Categories: Food & Wine

Top 10 Amber Ales

This is my list of the top 10 Amber Ales. I have limited my list to American Amber Ales, Red Ales and Irish Red Ales. I used my personal taste in coming up with this list to include beers I was familiar with such as Troegs. I also used the U.S. Open Beer Championships, The Beer Advocate and Rate Beer for the ones I wasn’t. Cheers and I hope you enjoy.

Green Lakes Organic Ale brewed by Oregon’s Deschutes Brewing ranked 3rd in the 2009 United States Open Beer Championship in the American Amber/Red Ales category. In 2008 it took the gold in that category at the championships. Deschutes produces some of the best beers in the country. Not only can Green Lakes Organic Ale is one of their great tasting ales and is also green. Not only is our Green Lakes beer organic, it helps protect our rivers as well” the brewer states regarding using salmon safe certified hops. This amber beer has a 5.3% alcohol per volume.

Deschutes Brewing also produces seasonal Amber Ale called Cinder Cone Red. This beer is available April through June. This amber has a 5.4% alcohol per volume. Ratebeer.com ranks this beer as the 9th best amber ale. Cinder Cone Red has a “toffee-like flavor, intense citrus aroma and defined bitterness.”

Troegs HopBack Amber Ale is ranked 5^th by ratebeer.com in the Amber Ale category. It is ranked 4^th by the beer advocate. HopBack is another great beer brewed by Troegs in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. HopBack Amber has 6% alcohol by volume. This is Troegs main brew. HopBack is a “well-rounded amber ale has an up-front floral spice that builds with a flush of sweetness.”

Troegs Nugget Nectar Ale is the top ranked American Amber/Red Ale by the beer advocate. Troegs describes it as “starting with the same base ingredients of our flagship HopBack Amber Ale, Nugget Nectar intensifies the malt and hop flavors to create an explosive hop experience.” The Nugget Nectar Ale has more alcohol than the HopBack Amber Ale with 7.5% per volume. The color is more orange than amber or red.

Bear Republic Brewery produces Red Rocket Ale, the second ranked amber beer by the beer advocates. The beer has 6.8% alcohol per volume. The California brewers state “Red Rocket is a full bodied, hoppy brew which finishes on the palate with caramel malts.

Cameron’s Auburn Ale won the gold medal at the 2009 United States Open Beer Championship as the top Irish Red Ale. The ale has 5% alcohol per volume. The beer Store describes it as “deep, rich auburn in colour with a creamy long-lasting head, the Auburn offers a generous hop nose carefully balanced by a smooth finish.”

Alaskan Amber brewed by the Alaskan Brewing Company was second at the 2009 United States Open beer Championship in the Irish Red Ales category. The beer has 5.3% alcohol per volume. The brewers describe the ale as “richly malty and long on the palate, with just enough hop backing to make this beautiful amber colored “alt” style beer notably well balanced.”

My list would not be complete if I did not add a beer from Indiana’s Three Floyds Brewery. Their Brian Boru Old Irish Red finished fourth in the 2009 United States Open Beer Championship. It may have been a limited run beer because I don’t see it on their brewpub menu or it could have been seasonal. However, this breweries beers finished high in may categories.