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

Three New Reviews!

Some more beer reviews from a recent beer run to Calandro's!  This time I grabbed a few packs of smaller bottles, and a handful of bombers... here's round one, the multiple beer packs!

The first one I tried was a Limited Series from Full Sail Brewing, this is their #3 recipe.  I've had the #1 a few years ago before I started writing the blog, but I totally missed #2.  This current version is a German Pilsner recipe, and is available at Calandro's for only $8.99 per 6-pack.  The aroma on this one is much bolder than the appearance lets on... good hops with a hint of caramel malts.  The taste is more of the same, very well balanced and super easy to drink.  At this price I could go back to this one plenty and enjoy every one.  For another good example of a German Pilsner, check out the Abita S.O.S. if you can still find it anywhere!

I also saw some Fischer Tradition Amber, and had to pick up a 6-pack.  I used to drink this stuff like crazy with my cousin Travis when they had it in the big flip-top bottles at the Chimes.  It disappeared from the local markets for a while, but apparently it's back, although now in smaller bottles in 6-packs.  Officially this one is a Euro Dark Lager, and it's definitely a darker amber color than a traditional lager would be.  Unfortunately on re-visit to this one there's just not much to it.  The smell is faint, and the flavor is undermalted and somewhat boring.  I know I used to really enjoy this stuff, but either the beer has changed or my palate has... probably the latter.  At $12.99 for a 6-pack, I don't think I'll be buying any more of these any time soon.

The last review for this post is the BrewDog Punk IPA.  BrewDog is a Scottish brewery that has a reputation for really extreme beers (like the 32% abv. Tactical Nuclear Penguin) but this is one of their relatively tame standard offerings.  The smell is hoppy with some really nice pine flavors and a subtle hint of malts.  The flavor is hop dominant as an IPA should be.. again a pine flavor to them and a hint of caramel at the back. Good blend for an IPA and I really like the way the malts compliment the hoppy hit. I'm a big fan of this one, really a top notch IPA in my opinion. Easy to drink, well balanced, but not mild at all on the hops.  It's a bit pricey at $12.99 for a 4-pack, but still one I'd consider going back for.  It's also about to be released in cans... interesting and I'll be curious to see how the bottles and cans compare as far as flavors go. 

That's it for now... I have four more bombers from this trip to review, but I've only drank one of them so far, so it's going to have to wait a few days at least!