Review: Brazen Brewing Jarpur Amber Ale

Thanks Brazen Brewing (especially Evan & Erin!) for sending this my way! Today's sampling is Jarpur Amber Ale, one of their flagship beers I've had in the past but not a style I've sampled in a long time with my obsession over Belgian ales and West Coast IPAs for over the past number of years

From the can: Jarpur is named after our Chieftain's Viking horse that wouldn't quit. Jarpur Amber Ale celebrates bold and rich flavours right to the last sip. This beer pairs with your hearty meal, or with dessert but is perfect if you just want to unwind with something a little more complex. This beer can handle all these moments and more, and will look damn good doing it.

Dark in colour, rich in flavour. This brazen brown ale brings flavours of caramel, subtle chocolate, some earthy yet fruity notes in the aroma, and a brilliant amber/jarpur colour. Rich, bold and flavourful. 5.0% ABV/30 IBU

Appearance: You better bet that this is an Amber Ale! It's got a deep copper reddish body to it that you can see light through but not really clear. The head is a decent yellowish/beige head that's creamy and leaves behind a very nice layered lacing on the glass as it's getting savoured by yours truly.

Aroma: Oh my goodness, I had a significant love of Amber Ales/Lagers back around 2005-2006 (Merci Boréale) that made me go from your typical Kokanee/prairie lager drinker to someone who's insanely particular - the first whiff of this beer reminds me of when I was starting to experiment. Jarpur has a rich caramel aroma with a bit of a peat-like roastiness to it, hint of coffee, just overall a nice aromatic beer that's not in any way aggressive at all. 

Taste: This Amber is moderately sweet with a caramel/toffee presence to it. There's a subtle dark fruit presence to it, mostly fig. There's a moderate earthiness to the beer to give it a slight peat-like presence to it, a slight nuttiness, and finally a slight dough presence at the very end that comes up for the aftertaste (and a slight caramel aftertaste, as well).

Overall Thoughts: If you were one of the kind of people who were drinking Sleeman Honey Brown back when it was the rage, this is definitely going to be something I'd recommend for you - but that rage was also 20 years ago so you're either a beer geek or drinking "hipster dad beer" right now, but Amber Ales are probably the most underrated type of beer out there. This is sweet, caramelly, a tad earthy, quite smooth - this unlocked memories I haven't thought of in over 15 years. Wow. 

PS: As a farm kid who grew up on some of the best beef in all of North America, I still say that Brazen Hall's burgers are some of the best out there - I've said it before but I highly recommend their Butter Burger and fries. I don't know why.. but some of the best burgers I've had in Manitoba were by breweries that just happened to have burgers. Keep it up! (Actually, eat a bit of everything off the menu - there's so much to choose from!)