Drakes Amber Ale

Brewed by Drakes Brewing Company
Style: Amber Ale
San Leandro, California USA

Serve in English pint, Shaker

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12 oz bottle. Pours a clear deep amber colored body under a fizzy and fluffy beige head that left lots of sticky lacing. Nice lightly sweet smelling toasted malt nose with some light floral hops and a touch of toffee. The flavor is dry toasted and slightly nutty malt with a light hoppy finish. Mouthfeel is light to medium bodied with a slightly grainy finish and moderate fizzy carbonation. All around, a pretty nice beer. Alot of character and flavor for a typically boring style.

UPDATED: MAY 7, 2006 Amber body with a light tan head. Caramal malt aroma with a coffee malted taste with a faint hint of molasses.

Bottle from Marcus. Clear amber with a small off-white head. The aroma is sweet with lots of caramel, toffee and tea, some citrus in the back. The flavor is all tea and astringent caramel. Medium/light body is thin and lifeless.

Slightly floral, citrus nose, a little lemon. Hops in the flavor are prevalent but there is a decent chocolatiness that is pretty nice. A little hard to put down, but a well balanced beer.

12oz bottle, courtesy of Naven (?). Thanks, Dave! Pours a milky, brownish-yellow appearance; off-white head with good lacing. Wet malts and nougat in the aroma. Medium-to-full, sweet mouthfeel: caramel and nougat, with hints of milk chocolate. Medium, roasted malt and citrus finish.

12 oz. bottle courtesy of a trade with dirty_martini. Pours a hazy reddish amber with a moderate off-white head that was gone before mid-glass. Very nice aroma of buttery caramel. The aroma intensified as the beer warmed. The caramel was present in the flavor, but not nearly as much. The dominant flavor was a sharp resinous pine which left a lingering bitter taste well after the swallow. A bit over the top with the hops for my tastes.

12 ounce bottle purchased from the Davis Food Co-Op. Aroma is very pleasant. Moderately sweet, chocolate malty aromas present with some light floral spicy hoppy notes. A bit of brown sugar is also in there as well. Mmmm, smells good. Mostly transparent dark amber/light mahogany body with a rather frothy light tan head. Very attractive. Lightly sweet malty start, which quickly becomes quite cigar tobacco-like in terms of flavor. This then becomes quite creamy with a leathery, roasted, and toasted maltiness later. Some mild coffee flavors are also present with a small amount of floral hops late. I’ll tell you what, this is the benchmark of amber ales. This is what any brewer should strive for. Unfortunately, too many brewers mail in their amber ales for shit. This is dope.

12oz bottle from Bevmo Carmel mountain. A great amber! Deep amber in color, clear body. Aroma’s of roasted toffee, milk chocolate and some molasses. On the pallet it was very creamy with some hop notes. Finish was slightly sweet.

(12 oz bottle: BevMo in La Jolla, CA) While not as good as their basic IPA, which is outstanding, the amber proves to be another solid, very flavorful and enjoyable beer from Drake’s. It has a strong, dominant maltiness that’s a bit roasty, caramely, moderately sweet, quite earthy and woody. Overall, I get a bit of "Old Ale" type of maltiness. I can’t distinctly detect the hops, but there is a mild bitterness to this beer, though that may be partially a result of the lightly roasty malt too. Earthy maltiness dominates the nose. Medium to full body provides for a substantial, round mouthfeel. Dark amber in color, and slightly hazy, but the light tan head is on the small side, facing to a rim after awhile. Lace is almost non-existant. Yet another winner in Drake’s lineup.

Interesting amber. True to its description, it has a slight chocolate taste. Very different from other ambers I’ve had.