Fat Weasel Ale

Brewed by August Schell Brewing Company
Style: Amber Ale
New Ulm, Minnesota USA

Serve in English pint, Shaker

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Tasted from bottle into nucleated pint glass. Poured a clear, light golden color (not amber) with weak head which immediately deflated, no lace. Harsh aromas of corn and alcohol, bad yeast esters, very faint skunky hops. Flavor was just as bad: bland malt and cream-of-corn. Seems just like a crappy gas-station malt liquor. The first really awful beer I’ve had from Trader Joe’s. Why do they offer this?

It sure doesn’t look like an amber, but not a bad looking beer otherwise. Hazy orange with a long lasting, thick white head that leaves a thick lace. Some grain, and very mild sourness. It does have a lot of alcohol for a beer that costs less than $1.

bottle... ugliest looking amber I’ve seen, clear medium straw light head... dead nose of light toffee and cotton candy, not bad boring... caramel skunk bomb, pass on this mess

Bottle @ home, courtesy of my brother Justin. Thanks! Clear, golden yellow appearance with a white head. Bland grainy, corn, pale barley malty, grassy hoppy nose. Somewhat bitter, corny, grainy, bland flavor. More like a cream ale or an American Pale Ale without hops. Pretty shitty.

Bottle I’ve had in my fridge for ages. Thanks Troy. Pours a straw golden with a tiny ring of white lace. Smells of grainy wheat and fresh plastic. Flavor is similarly crappy.

The aroma is rather innocuous. The beer has a vague malty-yeasty character with a light spiciness. Finishes with a light alcohol note. An ok take on a strong ale, but nothing I feel like seeking out again. This one was brewed at Mendocino.

Aroma is some biscuit and some citrus, floral. Smells sweet, different. Appearance is golden brown, about as light as you would want to get with an amber. Clear with medium white head, large bubbles. Taste is heavy malty. Cloying. Mineral taste from water. No hops aroma and lacking proper bitterness to balance. No complexity. Alcohol present. Palate is medium full. Heavy. Bittersweet lingers. Falls flat. Overall not a pleasant beer. Like an American IPA with no hops to balance out the stong malt sweetness. Just a bad recipe IMO.

Pours a deep golden color with a very small white head that fizzes out slowly. The aroma is grainy and has a lot of hay character. I’m really trying to place the dominant aroma here, it seems a little like wet dog food... or like a wet dog eating wet dog food. I don’t know for sure, but it does not smell very nice. The flavor pretty well has it together till the finish, It’s a nice amber, not really very sweet with a clean toasty maltiness, a definable hop bitterness and a peachy fruity note, not exactly exciting but seems drinkable enough. Then BAM like a shot of liquor down your throat just a huge alcohol character in the finish just knocks you upside the head and then just sort of lingers with a bit of a burning sensation and some off plastic-y notes. It’s just a very strange beer. This does not seem like anything coming out of Schell, if I had to guess I would have though that this were some sort of Minhas beer. What a bizarre hybrid of Amber Ale and Malt Liquor, What’s going on with these Trader Joe’s contract beers? I’m just feeling like they keep getting worse with every one I try.

Bottle. Straw color with a hint of red and little head. Not much aroma. Not a whole lot of flavor. On the whole a lot of metallic taste with only a little bit of hops and malt. The one thing I can say for this beer is that it is probably the least flavorful brew with this high an alcohol content.

It poured a copper color with an average head. The aroma was nothing special, just some caramel malty notes. The taste was decent, with some spice and touch of umani. A decent brew.