Northern Lights Amber Ale

Brewed by Northern Lights Brewing Co.
Style: Amber Ale
Spokane, Washington USA

22oz Bomber - 99 Bottles - Federal Way, WA
Aroma – Good malt aroma with a light hops in the background.
Appearance – Amber in color, light head and clear.
Flavor – Had a good amber flavor. Malts and hops where balanced very well.
Palate – Nice Mouthfeel, decent texture with a good dry finish.
Overall – This was a nice amber ale. Nothing too special to say about this beer. Pretty much an average beer.

Sample tray. Dark amber. faint aroma. Seems a bit broken at first but then some woody character starts to emerge. The best part of this beer is a nice long hop aftertaste.

On draught at the brewery. Aroma is hop forward with a strong grassy tone well balanced by sweet malt. Appearance is a solid amber with a well retained white head. Flavor is an excellent balance of sourness, sweetness and lots of slightly earthy hops and malt blended together so well its hard to tell where one flavor ends and the next begins. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, medium carb feel and a light creaminess. Overall, a very easy drinking, hoppy, but very well balanced amber.

Fifth stop during the ABA Beer Tour ’07 in Spokane, Washington. Sampled on tap at the brewpub. Pours a hazy light brown amber brew with an average white head that dissipates to a fine film. Aroma of caramel malt, flowery hops and some light honey. Taste is medium bodied, lightly carbonated with some flavors of caramel malt and citrus hops. Finish is light, nearly clean with a very light citrus hop aftertaste.

From Spokane this beer is hazy and light brown. Aroma is brown bread and a note of sour yeast. Sweet and unbalanced with little hop presence. Finishes sticky and sweet.

Bomber. Poursa deep cloudy brown with a hugely thick, moussy white bubbly head. Not just comically huge--this looks like another NL infection. Bready, slightly sour nose. Somewhat gooey body; thick and sweet and cloying. Closer probably to the canned pineapple tang of processed sweet and sour sauce than anything except...processed sweet and sour sauce. Not much to recommend this one. Getting harder to believe these guys’ winter beer kicks so much ass, but it’s in kegs. Maybe Northern Lights is renting their bottling line from Hood Canal. I guess this explains the "Special distributor promo! $1.00 off!" sticker on the neck.

22 oz bottle via indianared (thanks ken!). Pours a clear dark amber with a very massive white head. Nice floral aroma of caramel malts and some mild floral hops as well as some sour. Taste is very sweet and a somewhat sour. Lots of sour lemon and sweet orange with a strong malt backbone. With the massive head and sourish taste, i think this one may be infected and it about halfway to being a total drainpour.

Pours a nice dark amber. Aromas floral hops and some roasted malts. Flavor has a nice hop bitterness to it, the malts are more sweet than the aroma.