Helles Bock (Maibock) & Amber Struggles

Tasting session 2

Beer 1 Choices: Munich Helles, International Pale Lager, Kölsch, Helles Bock

Beer 2 Choices: American Amber Ale, British Brown Ale, American Brown Ale, International Amber Lager

Score: 1/2

Beer 1 things to look for:

Munich Helles: lighter body, clean yeast profile, German malts and hops

International Pale Lager: lighter body, clean yeast profile, neutral malt and hop profile

Kölsch: lighter body, fruity esters

Helles Bock: bigger alcohol/heavier body, pronounced malt and hops

Notes:

After trying a sip of this beer, I found the hop bitterness to be extremely aggressive. It reminded me of the double IPAs I had in college that were marketed as being bitter in a macho/you can't even handle these hops sort of way. With that I immediately eliminated Wee Heavy and Belgian Dark Strong Ale, as neither of those styles typically feature aggressive hop profiles. English Barleywines are known more for their malt character than their hop bitterness; however, English Barleywines do typically have high hopping rates as the bitterness is key to balance all of the malt sweetness. The intensity of hop bitterness in this beer though was extreme to the max (what’s more American than that?).

Turns out my theory was wrong- this was an English Barleywine from England. It wasn’t one of the typified examples noted in our exam guidelines, so maybe this just happens to be a more bitter example of the style. Which is totally fair and respectable. Or maybe I just blew it- but the English Barleywines I’ve had in the past like J.W. Lee’s Vintage Harvest Ale tasted nothing like this. J.W.’s was a showcase for malt and the bitterness was more of a balancer than main feature.

Beer 2 things to look for:

American Amber Ale- clean yeast profile, hop bitterness/American hop character

British Brown Ale- fruity esters

American Brown Ale- clean yeast profile (or very low esters), low bitterness

International Amber Lager: clean yeast profile, subdued hop bitterness

Notes:

I did not detect fruity esters, so I eliminated British Brown. I detected noticeable hop character and bitterness, so I decided to pick between American Amber and American Brown and toss out International Amber Lager (IAL). In my brain, since the bitterness level seemed high, it had to be an American style. Since Ambers are more bitter than Browns, I picked American Amber. 

The correct answer was International Amber Lager. These beers are known to lean slightly bitter or slightly malty depending on the brewery, but the intensity of the hops and malt are lower than those in American Amber Ales. Aibita Amber is a lager, not an ale, so in theory it should have a lighter body than the American Amber. I wasn’t tasting the two side by side though, and since IALs and Amerian Ambers usually share a similar ABV range, I threw out that test. I’m eager to get a different example of IAL; I have a feeling that the American craft version isn’t the best representation of the style.