The first sip is usually able to elicit a comment or a sign of approval from among the guests. Simple opinions are exchanged. The bottle is always offered by someone in particular. (You never go Dutch. Each person offers one.) It has a hearty taste that puts you at ease and warms you inside. I offer and drink it when I feel particularly bodacious. If I can control myself, the sensation remains and grows. If I exaggerate, I never know how and where I might be the day after. It's like a particularly alluring and fickle woman: she can do whatever she likes with you.
It's unpredictable.
Technical
Chart:
Ambershock® is an amber beer produced by way of
infusion, with 7.0% alcohol by volume (17.7 Plato degrees). The wort boiling
phase is prolonged in this case to obtain a certain caramelizing of the
sugars in the wort. Strong, full-bodied and mellow, its marked yet well-balanced
malt flavor mainly derives from a special bottle-conditioning process
that lasts for approximately 4 weeks. Bear in mind that this is not a
refermentation phase caused by adjunct sugar or wort, which happens with
Trappist beers. It is an exclusive procedure adopted by Birrificio Italiano®
of Lurago Marinone.
That is why Ambershock® is only sold in bottles. If it were matured
in vats and served on tap, it would have a completely different taste.
Bottle conditioning also brings about perfect settling of the yeast, which
makes it possible to have a perfectly limpid beer with a strong, bright
amber color.
Ingredients:
Water, with a total hardness of approximately 30 French degrees.
Hops: Hallertauer Magnum (1st and 2nd addition) and Hallertauer Perle
(3rd addition).
Pilsener, Munich and caramel malts from Germany and France.
Saccharomyces carlsbergensis brewer's yeast from the laboratories of the
Brewery University of Baviera (Weihenstephan). Brewer's yeast selected
for Rossoscura® and adapted to Ambershock® wort is used.
Original recipe developed by Birrificio Italiano® of Lurago Marinone.
From the tasting sessions held at Birrificio Italiano®
in June 1998, during the seminars entitled "Una passione, una cultura,
una technologia: la birra! [Passion, culture, technology: Beer!"]
Tasting
Notes:
Strong amber beer with compact, lasting brownish foam. Light or medium
perlage, and average level of carbonic saturation. Distinguishing characteristics:
a full flavor, aroma and fragrance of caramel malt and citrus fruits.
Medium intense characteristics: bittersweet, bitter almond flavor; ethery
fragrance and aroma (potpourri of "sweet" flowers).
Weak characteristics: acidulous flavor (citric), of malt, bittersweet
and with a hint of walnut; aroma and fragrance of roasted malt, fresh
hops, fruit (sour cherry, pineapple, banana and citrus fruits), and a
hint of butter or margarine.
Comments
of Mastro Kuaska (Lorenzo Dabove):
«Ambershock® is the star of Birrificio Italiano®.
If we compare Tipopils to a catchy tune with a nice refrain, Ambershock®
is a symphony in three movements. It requires great concentration, but
a punctilious beer taster will note the strong caramel aroma that leads
to a "fruity" explosion (sour cherry, ripe banana, pineapple,
but especially citrus fruits), a deliciously fragrant "ethylic"
and a full-bodied taste that blends "sweet" with "bitter
almond”»
Ambershock® has been produced since October 1996. Due to the particularly
complex production process, Ambershock® is not always available but…it
always arrives, for those who are patient.