The Year in Beer

Name: Ambergeddon

Brewer: Ale Asylum, Madison, Wis.

By the numbers: About 205 calories per 12 oz.; 6.8 percent alcohol by volume

Notes: I picked up a six-pack of this beer on a late-summer trip to Wisconsin. Ale Asylum is a relatively new microbrewery in Madison, having opened in 2006. They have a full array of craft beer offerings, however, with four year-round beers (including this one) and six seasonals in bottles. Their beers range from Amber to IPAs, with a Scotch ale and Grand Cru also in the mix. Ale Asylum describes Ambergeddon as a “West Coast-style amber” but it’s a little hoppier than something like Anchor Steam. The pour was a hazy brownish amber with a decent head. The aroma was malty, but the hops presented themselves with a slight piny smell. The taste was malty, but a strong hop finish gave this beer more of an edge. It was earthy, likely from Northern Brewer hops. Overall a pretty decent beer from a pretty small brewery.

Try it with: A break from a September filled with malty Oktoberfest-style beers. Märzen’s are probably my favorite style and recent deals on cases of Samuel Adams Octoberfest and Spaten Oktoberfest have kept it flowing at my house. This amber has all the malt, but tries to balance that sweetness with a heavier dose of hops. It’s actually not that far off in taste from our own Kickapoo Creek Brewing Company’s Drop Anchor, which ended up a little heavier on the hops than what we were going for.

    — Posted by Mike Freimann