Big Rock Traditional Ale

Brewed by Big Rock Brewery
Style: Amber Ale
Calgary, Canada

Serve in English pint, Shaker

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341mL bottle poured a nice copper color with average white head and spots of lacing. Aromas of caramel and some earthy tones. Taste is nicely balanced between the malts and hops. A nice mouthfeel and overall, an easy to drink beer with much more substance than the macros.

Decent beer. Not memorable, not distinctive in any specific way, just decent for what it is. Very light hoppy taste, a little bitterness. Not as interesting as most red ales.

Tap at Winston’s in Saskatoon, SK. The pour is a deep, clear, jewel ruby with a suddy but persistent white head. Weak, spotty lace. Nose has some small vegetal character/DMS along with a hefty dose of specialty malts and sweet cherry. Taste has mild ash, chocolate, small lactic fattiness in the finish, which is nice. Bluntly, it comes across as sweet cherry juice with DMS/corn and mild buttered popcorn/diacetyl. Sort of a primer beer for realizing brewing flaws. Not really bad, quite enjoyable actually, but still has a lot of problems.

Can. An alluring chestnut brown with dark red highlights around the rim of the glass. Nice aromas of butter, dark roasted malt, molasses and a general creamy nuttiness. Buttery smooth mouthfeel. Big, deep malt flavours followed by nuts, caramel, toffee and a minor cherry accent. Rich and rewarding.

UPDATED: FEB 4, 2012 Bottle. Okay. A lot like a Sleeman’s. Dark and red. Kind of one dimensionally sweet.

It pours a brown color with some amber hue’s, it has a tiny ring of white head. It is way over carbonated. On the nose I am picking up some light malts, it doesn’t have much going on. When it comes to the flavor, I pick up some carmel and light sour notes, it also has some hints of metallic, it seems to be more of an amber than a brown. I have to say a little thin to be a brown. It finishes on the sweeter side with some faint hops in the background. I think if they dialed back the sweet and upped the amount of hops, it might make for a much better experience.

355ml can from ANBL. Run-of-the-mill amber ale. A little thin. I didn’t find it anything special.

Used to be good, when the brewery just started out. Now, there is nothing special about it, and although it looks quite nice in the glass, there is very little character about it, and to me, it just plain tastes sour. I am sure there are additives being thrown in now (caramel?), because it really has just become a commercial beer from a brewery that isn’t really anything special anymore.

Average tasting beer. Nothing overly special about it. Not likely to try again.

Bière de type ale ambrer de couleur brune avec 5% d’alcool, 6-pack en canette acheté au liquor store du Fairmount de Banff pendant meeting. Beau souvenir...surtout le soir avec les Élans devant l’Hôtel.