Mountain Goat ‘The Alphonse’ India Amber ale

Rating:

imageWe have a special affinity for the goat army since we first tasted the hightale ale back in 1999. This brew is the bigger, maltier, hoppier brother of the hightale. We like the informative label also, a feature of the In Breed series of beers of late.

Poured into a pint glass to extract the full goodness from this 740ml bottle, we see a lovely deep Amber body. There is a good 10mm off white head of compact little bubbles which retains beautifully. Nice amount of carbonation in the glass too. First whiff is Marmalade jam, citrus and sweet malt. Reminds us of a Ballast a Point grapefruit sculpin which is frickin impressive. First sip yields solid bitterness in the mouth but not overpowering. It lingers right the way past the back palate until you have the next sip. Almost sits on your tonsils with a tingle. We imagine the IBU is 65+. Bit of spice here like they have used rye malt. We not sure but we like it. Grapefruit bitterness, mixed with lemon rind, sweet caramel malts, and an almost roasted almond like flavour which again must be the malts. Good Alc vol here of 7%, you can’t even tell. As we imbibe there is a wall of lacing opposite from where we sip. Body is medium with good length. There is mild carbonation in the mouth. You almost get confused with the spice bubbling away. This is a really tasty beer. It’s smooth as on the back palate, no offending booze burn, beautiful marriage of citrus and spicy hops with roasted and sweet malts. This is a winner. Well done lads.