Oakshire Amber Ale

Brewery: Oakshire Brewing Company
Style: Amber Ale
BeerAdvocate.com Rating: B+/3.92 (Community)
RateBeer.com Rating: 3.31
Serving: 22oz Bottle

Oakshire Brewing Company is a brewery out of Eugene, Oregon that has seemed to explode onto the Oregon beer scene within the last year. In fact, you could say that for breweries in Eugene period. Oakshire is especially significant to the Oregon beer scene in that I believe they do an excellent job at creating craft beers that fall perfectly on that line between good enough for craft beer fans like myself, but not intimidating enough for folks used to macro pilsners. Case in point, Oakshire's Amber Ale. Here's what Oakshire has to say about it:

Refreshingly balanced & flavorful, our Amber Ale pairs wonderfully with a variety of foods while holding its own as a session beer. Brewed with five malts and three hop varieties, the Amber is a lovely table beer for new and experienced craft beer drinkers.

Appearance: Looks like a typical amber with a light caramel-esque hue and thin, white head. Not much fizziness, which leads leads me to believe the drinkability will be pretty high for this one. Not very translucent either, which is somewhat of an oddity for many Oregon ambers.

Smell: Medium hop profile with light citrus aromas. Fairly typical malt profile as well.

Taste: It's a bit creamier than expected. By no means would this pass as a cream ale, but definitely a more substantial body than most other ambers. The taste is brewed very close to the typical amber style as well, but with one large difference that I didn't notice until a friend pointed out that the taste almost completely dissipates off of your palate within seconds. I wouldn't have noticed this because it isn't that important to me, but many of my other friends agreed that lingering taste is a huge turn off from many craft beers. I tend to drink things because they taste good, but whatever! If it's going to open folks up to craft beer, then I'm down for it.

I may not have mentioned anything exactly remarkable about this brew, but there's nothing negative to say either. It's brewed to a style and it's done flawlessly. In fact, this would be one of the most perfect beers to pick up a keg of for a party, game day, a Tuesday, or whatever! Great utility beer that would sound great for almost any occasion.