawn, it seems like it would be a great light refreshing beer. Maybe the next time I try it...

Hand-delivered from Washington to Moscow (thanks, Mark), my specimen comes in a standard brown 12oz bottle with an amber and white label featuring little more than writing. Ingredient info consists of "choicest hops and best barley malts." Who knows what else. The best before block appears to be unstamped.

Pours a nice enough clear deep copper hue under a sadly short-lived 1/2 finger off-white head. Not a trace is left within just a minute of the pour. Very disappointing appearance, therefore. The nose is pretty nice, with caramel and a touch of molasses. The mouth is light and heavily carbonated. The taste is on the sweet side, with the caramel dominant. There is a slight hops presence, but it is very, very subdued. Even the finish remains sweet, leaving caramel to rule the aftertaste. Pleasant enough, but it lacks pizzazz.

Amber color. Small head. Aroma is sweet malt. A medium bodied lager. Malts are slightly sweet. Hops are soft and slightly spicy. Nicely balanced. Taste is somewhere between a lager and an amber/Vienna. Nice refreshing beer. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean. Aftertaste is slightly bitter.

Frederick's Blue Ridge Amber is a nice interpretation of the Vienna lager style with a nice color, full flavor malt with some nuttiness and decent hop balance. Some oak in the malt. It is a little less butterscotch than the Negra Modelo, which is probably the best know example of Vienna-style lager left. Congratulations to Frederick for such a exemplary interpretation.

Meduim brown colored beer with amber highlights pours with a thin, light tan head. It fades rather quickly to a thin layer of foam. Minimal lacing is exhibited as you quaff. A pleasant aroma of caramel and biscuity, toasted malt greets you. The taste is very malty, with a touch of a woody note intermigled into the sweetness and nice slightly bready notes. Just a touch of bitterness on the finish (a very subtle touch). The mouthfeel is good, if a bit middle of the road. The drinkability is a little better than average, as it goes down easy, but isn't all that memorable. But you do want another soon after. Definitely a front runner for the "value-priced micro" category, along with some of Saranac's offerings.

Presentation: 12oz. amber bottle. Curiously, the "Freshest if served by" box is empty.

Appearance: Clear copper color on the pour, with a thin layer of off-white head despite a fairly aggressive pour. No lacing.

Smell: Doughy, bread-like aromas, with a pinch of sweetness.

Taste: Malty sweetness up front with some hop kick on the back end. Nothing too aggressive in either category and not a very complex beer from a taste standpoint.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied with a pretty low amount of carbonation. Soft on the palate.

Drinkabilty: A well-balanced beer. Nothing too out-of-whack in the flavor profile.

Notes: Not really my favorite style of beer, but enjoyable nonetheless.

This beer is dark amber with a bright white head after pouring. The head retention is good and provides a lace on the glass.

THe aroma was mild with just a hint of the malts.

The malts were the dominate flavor but the hops did add a bit of bite. I felt a tingling on my tongue after I swallowed.

Like Vienna beers, this one had a light mouthfeel. I found it to be very low in carbonation.

It was quite drinkable. If one likes a Negro Modela you would like this beer. It would make a nice session beer.

Deep copper with red highlights. The nose was subdued, very light toasted grain and caramel.

The initial taste was slightly sweet, very smooth with flavors of sweet malt, caramel and apples/pears. Mouthfeel was slick and medium. Hops were on the light side, slightly spicy. Overall a fine beer. Easy to drink, not real complex, but very delicious and smooth.

Reddish bronze hue with excellent clarity. Off white, persistent one fingered large bubbled head. Sparse spots of bubbles left in the head's wake slowly slide down in a delayed fashion. Pronounced medium lovibond caramel malt sweetness and lightly toasted malt dominate the aroma, with a spicy hop nose providing contrast. Simple, but enticing aromawise. Flavorwise, a bready, grainy sweetness akin to chewing on pilsner malt is perceived at first, then widens into a non descript caramel malt sweetness. Contrary to the aroma, the hop flavor is more herbal than spicy. Hop bitterness is mild, and unfortunately doesn't offset malt sweetness sufficiently, and thus leaves the overall balance sweet. Medium bodied, w/ an agreeably soft mouthfeel. Finishes w/ mild peppery cracker notes and residual sweetness fading. A flavorful and enjoyable brew. With a more pronounced hop bitterness to quell malt, this would be balanced and potentially delicious.

Pours with a amber-golden color and a quick head dissipating into a thin lace. The aroma is light and crisp with hints of bread. The initial taste is malty and caramel sweet with a distinct bready infusion. There is a distinct bitterness lingering through a long finish. Fairly drinkable, but not a favorite.

Pours with good carbonation and head, doesn't leave a lace. There is hardly any nose and is not distinguishable. Light to medium bodied, more hops than malt even though they are using five malts and two hops there isn't any strong flavors here maybe because the bittering units are so low (27).

Another nice-and-average beer from Blue Ridge.

Pour is pretty, clear and amber. Head tells the tale of good ingredients, plus the brown twinge of toast. Toasted malts are a bit on the heavy side for what I consider amber, but BJCP style guidelines prove me wrong.

You know, if they just called the darn thing Marzen, I'd be right there! You know what I mean? Someone needs to tell Blue Ridge to jump into the 21st century and quit dumbing down their beers for the selectively-ignorant populus.

It's a Marzen...and a pretty good one at that.