Written by Today we have an organic beer to review! This amber ale is brewed by Peak Organic Brewing Co., and they’re located in Portland, Maine.
Looking back, we’ve reviewed a couple of other organic beers here @ The Brew Club. One was Wolaver’s Organic Pale Ale which I seemed to have liked enough to give it three stars, and the other was Wolaver’s Coffee Porter that got a 3.5. Not bad for the organics, eh?
What’s a certified organic beer? Well, it seems that the beer should be free of products that used weird fertilizers, pesticides or genetic engineering. According to the Peak Brewing website, the concept of using locally grown, organic ingredients began with a homebrewing project in the 90′s and seems to have turned into a decent business!
The Peak Organic Amber Ale that I have is, like the Wolaver’s Organic Pale Ale I tried, a little older than I would have liked it to be. It looks like the ‘best enjoyed by’ date suggestion passed, oh, around July 2009! I thought the Wolaver’s held up pretty well with all that natural goodness, so I’m optimistic that this sample from Peak will be OK too.
The beer as expected, is an very nice amber color and is perfectly clear. There’s a little bit of an foamy head, but its slight and doesn’t last very long. While the beer looks pretty good, its not really remarkable.
The aroma is mild – not sure how age would change it but the biggest part of this 4.9% ABV is malt - ‘an abundance of Crystal Malts’ to be exact. ( That’s from their site) They also use Munich Malt which is supposed to lend itself to a toasty finish. We’ll see about that, but malt is what hits the nose.
Getting to drink this organic brew, you should not be surprised that its mostly malty. Having read that we have an abundance of Crystal and Munich malts (organic, I suppose) in the mix would explain it. The flavor profile is a bit one dimentional to me, but I’ll give them credit in the toasty label. I would have said ‘bready’, but toasty works too! The one thing my brain kept telling me, especially in the aftertaste, was licorice.
The beer has a nice slick feel, and has a medium-to-thin body to it.
Wrapping up, this is going to be a hard beer to give a good rating to I think. Overall, I think its pretty good. I like malty beers, and this one delivers. Still, I can’t help but wonder what a fresh bottle might taste like, I can only imagine that it would be better.
So, in fairness, I’m going to abstain from rating the Peak Organic Amber Ale with any stars. I will say that based on what I’ve had, however old, I would certainly try it again. Even kinda old, this is a pretty good beer. Seems that the lack of preservatives and chemicals isn’t a bad thing after all!
Ever try this, or any other organic beer? Do you think it adds to the flavor at all being organic, or is it more of a lifestyle decision? Would you buy or not buy a beer because it has a certified organic label? I’m curious what you think!
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