Brew Brain Blog

For tonight’s beer review, it’s my pleasure to bring to you Calico Amber ale from Ballast Point Brewing Company, San Diego, CA:

This is the first of two beers from Ballast Point I picked up on my most recent binge down at the beer store. This is a new brewery for me, so I’m hoping for greatness. I really love a good amber ale. Actually, the label calls this a “California style amber ale”. California style? I’m not sure what that means. I really need to get a shipment of popular beers from the rest of the country and figure out what the differences are, if any. But I digress. How did the Calico do?

The nose on this one off the crack of the cap is sweet caramel malts with fruity esters - peach and banana - along with some faint floral scents.

The appearance in the glass is mostly clear dark amber with a nice thick tan head that lasted several minutes. Now we’re talking. This beer gets off to a very nice first impression.

The taste is a bit more hoppy than I anticipated given that I really didn’t pick up a very strong hint of hops in the nose. It starts out with a big malt backbone -lots of the caramel malts, but also some biscuit and bready malt flavors. The hops roll in next and kick tastebud ass with a healthy dose of spice and pine. I get a bit of a grapefruit flavor and tartness under my tongue, and it finishes with just a touch of bitterness that lingers a bit. They really make all this work very well together. This is a tasty brew and reminds me why, if I had to choose a favorite style, the amber ales, in general, would probably be my choice. I just love the full flavors and the malt/hops balance in the good ones, and this one certainly gets the job done. There are some weak amber ales that balance out not much malt with not much hops, but this ain’t that.

The mouthfeel is full - somewhat creamy - and smooth.

Chalk another one up for San Diego. I could really make a habit out of this stuff. If you like balance in your beer and you like plenty of both sides of the malt/hops equation, I think you’ll find this brew very satisfying. I know I did.

p.s. It also appears I need to improve my label viewing skills. On the label in plain view is news of a whole slew of awards this beer has taken down. I’m not surprised. It really is that good.

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