Drakes Amber Ale

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

Serve in English pint, Shaker

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   update pic

Cloudy, uh, well, amber color. Nice tan head. Malty, bready, mildly spicy aroma. Upon her first sip, The Bride announced that this was way too flavorful for an amber - Spicy sweet, with prominent dark bread and cereal flavors, on a syrupy smooth palate. Like me, it’s rich and smooth (except I’m not rich. or smooth). Crisp dry finish. Thanks to Darkelf for the Trade!

Poured a clear dark amber color with a small off-white head. The aroma consisted of peanuts, toffee, dry popcorn and a little earthy. Also present were notes of tobaco leaf and some chocolate. Malty flavor that is not nearly complex as the aroma. Mainly caramel with peanuts on the finish. Light to medium bodied with a hop bitterness on the finish.

Bottle. Hop nose tells me it’s a Drake’s brew. Malty, coffee, toffee, caramel punch initially. Dark chocolate and hop bitterness in the finish.

(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.

(Bottle via trade with IrishBoy, thanks Richard!) Pours a hazy deep burnt amber with about 1" of rocky biscuit head. Rich aroma of toasted caramel and toffee, fruity hops, vanilla and malt. Spotty lacing. Palate is pretty thick and smooth for an amber. Taste of rich but light caramel, hops and malt and a fairly bitter finish. Nice rich beer.

12oz bottle courtesy of IrishBoy. Pours a clear copper orange with a one finger light yellowish head. Aroma of some toasted cereal grain, caramel malts, some citrus hops. There is also some light nuts and lighter yeast. Much more nutty and toasty in the taste with some biscuity malts emerging towards the finish. Mild bitterness at most in the middle. Soft moderate carbonation with a medium body. Ambers usually bore me, but this one’s all right. I could drink a few of these in a row without being bored.

Bottle via trade with stoutlover72. Pours a ruby amber color with a smallish beige head, some lacing. Aroma is caramel, brown sugar, floral hops. Flavor is toasted malt, nuts, sweet. Palate is medium bodied, medium carbonation, bitter finish. Really good. Drakes is rapidly moving up my faves list.

UPDATED: APR 24, 2007 A pretty dark amber ale, darker than most. Has a smilir taste to Fat Tire, but I prefer this one a little more. Has nice roasted flavor to it.

Bottle. Pours dark copper and red. Aroma features a powerful waft of caramel, toffee, ripe plum, ripe orange. Perfect creamy, medium-body mouthfeel. Flavor follows suit, with blasts of fruit-forward hops, pronounced toasted caramel and toffee candy, a bit of earthy minerality, strong flavor finish with bitter undertones. Hoppy, malty, robust, satisfying for the style. As my friend affectionately noted, this is “an amber for beer geeks.”

Poured from tap a clear amber with an medium off-white head. Aroma has a lightly toasted malt nose. Flavor has some toffee sweetness, bittersweet chocolate, smooth roast grain and a little nutitness ending in a mild floral hoppiness. I really liked this amber because it has more dimensions than most other ambers I’ve had. Lots of flavor and a good balance with the sweet and bitterings. I’ll be drinking this one again.