Endeavour 2011 Reserve Amber Ale (5.2%)

Just been hanging out with Stew and Jarrod and went to our closest bottle shop to pick up a beer. This beer was as close to interested as I could get so I am writing up our thoughts while the boys get down to being funky with a jam.

This beer has a best after date on it, but unfortunately can not read what the date is, so not sure if I am drinking it too early. It has a dark copper colour, almost to a brown, and is relatively clear even though I found quite a bit of sediment on the bottom of the bottle, which I am not sure whether to mix in or not. What stops me is a pretty dusty, cardboardy aroma and back palate taste, which I am not sure a yeasty sediment would help. I am trying to let it warm a bit to see if this diminishes, but still ending up with a pretty dry mouth after each taste. My cynicism has me asking who is behind this Endeavour brand as the label looks a bit flashy, and have seen a connection to Fosters by one of the brewers....warning bells are ringing!

However, I do have to say I enjoy the use of chocolate barley malt in this beer, and that is heightened with warmth. The boys are focusing on this aspect to show they like the beer, but as you can see I am not truly convinced. Being a hop head, Jarrod is picking up the hops a lot better than me, and said he got a hit of like a Little Creatures Bright Ale fruitiness from the hop, but I am not really getting that. I am getting a slight bitter flavour (like a noble hop) from the back palate just the clean up the beer so there isn't a sweet residual aftertaste, so instead I get that dryness. There is a fair bit of body to the beer coming from the use of the barley malt, and while there is a bit of sweetness it isn't too syrupy.

Maybe I am just thinking too much about it (well, this is a beer blog), but mainly for the dry, almost astringent aftertaste I am not enjoying this beer that much, though I would have to say it is much better than the rest of the beers we could have been drinking from the Coles bottleshop we purchased it from.

Anyway, we also have some Bright Ale and I may dig into my stash to make sure we finish on a better note than this beer brings me. At least their tunes are helping me enjoy it a bit more...

Cheers,

Beef