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San Diego’s Ballast Point Brewing Company Calico Amber Ale carries a Great American Beer Festival Gold Medal logo from 2001. It says “it is brewed in the American Amber style. Full bodied and aromatic, it is brewed with six malts for a deep red color and full flavor.”. It also indicates it was a Gold Medal Winner at the World Beer Cup in 2002.
As you can tell by the photo, it was over-carbonated, but on the bright side it appears to be bottle conditioned. It smells a little malty, but it was tough to pick up much through the large, creamy, foamy head. It’s a reddish, amber color and slightly cloudy from the yeast sentiment.
The taste is toffee malty flavor and the body is fairly creamy. There is a bit of a carbonation sharpness on the tongue because there is so much carbonation.
This amber falls a bit more on the sweet, caramelly, malty side rather than on the hoppy side. However, the hop bitterness is noticeable in the aftertaste. As the carbonation died down and the beer warmed up, the taste got much better.
It was a pretty good beer, which I would drink again, but there wasn’t anything about it which was tremendously memorable – it was just a good, smooth, amber ale which would probably go well with just about any meal.
My Rating: 
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