Mill Creek "Explorer" Amber Ale

When you need a beer that is not overly offensive, you usually can't go wrong with an amber. The issue I keep coming back to with ambers is that they tend to lack personality in favor of a somewhat milquetoast sameness. Maybe an amber will do well out of the small brewery like Mill Creek.

That is an amber beer to be sure. The full head of off-white bubbles reduces to a scattered mosaic of small bubbles with the requisite ring around the sides of the glass. There isn't going to be any lacing, but the grain heavy nature of Amber ales tends to reduce their stickiness. The heavy, mixed grain malt smells thick and delicious above fruits and flowers.

Maybe it's just that I am particularly thirsty after working relatively hard today, but the first sip really hits the spot. The solidity of earth combines with light brown sugar and grains to give light flowers enough traction to make me understand that my day is not without its upsides. While I may have chided ambers for being too gentle or lackluster in the past, this one is really doing the work.

Tip-in is sweet brown sugar on flowers and a spritz of grapefruit and lemons. The middle rolls in with a darkness from the malts being lightly charred and the earth mixing in with them. The finish gets a bit dry with the flowers in the earth hanging on for a somewhat unsettled finish.

Bottom Line: The first sip is better than the last.

2.0/5