Carmel Amber Ale

The Carmel Amber Ale was something we decided we were going to brew just before the holidays as a holiday beer. Of course it was ready by Christmas, but just barely. So now it has become instead a warm amber light through these dark winter months.

The beer is a pretty simple Amber Ale. It’s made up of mostly 2 Row Pale, a bit of Crystal 80 and Amber Candi sugar. It’s hopped with Chinook for the bitters and Chinook and Willamettes for the aroma. The beer beer came in at 5.25% and 45 IBU. After fermentation we kegged the beer and force carbed it in our keezer.

So how’d it come out? On the pour it comes out with a great amber color a little bit on the darker Carmel side. The keezer helps to build a creamy white head on the beer that slowly settles out leaving some silky foam on the side of the glass. On the nose it’s really not there. There is a small hint of hops but you really have to search for it. A friend of mine suggested that a future batch should shoot for more of a floral hop aroma and I would tend to agree. Once it hits your mouth it’s a nice medium hopped brew. The carbonation is on the low side and really gets out of the way for the malts and hops to shine. There is a slight Carmel flavor from the candy sugar but it isn’t strong. It finishes leaving a bit of the hop flavor behind and a bit of a bitter bite in your mouth.

Overall I like the beer. I think it’s very drinkable but there isn’t anything that makes it particularly special. If we decide to make it again I think that I would focus on finishing the beer at a slightly higher FG and definitely change up the hop additions a bit. What do you think? Got a suggestion?

Brew details after the jump.