You know when you feel déjà vu: Tailwagger Amber Ale by New Glarus Brewing

When I first heard that New Glarus had a new beer out called Tailwagger, I felt a strong sense of déjà vu. Wasn't that the name given to their barleywine back in 2006 or thereabouts? Indeed it was. In fact, the puppy that appeared on the label nearly 20 years ago has returned seemingly having not aged a day to grace the one for the Tailwagger nouveau. Like Dorian Gray, but different.

When I learned that the 21st century Tailwagger was an amber ale, I got another flash of déjà vu. It felt like I had been transported back to the mid-1990's when Fat Tire was still in its infancy but steadily gaining in popularity and Pete's Wicked Ale was everywhere good (American) beer was sold as was Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Here in Madison, Capital's Special Pilsner, Sprecher Amber, and New Glarus Edel Pils represented the home team. (I don't recall much Lakefront around at that time though I am sure Riverwest Stein was to be had.) It's a shame that New Glarus didn't release Fat Squirrel contemporaneously with Tailwagger for a real 90s throwback extravaganza.

Unlike in the mid-90s, I don't drink much amber ale these days but I am always up for tasting what Dan Carey and the rest of the brewing crew at New Glarus have come up with. Well, almost always. I have yet to take the plunge into their Splash malt beverages, for instance.

It's nice to be have more daylight these days as I really enjoy taking a brew outside. They look better in sunlight too. As you can more or less see above, Tailwagger is - quelle surprise - amber. And clear as can be. A smattering of bubbles made their way up to a lovely light tan head. As I was outside in close proximity to lilac bushes and freshly laid cedar mulch, I tried my best to separate the smells of the yard from the smells of the beer. To wit: the aroma was caramel, grass, and a hint of biscuit. Things were off to a fine start.

My first sip revealed a smooth, medium-light body accompanied by some very nice fizz. While I tasted caramel, it wasn't particularly sweet. There was also a slight roastiness and bit of stone fruit. The hops tasted grassy-herbal to me. Not a lot but rather just enough. When I swallowed, there were some lingering caramel and biscuit flavors that were quickly joined by grassy hops. Bitterness and dryness were both on the mild side.

I thoroughly enjoyed Tailwagger: The Next Generation. My notes say "Excellent!", in fact. Aristotle would have appreciated this brew as there just seemed to be the right amounts of everything with nothing in excess except general tastiness. It simply has that amber ale arete. I greatly appreciated the restraint in sweetness and how the caramel taste was complemented by biscuity malt. The light body made it go down easy.

Junk food pairing: Pair the new Tailwagger with a bag of Guinness Rich Chili crisps.

Goodbye Fat Tire, We Hardly Knew Ya

New Belgium has reformulated Fat Tire so I figured I'd have one more of the classic version before the new stuff takes over. Very tasty.

Anyone sampled New Fat Tire? What does it taste like?

 

An Unexpected Ale: Fuller's London Pride Amber Ale by Fuller's Brewery

My Frau and I are planning a trip to London. Despite being in the early stages, I am excited to get across the ocean and explore Old Blighty. I want to march down the steps of St Paul's Cathedral like a Cyberman, discover for myself if there are elephants and lions too in Piccadilly Circus, visit an old church to see if I can find any naughty carvings on the misericords, eat a burger at the last remaining Wimpy Bar, and have a few pints of their flat, warm beer.

But I have been beset by a recurring nightmare. In it, we have found an old pub that has seen countless generations of drinkers. It was even frequented by Geoffrey Chaucer! The ceilings are barely 6 feet high with beautiful wooden everything. You can imagine Hobbits there having a pint after elevenses, relaxing with some pipe weed fit for Tobold Hornblower himself. The landlord is a jolly fellow and everyone is full of good cheer and it shows in their revelry. You know, like the pub scene in The Wicker Man.

My Frau and I approach the bar and ask for a couple pints. Now, this is where it gets scary. The landlord then informs us that all he has on tap are American style IPAs. I am floored. "No Samuel Smith's?" I ask. The jolly music and merriment come to a screeching halt as everyone in the tavern gives us side-eye.

