Reviews & info on some beers, bars & pubs in Japan (mainly Tokyo/Yokohama area) - with an extra large serving of nonsensical jibbbbah jabbah thrown in:

Tuesday 15 December 2009

Speakeasy Prohibition amber ale - but I don't like ambers

Speakeasy Prohibition amber ale is imported by a good friend of mine, Andrew Balmuth, of Nagano Trading. They also bring in a load of other high quality American craft beers, including Stone, southern Tier, Greenflash, Great Divide, Maui and many more.

I must admit, I'm no fan of amber ales.
The reason I have it is because I managed to win a prize of 4 assorted beers from a raffle draw on the recent Nagano Trading December to Remember beer party.
I find it nicely made but again it's an amber ale and I don't care for the style.
It has a fair bit of life in it but I just don't like the caramelly taste and flavour. Its not my cup of tea.
I'm liking it less as I drink it but that is not the beer's fault - it's mine.
I can tell this is a good beer. A lot of carbonation and a fair bit of caramel in the flavour.
It's a lively, hoppy beer. A tad bit sour in the taste (yeast at work?). Astringently lemony grapefruit hop zested flavour on the tongue.
I prefer the Big Daddy IPA to this, but then again that is because I don't really like - yes, you've guessed it - amber ales.
Well, I tried it, as it was free.
I also have another amber ale in the assorted 4 pack (sigh).
The Ballast Point Callico Amber ale.
I'll give that one a go tomorrow, perhaps.
Right now, I've had enough amber ales for one night.

Prohibition Amber Ale - 5/10
A bit too sour and I don't care for the style but not a badly made beer.
Hey, if you like ambers and aren't as 'beer racist' as I seem to be, you may well enjoy this!
A gassy, spritzy, zesty, light bodied, full of life amber ale.

3 comments:

  1. wahhh? Prohibition is my fav speakeasy beer - kind of like the hop head red - malty but also hoppy good balance.

    You like the Swan Lake Amber Ale don't you? I guess prohibition is a bit different though

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  2. Thanks Jonno.
    Sorry, but I prefer the hop head red hands down to this one. No contest.
    The Hop Head Red is possibly the only beer in this style (if it indeed qualifies as a normal amber ale) that I would actually pay for and enjoy drinking. But that's because I don't care for amber ales.
    You know something? Despite me not really liking amber ales, I think this bottle may have been a bit off. The top had a little sediment or solid crust around the lip, under the bottle.
    The beer tasted a touch sour and had a dark bitter caramel taste that was really, really darkly bitter.
    The only Speakeasy beer I kinda liked was the Big Daddy but I haven't had one of those for ages.
    Don't care for the beers myself at all. Never have.
    Doesn't mean they are bad, just that I don't like them very much.
    Deos that make sense?
    Just because I don't like them doesn't necessarily make them bad beers.
    This beer had promise but I do have a niggly feeling that the bottle wasn't at it's best.
    Yes, I've had the Aldgate Ale - Swan Lake amber. Again, the caramel flavour and sweetness in there I don't like so much, although I can see why people rate it as possibly the best amber in Japan.
    Again, again, again, I don't really like amber ales.
    That means that if I drink an amber ale, even if it was made from Chuck Norris' tears (yeah, rihgt, like THAT's gonna happen), I'm still not gonna like it very much.
    The trouble with people reviewing beers personally is that those reviews often end up being personal and subjective.
    I try to say why I like or dislike something and I'm afraid that if it's a style I don't care for, I need to remind the reader/s (if I ever have any!) that it's not really a fair fight, for the beer that's being reviewed.
    The Speakeasy was well carbonated and spritzy but a tad sour (probably a bad bottle) and off tasting, so I liked it even less than I still would have, even if it was a wonderful example of an amber.
    Man, now I'm wondering if I've turned into a beer racist.
    What do you think, reader/s?
    I'm certainly a lot of things, but am I a beer racist?

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm gonna try a callico next.
    My first was lovely, 2nd very good, 3rd not nice at all. Let's see what number 4 is like, shall we?

    ReplyDelete