Santorini

Formerly brewed at August Schell Brewing Company
Style: Amber Ale
New Ulm, Minnesota USA

Serve in English pint, Shaker

On tap at Santorini in Eden Prairie. Pours dark amber/brown small head in plastic cup, classy. Not really any aroma hint of hops. Taste is bleak not much there really had to swish this around for any flavor, slight caramel and hops. Really a poor beer would get anything over this, although it might not be bad for getting drunk and hitting on suburban cougars.

On tap at Santorini Taverna and Grill in Eden Prairie. Dark copper in color. not much aroma. Lightly hopped with some malt. Odd taste that I could not quite put my finger on. Nothing special here.

Hopeful that this specially produced amber ale was a secret waiting to be discovered. Wrong. Over carbonation gives a feeling of champaign while the taste is off, either a weird barley or bad yeast. Wasn’t going to enter it in here but saw an entry already exists. Not recommended.

Mildly surprised this beer had not been rated before. Santorini is contract brewed by Schell and, according to the bartender, has been in existence the entire 7+ years that the Minneapolis Greek restaurant from which it derives its name has been in business. The bartender felt that it tastes more like a Red Ale than an Amber, and although its reddish brown hue certainly is more characteristic of a Red, taste-wise I’m not sure I agree. Has a hint of hop bitterness with a pretty good dose of malt. There’s a little something off in the after-taste..perhaps yeast? Anyway, after giving it a try, I stuck with Redhook ESB the rest of the evening.