While label claims Ark Angel is rich in taste and color, it will not scare away tidy pilsner lovers. Ale heads will quickly discover yummy chocolate-coated thickness and spiced-hop bottom. Not as heavy as a porter, allowing it to go down light and easy. Brewery defunct: 2006.

Delectable sweet honeyed malt opening serenades cognate barley-roasted flaked oats nicety. Affluent piney grapefruit midst strengthens graininess, but bitter hop finish needs more aggression.

Wafting spice hops softly embitter creamy caramel malting and buttery biscuit linger, invading the senses for middle of the road medium-bodied amber. Decent barleymalt finish rounds things out, but lack of body keeps this from getting two paws up.

Quaffed at San Diego’s Seaport Village’s Asaggio, a Chicago-styled thick-crust pizza joint with Cubs-Sox-Bears memorabilia. Replacing same-named E.S.B. listed below, this pleasurable medium body sweetens its cracked wheat spine with apple-pear-apricot fruiting to counter snuggly orange-peeled bittering. Honeyed oats gird mild caramel malt creaminess.

Russet amber with soda-like flow and bottoming sediment clumps registers caramel-mocha thickness. Sweet barleymalts, sticky yeast sinew, and tangy citrus notes exhibit fertile richness not far removed from ‘busier’ red ales. Brewery defunct: 2002.

Bottle conditioned tan-headed amber brings rye-dried honeyed malt coalition to unripe fruited souring. Spicy Saaz hops fortify delicate bittersweet chocolate endurance.

Inadequate dry moderation becomes acidic as washed-out orange candy blip, dried apple quip, and unripe cherry snip quickly recede to tinny void. Earthen backdrop obstructs tenuous spicing.

Admittedly, this amber ale must be a bit stronger and flavorful when brewed for Irish consumption (especially on tap), but imported version is too light, watery, and conventional. Rich mocha creaminess and whiskey malt impression relegated to mild hop-roasted background status, leaving auburn amber too soft for serious drinkers.

Possibly farmed out by Pete’s Wicked to Washington State brewery to make use of sparkling Northwest water (which adds crisp flow to persistent fruitiness). Lively up-front hops brighten raspberry extract and sweet wheat as nutmeg seasoning and piney hints spice up the zesty backdrop. Finish becomes a tad mainstream, but this is one fine fruity treat.

Brewed in ‘San Luis Obisco tradition of fine California microbrews,’ worthy reddish copper pale body places sweet barley-wheat conflux above dry roasted rye malting and faint cherry nicety. Clean mineral finish preserves slight floral spicing and toasted almond tingle.

Crisp dark amber libation retains firm wheat-husked barley thrust  to caramelized finish underscored by citric-spoiled spicy hop bitterness.

Loud citrus-brightened barleymalt frontage, herbal hop-spiced nose, and orange peel influence harbor fey berry-cherry fringe cracked wheat finish can’t maintain.