REVIEW 96: PROHIBITION ALE

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  USA

BREWERY:  Speakeasy Ales & Lagers

STYLE:  Amber Ale

ABV:  6.1%

PURCHASE:  Six-pack of 12-oz. bottles, $14.99

SERVING:  12-oz. bottle, poured into pint glass. A standard pour yielded a solid, dense inch-and-a-half head. A slower pour actually got a little more. Great retention.

APPEARANCE:  Translucent dark copper body, with a rubyish slant to it when held to light, and with a beige head that walks the line between sudsy and spongy. Consistent lacing around the glass. Slight bubbling if you look closely. An uneven body of fog remains suspended, just underneath the head, for several minutes after pouring.

BOUQUET:  A complex but well-meshed blend of expected beer notes, such as malt and hops, and dark fruit and dessert-like notes, such as fig, plum, fudge, caramel, and toffee. Simply outstanding; one of the best aromas I've ever come across in a beer not brewed in Belgium. The nose leans more toward malt than hops . . . 

PALATE:  . . . but it's the opposite with the taste. The medium to slightly heavy body features a hop presence early on, but remains in check, through the figgy and plum-like mid-palate, until the finish, where it asserts itself as the main attraction. The aftertaste is equal parts piney, toasty, and tea-leavey, while maintaining a significant hop bitterness. The dessert notes of the aroma are curiously absent here; could be psychology at play. Carbonation is subtle. On the whole, this has a taste profile that borders upon APA territory; on second thought, that shouldn't be too surprising, since amber ales are consensually part of the pale-ale category.

MUSINGS AND METAPHORS:  This is one of those beers that immediately wowed me the first time I had it, back in 2007 in San Francisco, where it is brewed by Speakeasy Ales & Lagers. Now that I've had several more years of exposure to the craft beer world, I can more accurately rank it as a remarkable but not truly elite brew. 

Is it odd that a brewery named "Speakeasy" is not located in Chicago or New York instead?




GRADE:  A-

This picture was taken as the fog in the
upper center region of the beer was fading.