Starr Hill Amber

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

Run of the mill amber ale. Decent looking, but fairly thin and flavorless. One of the handful of Starr Hill bottles I got to have. Ambers do not need to be this basic.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

Nothing exciting about this one. A mahogany colored beer with a small bubbily textured white head, rising briefly above. Settles into a thin soapy ringlet. The nose and tasting are different. I get grass, a bit of pine and syrup in the nose. I get grass, grain in a bubbily, light to light-medium body. Not bad. Just not something I'd say 'WOW'

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

This medium bodied brew pours a hazey copper colour with a small white head. Aromas of lightly roasted malts and red licorice. Taste is lighter, but pleasent- flavors of caramel, black cherry, soft hops and maple syrup.

Aroma: 3 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 4

Sad to say, but this beer had issues right out of the chute. Namely, beer seemed dead--unlively, no head (thus, no retention), or any redeming value. Slight maltiness, but really no body. Tried hard to finish this one. Then again, this could all be in the shipping.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 6

Pours a brown ale color with an amber hue. No head. No lacing. No hops. Little aroma. Little malt flavor. Sort of looks like a beer. Sort of tastes like beer. Sweet. *snore*.

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

On cask at Capital City Ale House. Hazy coppery brown with a large head. Mellow malt aroma. No hops. The flavor is again mellow malt with a bit of caramel, brown sugar. A bit watery.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 9

A Charlottesville brewery that I had not heard of until my latest in a string of business trips to the Hampton Roads area. I happened to see if offered off-the-tap at the Tap House Grill At Ghent this past January, and gave it a honest shot. And to be totally honest, I was mildly impressed with this one. My socks didn’t fly off (which is good thing, considering the bitterly cold weather Norfolk was having that time of year!), but this was a solid American Amber Ale.

Roasty-red in appearance, with well-mannered carbonation, and nice sticky layer of foam. Nice lacing, too.

Both the aroma and flavor of this particular beer reminded me of when I first shifted over from drinking Newcastle Brown Ale to Pete’s Wicked Ale. More aggressive, but with enough style and substance to reward the drinker. And while Pete’s has fallen to the wayside, there many other Brown and Amber Ales from American breweries that satisfy – this one from Starr Hill, for example.

Nicely hopped, with the toasty malt not getting too out-of-hand. That is to say, a nice balanced beer here, that made it quite easy to down. In fact, this was so drinkable that I had to slow down a bit to make sure that I took down some notes on this, before it was gone! ;)

Hints of Chocolate in the backend, that gave this beer’s mouthfeel a certain amount of complexity, that I don’t normally expect to find in the Amber Ale style. So while this beer was nicely drinkable, it also paid to slow down and give it some of your attention.

Overall, a very pleasing offering from a hitherto previously unknown brewery. While my buddy Scott could only give a “meh, it’s OK” to this brewery’s Pale Ale, I can say that I was pleasantly surprised with this particular Amber Ale. Learn something new every day…, eh? :)
//TB

Aroma: 5 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 5

I had a pint of this at their sister restaurant, Blue Light Grill & Raw Bar. I was not impressed with this beer. Had a dark amber color, not much head, some lacing. A weak finish to this beer that starts a little sweet. Nothing exciting.