Amber Ale

Amber Ale
1 draught pint, $3.75, 6.5% ABV
Purchased at Cambridge House Brew Pub, Granby

I thought about writing this review in the style of a mommy blogger or better (worse?) yet, a really bad food blogger. But then I realized that I didn’t get this product for free in return for my glowing treacly review. So it just wouldn’t make sense.

I paid for this beer – although it must be said that the Cambridge House Brewpub (always abbreviated CBH instead of CHB for some OCD-jarring reason) prices their beers ridiculously affordable at $3.75. At least that’s all I’ve ever paid. Maybe because I always go during Happy Hour times? I don’t think so though. I’ve heard scuttlebutt that they are working on an imperial stout or Russian stout or Imperial porter. Beers that are never that cheap… So we’ll see.

Maybe they’ll serve that in a tulip glass at $3.75, but that would (I would guess) mean an investment in a hundred or so tulip glasses. Which isn’t all that big of an investment. I’ll let you know.

This is my eighth CBH beer review and I don’t think I’ve posted anything else on CTMQ – ostensibly a website about Connecticut’s museums and hikes and stuff – since I wrote the first review, four weeks ago. What can I say? It’s my site and I’m not answering to anyone but me. But I do realize it’s probably annoying to those who come to this site for something totally different than beer review after beer review.

But hey, CTMQ is a decades-long project and I like to mix it up every now and then. It affords me a bit of a “creative break,” if you will. If you’ve ever read any of these beer reviews, you know that I often go off on tangents having nothing in the world to do with the beer in question.

It’s fun for me to do and believe it or not, it does entertain a few loyal local beer enthusiasts.

I can’t help but thinking of the parallel to writing CTMQ and brewing beer at a brewpub like CBH. I “have to” visit and review 100 historic house museums. They are all the same, sure, but I view it as a personal challenge to write mildly witty and uniquely interesting pages about each one. Of course, I love the quirky little museums the most, as they are the most fun to write about. I make no secret about that. #Jadorelavie – oops, some mommy/bad food blogger just oozed out.

Anyway, I’m guessing that the brewer at CBH is in a similar position. Every so often he gets to create an exciting and unique beer that perhaps not many will enjoy, but it’s what keeps him going. Those “honey tripels” and ESBs are his weird museums. And the Amber? The amber is his historic house museum.

CBH says:

Our mild, malty and sweet amber ale

It’s a solid beer. It’s a good beer. It’s a go-to beer for people who go to CBH for the bands. But it’s not an exciting beer. Like historic house museums, it’s just “there” but it’s a good standby when nothing else is going on.

“Hey, what do you wanna do?
“Nothin.”
“Okay, let’s start a batch of Amber and check out the Nellie McKnight House Museum up in Ellington.”
“Yeah, okay.”

And then they get in their Accord and drive the speed limit while listening to a Train CD.

I think that about sums it up.

CBH’s Amber is good. Historic House museums are good. Honda makes good cars and Train had that one song that was catchy that my wife makes fun of me for at least once a week.

Overall Rating: B
Rating vs. Similar style: B

Beer Advocate’s Reviews of the Amber
Cambridge House Brew Pub
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