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For tonight’s beer review, I present Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing’s Amber Ale:

Here is a good recent article in the San Jose Mercury News about the brewers. Like several breweries in the area, this brewery brews all organic beers. Also, their beers are unfiltered, so be sure to leave the last little bit in the bottle.

I like the label on this bomber - the mountain lion is a fixture of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Like I’ve said before, a nice label is nothing if the beer stinks. How did this ale do?

The beer pours a crystal clear medium amber color with a nice little light tan head atop that lingers for a time and never completely dissipates. It’s a very attractive beer in the glass. (edit: I really need to let these beers warm up a bit before pouring. On the later pour, the head built to about two inches of thick foam).

The nose is sweet malts, a little ripe fruit, and a whole lot of piny scented hops. Very nice

The flavor is light sweet malts up front. It’s not a typical sweet flavor - more of a very light tart/sour sweet flavor that melts into a citrus hop flavor . There isn’t a lot of bitterness at all, which is perfectly fine for the style. It does, however, pack a lot of hops flavor in on top of the ample sweet malts. It’s equal parts - and well balanced - sweet malts and piny, sappy, citrus hops. It’s different than the other amber ales I’ve tried.

The mouth feel is great for the style - it is well carbonated and goes down easy.

Overall, to be honest, it isn’t my favorite amber, but that’s very much just my preference. It just isn’t ‘my thing’. That said, I think it is well-crafted and would probably appeal to a lot of people. It is bold and flavorful. Personally, the tartness is a bit much for me. It’s one of those beers that just wasn’t brewed specifically for my tastes. Luckily, I’m not you. You’ll have to give this one a try for yourself.

I like when a brewer does something a bit different with a beer. I will definitely give other offerings from this brewer a try.

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