Jubilee

About The Brew

The amber ale is craft beer’s middle child. Not hoppy enough for the IPA crowd, not dark enough for the stout drinkers, it tends to get read as a compromise — the beer you brew when you can’t decide. That framing does it a disservice. Balance isn’t indecision. It’s the hardest thing on the list to get right.

The style came out of the same early-80s West Coast wave that produced the American pale ale, and it’s essentially a close cousin: same clean ale yeast, same American hop character, but with a generous hand of caramel and crystal malt building color, body, and a sweetness the pale ale doesn’t have. Some brewers call it amber, some call it red, and the Northern California brewpubs that made it a fixture never entirely settled the argument. What everyone agrees on is the shape — malt and hops pulling against each other, neither one winning.

At 5.3% and 28 IBUs, Jubilee sits right in that pocket. Deep copper-red in the glass, with caramel and toasted bread up front, a firm hop bitterness underneath, and a finish that’s clean rather than sticky. Substantial without being heavy.

A beer worth raising a glass to.

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