"Never heard of it," the landlord grumpily replies.

We are promptly escorted outside to the village green where we're greeted by townsfolk dressed as tropical fruits - mango, guava, pineapple, and such like. They are singing a terrifying parody of "Sumer Is Icumen In" that goes:

Summer IPA has arrived,
Proudly drink hazy brew!
The Simcoe is growing
And the bines are blooming,
And the Chinook is coming into leaf now,
Drink hazy brew!

They sing this as we are lead up a hill where a giant wooden effigy of Martyn Cornell stands at the top. My Frau and I are locked firmly inside this wicker beer educator and it is set afire. Our panicked screams are all for naught as the coconuts and papayas just sing away, completely indifferent to our plight. In a last ditch attempt, we beg for mercy, promising to drink all the hazy IPA that could possibly fit inside of our bellies but our harried pleas are roundly ignored.

The flames draw nearer until they lick our heels as well as our New Glarus Uff Da Bock t-shirts. Soon they are upon us, ready to render our flesh into ash and...I wake up in a cold sweat, panting.

I think we stand a good chance of not suffering the same fate as Police Sergeant Howie. I also feel that we will enjoy flat, room temp beers while over there. You know, something CAMRA-approved. This will be really neat as English beers are not exactly lining store shelves here and, from my experience, they are rarely found on tap.

I do want to note that, back in November, a firkin of dry-hopped "English pub-style ale" from Sun Prairie's Full Mile Beer Company was put on tap on the beer engine at The Malt House here in Madison and it was delicious. Even a friend who spent some time in London where he acquired a taste for English beer and laments the inability of American brewers to do English styles well found this to be a toothsome ale.

To my mind, Fuller's London Pride is an iconic English brew but I had seen neither hide nor hair of it in ages until last fall when bottles of it appeared in the singles cooler at my local Tesco, er, Woodman's supermarket. I thought that I'd read somewhere that it was an English bitter in the days of yore but had recently been re-styled as an amber ale. Perhaps its reappearance is due to the brewer and distributor making a new push for the beer now that it's a more recognizable style for Americans.

I assume that it went away because most drinkers just weren't interested in a bitter when they can have American IPA. But I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that there is - Paul Harvey voice - more to the story.

English beer styles are not my forte but they are Martyn Cornell's. Seek out his sagacious writings on the subject (and Ron Pattinson's too) if you are keen on discerning the difference between a bitter and an amber ale. It sounds like dark bitters are being called amber ales these days. Thank you the marketing division of...

I think I've had London Pride before but I am unsure. If I have, then it was long ago, back in the 20th century, I'm sure. So this tasting felt like the very first time.

My pour produced a small, dull white head that, like Liz Truss, went away quickly. The liquid was light amber in color, clear as day, and full of bubbles going up, up, up. (Look at me! I'm an amber! Shadoobie, amber)Even if this beer tasted like shite, it would get high marks for appearance as it looked absolutely enticing. My nose caught caramel, a light herbal hoppiness, a floral something, and a spiciness that reminded me of Grains of Paradise with a citrus-black pepper mix. Ooh la la!

As expected, the carbonation was mild and my tongue was bathed in malty tones of leather joined by a bit of caramel. The ale's medium-light body also held a faint stone fruit taste along with some grassy hops. On the finish, those malty flavors faded leaving a rather prominent herbal hoppiness which bestowed a firm bitterness and dryness.

Brilliant! London Pride has a wonderfully rich flavor for such a light body (4.7% A.B.V.). I loved the leathery taste here, something American brewers tend to eschew, and how it was perfectly balanced by the hops, whose herbal flavors are also rare in these parts. This self-professed "Oustanding Amber Ale" is indeed that.

Junk food pairing: Pair your London Pride with a packet of Lay's Kobe Beef Flavor crisps.

