Not so Amber Ale...

A few months back I brewed the all grain version of Northern Brewer's Amber Ale. The beer I ended up with was nothing like an Amber ale. It's pale yellow with a slight malty taste and little to no hop aroma. Disappointing at best. I originally thought I had just screwed up in the brewing process, but let's take a closer look at the recipe:

• 9# Rahr 2-Row Pale
• 1# Caravienne
• 1 oz Northern Brewer (60 minutes)
• 1 oz Hallertauer (1 min)
• Wyeast 1056

Mashed at 153° for 60 minutes, skipped the mash out step, I let it ferment for 3 weeks, then kegged and pressurized at 12 psi.

I'm not sure what they were thinking but there is no way that 9 pounds of 2-row and a 1 pound of caravienne were going to make an amber colored beer. Beersmith estimates a color of 6.2 SRM, a golden yellow. I have to agree that Beersmith is right on with that. The beer I have is almost straw colored, it looks almost like a pilsner at first glance.

Basically what I have is a very lightly hopped Pale Ale. It's not bad, it's certainly very drinkable, but it's also very boring. I won't be making that again.