The best of both worlds
Written: Sep 07 '01 (Updated Sep 08 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Smooth, malty, fine hop bitter balance
Cons: A tad more smokiness might have completed it
The Bottom Line: An English/Scottish style ale, with a hoppy northwest bitterness. Robust, very well balanced and pleasant drinking.
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| andaryl's Full Review: Portland Brewing Co Mactarnahans Ale |
Portland Brewing Company’s MacTarnahan’s Scottish-style Amber Ale is another real mouthfeel from the brewery that doesn’t believe in efficiency in its beer names.
The Pacific Northwest is pretty much the center of America’s ale brewing, responsible for many common British style ales, and reviving many older obsolete ones. In line with most of the region’s brewers, Portland Brewing produces some interesting British style ales with a character that is truly indigenous to the region. The cynic in me would say that the approach is to choose an British ale style and add more hops, but the versions of this region certainly make a refreshing change for a once ethnocentrically minded English drinker.
Although I joked at the long winded name there is a simple shorter name on the label, “Mac’s Amber”, but then I doubt that your bartender would instantly be jumping for the right beer as quickly as he would if you asked for a “Bud” in America or a “Newkie” in England. I may be alone in my thoughts, but I do think this brewery needs to give a little more thought to their names, and then they might want to work on a uniform label image.
Specifics
It’s brewed with roasted domestic caramel malt. Cascade hops are added both at the start of the boil for bitterness and at the end for aroma. There’s also a secret agreement, and I would guess it should be a peated malt but I didn’t really detect any of that in there.
Original Gravity: 13.0
Specific Gravity: 1052
Alcohol: 5%ABV
Bitterness: 30 IBU’s
An earlier guide quoted 40 IBU’s, which would put this into the IPA scale of bitterness, although 30 still signifies a healthy hop content.
Awards & Recognitions
Highly Recommended (88), The Beverage Testing Institute
World Beer Championships, Silver Medal 1994, 95, 96, 97
International Beer Summit, Osaka, Japan, Gold Medal, 1996
Great American Beer Festival, Gold Medal, 1992
Assoc. of Brewers' International Beer Competition, Bronze Medal, 1996
Tasting Notes
This is a beer that’s aesthetically English, an image that would reinforce itself later on the palate. It’s a reddish copper color, with striking clarity, fine cascading carbonation, and a soft adequate white foam.
I get the smooth sweetness of the caramel malts immediately in the aroma, and a light toastiness. The malts are also accompanied by a floral citric hoppiness, reasserting this beer’s roots in the Pacific Northwest.
As I mentioned there’s a further English feel to the palate, falling somewhere between medium and full-bodied, with a firm robustness, and an unchallenging easy drinking smoothness. There is carbonation, but to a much lesser extent, while it does turn a little foamy towards the end.
The malt and sweetness impart the initial taste impressions, with a sugar candy that runs
into a toffee, caramel, light-estery, toasted middle. The hop strikes a fine but subtle balance throughout, adding a light dryness, before unleashing its full citric bitterness and pleasant astringency in the finish
Verdict
This a very pleasing, well-rounded, smooth, robust, hearty brew. The smokiness typically expected from a Scottish ale may be lacking a little, although I did read other reviews that made reference to some smoky character. To me it seemed that the roasted malt just imparted a light toastiness.
Overall, however I was pretty impressed with this one, especially the balance between the caramel malt and the underlying citric Cascade hops. The bitter finish rounds thing off perfectly. This ale certainly quenches both my appetite for English ales and my newer found love of bitter hops. I’m not going to throw this into my greatest beers list, but it was certainly very satisfying and enjoyable, deserving a recommendation to all you ale lovers out there.
Food
I had a great Fish and Chips at Hamburger Hamlet a few days ago and would definitely put this beer alongside that. I’d also suggest smoked or roasted meaty dishes such as Prime Rib, Lamb, Chicken or a French Dip.
Availability
Distribution is pretty widespread for this brewer, with 38 states listed on the website. They’re not too hard to find here in California, available in most grocery stores. I paid $6.99 for a 6-pack.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
andaryl
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Member: Andrew Smith
Location: California via Yorkshire
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