initial impression of first brew

Do you have the recipe and the amount of water used / beer made?

 

I think with only one ounce of hops at 60 minutes, you underwhelmed the beer with such a small amount for 5 gallons. To me the typical Amber Ale is balanced between hops and malt, but that doesn't mean that you can't have a recipe for a hoppier version. Your kit doesn't give you that hoppy version because there was no other hops added for flavor and aroma which typically occur around the 15 minute and 5 minute marks. Kits can produce good beers, but my opinion is that they produce a beer that fits the middle description of the style. In this case you didn't realize the ingredients of your kit did not match your taste desires for the beer. There are clone kits that are available that produce great beers, so if you like a certain highly popular beer and see a clone kit for it, you've then matched your tastes to what you can expect the kit to produce.

Looking back at your initial thread for this beer (https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/help-with-my-first-brew.426410/#post-4836383 ) you did have some issues with warm fermentation which could also enter into your lack of satisfaction, although your post above does say that no off flavors are present.

 

So a few things I would think are piling up for a perfectly underwhelming brew.
First, there Are no hops in your beer. An oz at sixty is ok for bittering, but some additions from 20 minutes in to 0 minutes would get you more flavor and aroma. Maybe an oz @ 15 and another @ 0 would net what you want. Also, willamette is pretty lackluster as a hop in general. Maybe some cascade would get you closer to a craft amber.
second, we don't know how old your malt extract or grains were. Fresh ingredients net a better beer. My local homebrew shop has fresh liquid malt extract on hand all the time, and milling grains the day before brewing or the day of is the way to go.
The recipe in general doesn't stand out to me as a flavor bomb in general. I thi k it is made to be a ho hum super approachable beer, and there is nothing wrong with that from a marketing standpoint. Let's face it, you're on BA, so you do not represent the normal customer for these kits. You probably have exposed yourself to way more than fat tire.
Lastly, as far as gravity goes, it has less to do with pitching your yeast dry ( I sprikle dry yeast straight into the wort myself ) but more with your use of extract. Extract does not seem to attenuate as well as all grain. It's just a way of life. Using a bit of simple sugar can dry things out and bump your alcohol up a bit, or just add more extract.

 

Beer looks good, it just sounds like it was a very ho hum kit to begin with. Others have given some good advice, so I'll add that next time you choose a kit, make sure it's exactly what you want and if it seems lacking, look around for a different kit that's more of what you want. Most companies that build kits nowadays are trying to skimp as much as possible but still make a mediocre beer with a good profit margin...so you may want to start with a kit and add some extra hops, for example, to make the beer more pronounced and better to your liking. As you brew more, you'll become more familiar with various ingredients and what you like and don't like, but until then feel free to post up the kit/beer you're looking at or wanting to make and ask for recommendations on how to augment it better to your liking. Start paying close attention to commercial beers you like and what makes them better to you/ingredients you like and start looking for kits or clone recipes that are similar. You can take a clone or other recipe to your LHBS and they can put it together for you so it will be just like a premade kit.

 

There is nothing floral/citrus about Willamette hops. It sounds like you were looking for an APA vs. an Amber to me. Also, Maibocks are lagers so be careful with a kit if it uses an ale yeast. And if it uses a lager yeast, make sure you can control fermentation temps.

You might have better luck if you post the ingredients of a kit before you buy it. That way we can help you figure out if the kit will give you what you are looking for. Or, we can help build a recipe and you can avoid buying a kit altogether.

 

There are good kits out there, and I've gotten some good ones from Northern Brewer myself. If you want a good book to read with some good solid recipes for extract brewing (and all grain versions), I recommend "Brewing Classic Styles". If you want to get another kit from NB, I suggest checking out reviews others have left for the beer. I just brewed a blonde ale mini mash kit from Austin Homebrew Supply that turned out pretty good, so good kits do exist! They are still on sale I believe.

 

Maibocks are also one of my favorite styles, and I don't care what time of year I drink one. Here is a link to a Maibock recipe from the book Clone Brews that I've used three times and enjoyed it every time. https://books.google.com/books?id=IlPBcoQZEo0C&q=Maibock#v=snippet&q=Maibock&f=false (Select page # 130.) I brew the extract version, and it come out with a malty sweetness that I really enjoy. I never found a bottle of the Ayinger version to see how close the clone brew comes to the real thing, but regardless, I like it. The all-grain malt substitution for the recipe is at the bottom of the page if you choose to go to all grain.

EDIT: I just saw your new thread about Dead Guy and your comments about using ale yeast. The recipe above uses lager yeast, so you'll have to save it for when you are able to ferment around 50 degrees.

 

The warmer the beer is, the more pronounced the taste characteristics will be. However, the warmer temp will seem less thirst quenching. An extra day or two of conditioning in the bottle should not make the amount of difference that you describe, but extra conditioning time on any new beer will always make it taste better too. I find this to be especially true with home brewed IPAs; they seem to taste best starting at 2-3 weeks after bottling.