Amsterdam Big Wheel

Name: Big Wheel Deluxe Amber
Style: Amber ale
ABV: 5.0%
Serving: 341ml bottle
Brewery: Amsterdam Brewing Co. Limited
Location: Toronto, ON, Canada
Weblink: Amsterdam Beer

Just spotted this in the delightful confines of the Beer Store. Not always a propitious location for an ad hoc beer purchase (for non-Ontarians, this place is one of only two major chains that sell beer here, and tends to major in bulk purchases of cheap swill) but I've been meaning to pick up an Amsterdam beer for a while, and their newest offering seemed like a reasonable start. Besides, I had, ooh, at least four bucks burning a hole in my pocket from bottle returns.

Oop... opening the boxed six pack reveals pale green glass bottles and a distinctly funky, summer and yoof orientated branding. Light green glass, such as you might find for a white wine bottle, is not something I'm accustomed to see outside of the lager shelves. Not that I'm complaining, you understand, in fact I'm a cyclist so anything with a bike on gets my vote. However, it does point toward this being Amsterdam's attempt at a populist beer. Continuing with visual impressions, the beer pours quite nicely, with a dense, thick, off-white head sitting on top of a crisply clear, deep copper-orange body. The head lingers for a fair old while too, taking at least half the glass to disappear.

In terms of flavour, well yes, this is definitely the beer that Amsterdam is hoping will turn a few of the lager-drinking summer terasse/patio crowd on to something darker. There isn't much of anything going on; some bitterness, but not a lot, some maltiness, but not a lot, and some floral hoppy character, but not a lot. Underlying all this is a lingering, softening sweetness, with a backnote hint of wheaty caramel. I think the correct damning-with-faint-praise oneophile term is "approachable". Not that this is always a bad thing, just make sure that it is what you are looking for in your beer. This would indeed be a great beer to consume in quantity (although, as so often unfortunately, the strength of this beer militates against that somewhat) say on a terasse with friends on a long, balmy summer's evening.