He'Brew Genesis Ale

Brewed By: Shmaltz Brewing Company in Brooklyn, New York  

Purchased: 12oz bottle from the 2012 Holiday Gift Pack bought at Binny's in IL; 2012 

Style/ABV: American Amber Ale, 5.6%...6.0%...???

Reported IBUs: ?

Continuing with the He'Brew 2012 Holiday Gift Pack...here is part two of tonight's festivities! About He'Brew:

He'Brew is part of the Shmaltz Brewing Company. The Shmaltz Brewing Company has two lines of beer: their He'Brew The Chosen Beer, and their Coney Island Craft Lagers. Shmaltz Brewing Company is a craft brewery based in San Francisco, California, founded by Jeremy Cowan in 1996. The company previously contract brewed most of their beer through the Mendocino Brewing Company, while operating a small brewery in Brooklyn, New York. After 16 years of having their beer contract brewed, the Shmaltz Brewing Company opened its own New York State microbrewery in Clifton Park, NY. The new location features a 50-barrel brewhouse, with 20,000 barrels of annual capacity, and began production April/May 2013, officially opening July 2013. The company is known for its innovative beer, eye-catching bottle artwork, and sense of humor. For more information, check out the Shmaltz website HERE. Don't be a schmuck!

Looking at the Genesis/Messiah page, you can see that the Messiah is a "dry hopped session ale." This one uses Specialty 2-Row, Munich, CaraMunich 40, Wheat, and Dark Crystal malts; this uses Warrior, Centennial, and Cascade hops...and is dry hopped with Centennial, Cascade, and Simcoe. 

He'Brew Genesis Ale 

In low light, this one pours an amber/orange color, with two fingers of hazy, off-white head. In bright light, this beer's body is bright orange, unfiltered and slightly murky, and you can see mid-sized carbonation bubbles ascending upwards. The head grabs some of those orange tones, and is leaving some nice sticky lacing. 

The aroma on this is solid, with bright candied citrus, caramel, fruit cake, orange cake, cake batter, pine sap, grass, very very faint catty hop, and some elusive fruits. 

This pretty much takes the aroma, and runs with it. I'm getting a lot of bready orange, tons of caramel, lots of sweet pine sap, grass, iced-tea, hints of lemon, hints of light catty hops, and some faint grain/biscuit/coconut. 

Pretty simple stuff here, but this is incredibly balanced and features a vibrant nose, and lots of subtle flavor. This has a light-bodied mouthfeel, with moderate to high carbonation supporting things. Palate depth is good for the style, and complexity is good for the style. It's a fucking Amber Ale, people. Also, phrasing. Orange and hops up front; sweetness; trailing hops...light, refreshing, great in a 6-pack+ format.

Rating: Above-Average (4/5 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Light Above-Average on this. There's not much to say here, but what I will say is this is remarkably drinkable, balanced, and full of flavor. For a lighter, Amber Ale, you could do much worse than this. In fact, I've had some pretty dull, boring, and crappy Amber Ales...and this is not that. This one doesn't really cheat the style either by stretching the ABV or IBUs or whatever. Not bad. Food pairings: anything except for maybe pasta and heavy meats. This would be a great beer to drink out of the bottle at a party.

Random Thought: It's weird when you only drink extreme beers for a couple of weeks, and go back to two beers that are a little bit more down to earth. I love a sessionable Brown Ale, and Amber Ales are great too. I feel like the He'Brew Genesis would go especially great with a barbecue...specifically, barbecued ribs. I think the sweetness in this beer would play off ribs wonderfully. But that's just me.