Final Results
Gold Medal – Alaskan Amber
Silver Medal – Sprecher Special Amber
Bronze Medal – Ale Asylum Ambergeddon
Board of Director Results
1st Place – Ale Asylum Ambergeddon
2nd Place – Sprecher Special Amber
3rd Place – Stone Levitation
Analysis
I am going to go on a little rant here. Ambergeddon is damn good, beautiful hop profile, but very little malt in the body. This beer just isn’t an Amber in my opinion. So that is where the debate comes in: do you vote for the best beer or vote for the best representation of the category. In this instance, I had to vote for best representative. If someone brewed a double IPA with a little extra color and called it an Amber, it would have been the best tasting beer, but it would have no right being classified as an amber.
Ok rant over. Sprecher had a really great malty body that I loved, which is why I rated first. Ambergeddon was too good to put anywhere other than second. Levitation to me did a poor job with their hop profile and then put nothing in the body, which is surprising from Stone. My comrades disagreed with me and liked the hop profile. No idea what Bells is doing with this one and the Alaskan Amber slipped in by default.
My Ballot:
1. Sprecher
2. Ambergeddon
3. Alaskan
4. Bells Amber
5. Levitation
The Takeaway
I am really surprised how voting ended up for this category. Apparently the larger group was filled with traditionalists because the two best representations of the style actually tied for first place, Alaskan just got more first place votes. The body was a tad less malty probably explaining why it was more pleasant for the consensus. Ambergeddon was barely behind those two and for good reason. Levitation and Bells were way down by themselves and for good reason in my opinion. Two great breweries that let me down on this one.
For full results, check out: Great Taste of Cottage Grove 2012 Results
Great taste of cottage grove and no Wisconsin Amber!?!? Drink locally.
Our goal was to put together a lineup of the best ambers we could get our hands on. We showed a heavy preference for WI breweries, which I actually regret and will not do next year. Even though I am from WI, my only bias is for good beer. And to be honest, I am unimpressed with Capital’s product in general. I actually voted to include Winter Skal which is technically considered an Amber and my favorite Capital brew, but didnt get any support on that one. Putting Wisconsin in the name just doesnt do much for me, I would never crack a can of “Sconnie” even though that is supposedly a term of endearment for Wisconsinites.
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