WIDMER’S DROP TOP AMBER AND THE AMERICAN PASTIME

Those of us that go to ballgames always whine about the beer prices, and yet we still pay ‘em, don’t we. Something about a draft beer in the 1^st inning is just right, and though I’ve attended many a game without “alcohol on board”, ever since San Francisco’s Mays Field began selling high-class microbrew at the games it’s been hard to stay away. So guess how much a 12-oz. draft beer goes for these days? 5 bucks? Keep going. 6 dollars? Higher. 7 dollars? Higher. 8 bucks? Keep going. Yes, a cup of WIDMER DROP TOP AMBER set me back $8.25 the other night; even a Coors Light goes for 7 bucks (!). At least the Giants won in exciting fashion, and you-know-who went “yard” for the first time in a few weeks.

So anyway, DROP TOP AMBER is a newly-distributed-in-California addition to WIDMER BROTHERS BREWING’s offerings, but probably available in their native Oregon for some time. These folks are best known for their Hefeweizen, which is on tap at almost every bar that would ever deign to serve up a Hefeweizen. I’m sure it’s the first example of that style that most dabblers in fine beer have had – me included, either that or the PYRAMID HEFEWEIZEN many, many years ago. Good for them for getting their amber into the ballpark. DROP TOP AMBER is a crisp, malty, somewhat yeasty amber with a nice but muted smell to it. Perhaps some honey tastes but mostly just malts coming through in “the finish”, as it were. Exceptionally one-dimensional, but not bad. About what you’d expect at the ballpark – it’s not like you’re going to find Dark Lord Oak Aged Imperial Stout or anything. 6/10. At supermarkets everywhere on the west coast.