I try to refrain from posting reviews of beers that I've had in my beer hoard for longer than I should have, but sometimes I feel like I just need to do the review. In this case it's Zoe Amber Ale by Maine Beer Company out of Freeport, Maine. This beer has been in my hoard for a year and a half now and the bottle even states to drink this fresh, but for some reason.. the smile was hinting to me that I needed to review this.
Zoe is a 7.2% Amber Ale brewed with 2-row, English Maris Otter, Caramel 40L, Caramel 80, Victory, Munich 10L and Chocolate for malts, as well as Centennial, Simcoe and Columbus for hops. Bottled December 15, 2015
Appearance: Zoe pours a dark nutty brown body with a hint of a reddish caramel hue to it. The head is pretty decent and beige and gradually diminishes leaving behind some residue on the glassware.
Aroma: Notes of your typical crafty amber ale but a bit stronger. There's a hint of nuttiness, a good deal of caramel, honey, a pleasant amount of rich, earthy hops and a light roasted maltiness at the very end.
Taste: Zoe is a very sweet amber ale that has a great presence of caramel and honey, a light earthy hop presence, notes of dark fruits such as prunes in the background. It's easy to drink, yet incredibly flavourful.. one of the better amber ales I've had in the past 6 months.
Overall Thoughts: I need to stop hoarding my beer but this is one of the few instances where one of my hoarded beers actually turned out pretty damned good a year and a half after buying it. It didn't have any trace of oxidization, nor did the hops give off an unpleasant aroma/flavour. Incredibly easy to drink, sweet and mildly earthy. With autumn fast approaching, this would be an awesome alternative to the trillion pumpkin spiced beers that will be coming out.
https://www.mainebeercompany.com/zoe
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