Franconia Notch River Driver Ale

Formerly brewed at Franconia Notch Brewing Co.
Style: Amber Ale
Littleton, New Hampshire USA

Serve in English pint, Shaker

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Amber in color with a large creamy off-white head.Aroma of toasted/bready malt and fruit.Malty,toasty,bready,fruity,starts sweet ends dry.

Barrel Draught at the GBBF, Kensington Olympia 05/08/2004 Amber mid brown coloured with some pale aroma. Sweet honey flavour. Slightly dry full malt finish.

Butterscotch, toffee, brown sugar in the aroma. Clear caramel brown with low, white, fully-diminishing head. Rancid butter, popcorn and husky grains in the worty flavour. Light body is slick with very low carbonation. Cask at GBBF 2005.

Cask (GBBF): Copper with no head. Mild malt aroma. Sweet, a little cloying with a harsh grainy finish. Medium bodied, drinkable.

Draught @ GBBF 2005: Amber coloured. Clear. Light brown head. Fruity and somewhat wineous aroma. Flavour is buttery, fruity and bland. Is light bitter in the end. Is dusty and dry. Vague aroma and flavour. Uninteresting.

Cask at GBBF Dark amber. This was the beer that tiggmtl demonstrated to me what diacetyl was. Buttery caramel brittle aromas and flavour, really sweet in mouth some spice/cinnamon going on, but ultimately it is too sweet and I couldn’t drink any more.

[Cask at GBBF 2004] A hazy brown beer with no head. The aroma is sweet with notes of caramel and nuts. The flavor is sweet - too sweet for me - with notes of caramel and licorice - much like Danish Hvidtøl. And the body is also thin like Hvidtøl.

On cask at Strangebrew: Clear orange with some particles under a small white head, rich gingerbread and light flowers, medium bodied, light carbonation, mild sharp ending, a good beer to drink the night away with.

On tap at the ClamShell restaurant next door to the brewery:

The Lure:
A murky red envelope attempts to hide sweet fruitiness and miserable citrusy hoppiness, but in vain. This one’s going to be flat.

The Festivities:
Supportive cherries lift companion berries and earthy caramel from the muddy malt, but disappointment is unavoidable. A few grapefruits naively try to get attention in the distance. This is clear of imperfections aside from the fact that it is dreadfully still, flat.

Transcendence:
Punch Bowl: The Morning After.

Wow! All I can say is this ale did not cross the atlantic well. This is indeed a sweet ale with plenty of malt. But I find the head to be full and give off a nice balanced aroma of caramel, honey and bready malt. The flavor follows suit without all the stickiness usually associated with such an amber. As a matter of fact I found it rather dry on the end. Perhaps this Ale would be better off staying closer to NEW Hampshire.

Cask, GBBF2004.Deep amber chestnut, low white head and low condition. Caramel heavy aromas, unpleasant and unbalanced caramel sweetness in the mouth and becoming cloying and syrupy in the finish.