Most people are familiar with Grolsch Lager in its green bottle with the famous swing-top, but Grolsch is more than a one beer brewery with some interesting brews such as Wintervorst and Bazuin, and the subject of this review, Grolsch Amber.

The Grolsch brewery is named after its home-town in The Netherlands. Which is rather strange because the town isn't called Grolsch at all, but Grolle (now named Groenlo). Peter Cuyper, the first recorded owner of the famous brewery was appointed Guild Master of all brewers in Grolle in 1677, where he introduced his fellow-brewers to the best brewing methods and handed down his secrets to the following generations. His methods are still in use at Grolsch to the present day.

THEY SAY:
"A top-fermented beer with a taste that is rich and absolutely pure. Calling upon a brewing tradition that spans almost four centuries, our Master Brewers have selected a special proprietary yeast, two varieties of two-row European spring barley malt, a small amount of wheat malt and a blend of several types of hop. The result is an amber coloured Ale, highly drinkable with a slightly bitter taste. This exceptional beer, which incorporates only natural ingredients, is triple cold filtered."

http://www.grolsch.co.uk

-----------------------INTERLUDE----------------------------

This guy needs a job and decides to apply at the zoo. As it happened, their star attraction, a gorilla, had passed away the night before and they had carefully preserved his hide. They tell this guy that they'll pay him well if he would dress up in the gorillas skin and pretend to be the gorilla so people will keep coming to the zoo. Well, the guy has his doubts, but he needs the money, so he puts on the skin and goes out into the cage.
The people all cheer to see him. He plays up to the audience and they just eat it up. This isn't so bad, he thinks, and he starts really putting on a show, jumping around, beating his chest and roaring, swinging around. During one acrobatic attempt, though, he loses his balance and crashes through some safety netting, landing square in the middle of the lion cage! As he lies there stunned, the lion roars. He's terrified and starts screaming, "Help, Help, Help!"
The lion races over to him, places his paws on his chest and hisses, "Shut up you fool or we'll BOTH lose our jobs!"

------------------------------------------------------------


Back to the beer.....



Grolsch Amber pours a very deep reddish, burnt copper, colour with a large cream-coloured head that doesn't retain too well but at least left copious layers of sticky lace on the glass. The aroma consists mainly of dark and bready, somewhat grainy, vaguely roasted, malt. It has a slight metallic edge and some grassy tones.

On tasting this medium bodied ale, I notice a soft and creamy mouthfeel, with a sweet malty flavour up front and a hint of floral hops in the background - trouble is, the hops are not so much 'in the background' as 'on the horizon'. The flavour just doesn't seem to have any pzazz, and it definitely doesn't linger. When I try as hard as I can, I can detect traces of roasted caramel and some allusions to fruitiness - ripe pears maybe, before it finishes a little dry.
Not surprisingly, there's no real aftertaste.

• The Verdict •

At 5%ABV, I found this very disappointing. Unlike Grolsch Lager, which is a decent enough beer, Grolsh Amber lacked any real character or complexity. In it's favour, it's clean, easy to drink, and very refreshing. But surely there's more to a beer than that? It's not that it's bad, it's just not worth crossing the road for.
I don't think I'd pair this with any meaningful dining experience, but it'll wash down pizzas, burgers or any type of snack food quite adequately.
£1.60 should get you a 500ml bottle of this from your local supermarket, if you really must.

Would I drink it again? - Maybe, but I wouldn't rush out and buy it again..


Some other Dutch beers from that I've reviewed:
Amstel
Heinekin
La Trappe Dubbel



Thanks for reading,
Sláinte



©proxam2003


Recommended: Yes