Fantastic color, with a deep copper pour. Head isn’t retained that well, but there’s some good lace.

Nose has some simply bready malts, but there’s also a light hop note that one would expect from an American Amber.

Tastes mostly reflect the nose. It’s pretty smooth, mostly malt forward with some simple grains and light caramel, and a gentle, brown ale nuttiness, but lingering around the very edges and in the back-end there is a threat of some significant hop bite. The beer never really delivers that, but the hint is there, hanging around.

A few hoppy burps, so that’s a good sign. The beer has a slight “twang” in the aftertaste that feels like a little rye. Maybe it’s that, rather than hops, which are causing the mild bitterness.

It’s good to find beers that are simple expressions of relatively traditional styles, and this checks those boxes.