Crosby's Kitchen & CocktailNo Paddle Amber Ale

"Make me an Amber!" A friend of mine mentioned this to me a year or two back and these words kicked into motion a series of recipe attempts and batches that would ultimately result in our house amber. American Amber is a very broad and forgiving style that really serves as a "catch-all" category between pale ales and porters that doesn't include I.P.A.s and ryes. Ambers can range dramatically in bitterness and alcohol volume and even in color. That makes for a very broad palette for a brewer. My goal with our amber was to capture a beautiful reddish hue that reflected the copper that this city is famous (or perhaps infamous) for. I also wanted to create a flavor profile that challenged people with hints of that transition from a pale ale into a porter. So, our amber features a strong 2 row backing with plenty of roasted malts giving not only that beautiful color but the toffee and caramel flavor that suggests that there's a porter in there just begging to get out. All we needed was a name to bring the amber home. We struggled for some time, taking suggestions from the owners, friends and of course the young lady who recommended we build the amber in the first place. Ultimately, as it so often does, the name presented itself. We were struck. We couldn't come up with a name and we had a beer ready to go. Somebody in a meeting mentioned that we were "Up the crick" if we couldn't put together a decent name. "No Paddle" was born. We hope you enjoy our amber.