Spirit of St. Louis: Hemp Hop Rye by O'Fallon Brewery

I believe that this is the very first time that I've reviewed a beer by O'Fallon Brewery. It resides in Maryland Heights, Missouri which is a suburb of St. Louis. Sadly, I've tasted and reviewed more beers by fellow St. Louisans Urban Chestnut and Schalfly and neither of those breweries are distributed here in Wisconsin unlike O'Fallon. As best as I can recall, the only O'Fallon beer I've tasted is their Wheach, a peach wheat beer that I sampled at the Great Taste a few years ago.

I'm not really sure why I've never bought any of their beers until now. Better late than never, right? I chose to buy some Hemp Hop Rye because I generally don't go seeking amber ales out and wanted to try something new; I absolutely love rye in beer; and I enjoyed hemp seed in Pearl Street's Smokin' Hemp Porter.

Hemp Hop Rye pours a gorgeous copper hue. It was crystal clear and so I could easily see the surfeit of bubbles inside the beer going up to the crown of tan foam. The head lasted for what I think of as being an average amount of time – about thirty seconds or so.

The aroma had a pronounced malt sweetness which sat comfortably alongside a mixture of grassy and citrus hops. Despite not smelling a dozen exotic fruits along with a cornucopia of spices and herbs, I rather liked the relatively modest combination of scents. The malts came to life on the tongue where a honey flavor joined a bit of toffee and a roasted grain taste. My beloved rye added a touch of spicy dryness while the hemp seeds imparted just a bit of nuttiness. I couldn't taste the citrus hops and instead found that another variety gave a gentle spiciness but little bitterness. O'Fallon seems to have used a yeast that didn't add much flavor because I didn't taste any. Either that or I'm very much out of practice on amber ales.

Those malt flavors faded on the finish allowing grassy and spicy hop flavors to come through with a moderate amount of bitterness and a slight dryness. Sadly there wasn't much lacing left in my glass beyond a few specks of foam.

I've been trained to think of amber ales as being IPAs with a modicum more malt flavor. Hemp Hop Rye clearly challenged this expectation. There is nothing big about it and instead its flavors are relaxed and balanced. It's only 25 I.B.U.s and the Cascade hops were used judiciously and not to batter my tongue with grapefruit flavor. On the grainy side of things, the malt makes for a nice medium-light body and is never cloying. I wish that there was more rye in the mix but I enjoyed the touch of spicy goodness it offered here nonetheless. I also liked the subtle nutty flavor of the hemp seeds. The beer excels at offering counterpoints to the malt while never letting one disturb the fine balance.

Very tasty.

Junk food pairing: Hemp Hop Rye pairs well with snack that contain nuts like a trail mix as well as cheesy foods such as plain Cheetos Puffs.

Boatilla Amber Ale by Big Bay Brewing

Over the weekend I finally drank that bottle of Big Bay's Boatilla Amber Ale that's been in my refrigerator. I liked their Wavehopper Kölsch quite a bit so I was looking forward to tasting Big Bay's other brew.

Boatilla poured a nice head which lasted a long time. With its deep amber color, it sure made for a pretty glass which I think you can see despite my piss-poor photography skills. It had a very sweet aroma – like smelling caramel – with just a hint of the German hops.

Right out of the cooler the taste was just like the aroma. The sweet malt was prominent along with those caramel overtones. I had to wait until the finish before I could really taste the hops. BB says it uses Hallertau Perle and Hersbrucker varieties which are on the herbal/grassy side of the hop spectrum. The beer left an aftertaste of hoppy bitterness. Since I drank the beer out on my porch, it warmed up a bit and, as it did so, the hops began to assert themselves.

Boatilla seems to be brewed to style with an emphasis on the malt but I still found it a very refreshing beer on a hot day. It's not heavy or cloying on the tongue and the hops balance the sweetness. I suppose that, if you're going to go with a summer fun theme, you can't brew a particularly heavy beer. Perhaps, if they brew more substantial beers, they'll introduce an ice fishing theme.

Junk Food Pairing: Pair Boatilla with pungent root vegetables. I suggest Jays Onion & Garlic Ridged Potato Chips.