Today's review leads us into the world of American mega-brewing. With Michelob, as with the other American giants, there seems to be very little attention paid to craft. These breweries tend to focus their efforts on volume and price, leaving me with very little to expect when trying their beers. AmberBock is bottled and advertised to entice cheap beer drinkers looking to take a step up to craft brewing. The campaign has a more refined and special air than generic american lagers and ales. So does Michelob step up the beer quality along with the ad scheme? Let's go inside.
Appearance: In somewhat dim lighting it looks to be a rich brown, almost walnut. The pour is watery, with an instantly vanishing white 1/3 inch head.
Smell: There is hardly anything at all to the nose. A very generic american lager smell is there, without noticeable malt, and very un-bock like.
Taste: From the malts, the taste pulls a bit of roasty nuttiness. There is a sweetness and a tiiiiiny bit of bitter sting from either weak hops or carbonation. The most prominent feature of the taste is the lack of flavor. A distinctly weak and watery vibe.
Mouthfeel: The carbonation passes straight through and it washes down like water. Again, very un-bock in character. Not bad as a meal accompaniment/beer flavored food wash.
Drinkability: In a word, nah. I will say that Michelob has stepped up from the regular bud/coors/michelob fare. This beer has a somewhat pleasant flavor deeeeep down. On the website Michelob claims to have a balanced beer here, but unless they mean balancing amounts of actual beer and tap water I would tend to disagree. AmberBock has failed to surpass even my outrageously low expectations of it. It is absolutely not what I want from a bock beer. It's not terrible, it's just not any good. I would rather drink this than other American macro-brew varieties, but I will not seek it out or buy it at any time in my life.
*Note to Michelob: please spend more money on brewing beer and less money on marketing beer.
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Links:
Michelob.com AmberBock Page
Beeradvocate Page
ratebeer Page
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