Feature Beer Friday! - Fischer Amber

Coming to you all the way from France is this week's Feature Beer Friday!  Fischer Amber holds a bit of a nostalgic place in my beer heart, as it was one of my favorites in the early days of my "Around The World" journeys at the Chimes. It fell off the beer list there unfortunately and basically disappeared from the Baton Rouge market as far as I could tell for many years.  Not too long ago though, I found some on the shelf and had to grab a 6-pack for old time's sake.  And of course I was going to share one with my Raise A Glass co-hosts and with all the readers out there.

Technically this one is the Fischer Tradition Amber, from Brasserie Fischer in Schiltigheim, France.  BeerAdvocate considers it a Euro dark lager, so it's somewhere in the same range as an amber lager, or Vienna lager.  This makes it comparable to popular beers like Dos Equis Amber and Abita Amber, among others.

Reviewers: Eric Ducote (BR Beer Scene), Jay Ducote (Bite And Booze), and Jeremy Spikes  (Whiskeybomb.com). 

Serving: 12 oz. brown glass bottle. 

Appearance: I thought it was a little too light for an amber, but Jay and Jeremy both scored it higher than I did in this category. 

Aroma: We all thought it was a little faint, but there was nothing bad about it.  I just really wanted more and was a little let down.  

Taste: Surprisingly I found that there were some floral notes going on with the malt flavors... not bad at all.  

Mouthfeel: Again a surprise as this was a lot creamier than I expected from a lager. Very easy drinking beer. 

Overall: It's hard to say this lived up to what I remembered, but it didn't let me down either.  A nice easy drinking session lager if that's what you're looking for.

Overall Rating: 65.67
My Rating: 64

Celebrate Father's Day With Zea and Beer!

Uh oh... Father's Day is coming soon, did it sneak up on you too?  Father's Day is almost always a struggle for me, because I never know what to get my Dad.  He has all the tools he could possibly need, and his go-to beer is Bud Light.  In fact I'm not sure I've ever seen him drink a beer that wasn't Bud Light?  If your Dad likes new beers though, then Zea's might be just the ticket, as they are once again running their Father's Day FREE BEER! special.  All you need to do is head in on Sunday, order two entrees, and every father should receive their own 4-pack of Zea's own beers.  

They have four of their own brews, the Clearview Gold Lager, Zea Amber Lager, Category 5 Pale Ale, and the Pontchartrain Porter!  For more detailed info about the beers, I reviewed all of them for Father's Day 2011.  It's a good deal, and could be a good way to try some new beers.

Cheers!

Brewery Review: Left Coast Brewing Company

Alright, time to talk about a brewery instead of a specific beer!  Left Coast Brewing started distributing to Texas back in August, so if you're ever at Spec's over there look for a few of their regular lineup plus maybe a seasonal or two!  The first one I tried was the Hop Juice Double IPA, probably their signature beer, and it was well received among all of the IPAs we had lined up at the IPA Day tasting!  I need to try it again in a more isolated setting and really appreciate a good beer.

Since then I've also had the chance to try the seasonal Una Mas Amber Lager and the year-round Voo Doo Stout.  Both beers also impressed, but especially the Una Mas which really had a lot of flavor for the typically less than powerful style.  The Board Walk Saison, a summer seasonal was also a pretty solid beer and the year-round Trestles IPA was good but not quite as impressive as the Hop Juice Double IPA.

 














The next chance I get I'd like to try their year-round Asylum Tripel and the other two seasonals, the Wedge Black IPA and Ale Epeteios Imperial Stout really look appealing to me.  Maybe one day these guys will be in Louisiana.  Expansion from California to Texas is a step in the right direction.