This is my first taste of what the brewery in Water Valley, Ms. has to offer.  The name fits this Amber Ale.  While the copperhead is one of the more common poisonous snakes in the region, the amber ale is a common style found in most breweries.  Like the snake, which is known to be the most likely to bite, the amber is a beer that is easy to sneak up on you.  It drinks similar to it’s blonde and pale cousins, and doesn’t pack the alcohol or hop punch that other styles do, much the same as the snake, which although is venomous, has a milder venom in comparison.

The Copperhead, we’re talking about the beer now y’all, has some wonderful ruby notes to the eye.  This is a malt forward beer, which is to be expected with an amber.  A certain roastiness hits the nose, and the beer starts crisp on the tongue.  Toast continues, along with caramel and nutty notes towards the middle of the palate.  The beer finishes with an earthy, almost spicy backend.  Overall all impression is a wonderful beer to have at a cookout in the fall, heck even winter down here.  This brew would pair wonderfully with any red meat dish.

I remember as a kid going to play by the creek,  always watching out for cotton mouths (water moccasins).  We’d always repeat back the common rhyme to not confuse corals and kings, “Red on Black, friendly jack.  Red on yella, kill a fella.”  We’d even have to watch out for rattlers around here, and listen for ’em too.  I do remember being on the lookout for copperheads, but they always seemed to play 2nd or 3rd fiddle to the other snakes common in Louisiana.  Much the same does the amber ale seem to take a back seat to the more popular and bigger beer styles, such as the IPA, the Barleywine, the Imperial Stout, and any other style one can think of in this, more alcohol, more hop world that craft beer is in sometimes.  I always have to step back and remember that even though it may not have as catchy a name, have some wonderful rhyme, or make sounds that sends shivers, the amber ale can still pack a heck of a punch if you are not prepared.  Similarly can the copperhead strike without warning if you are not vigilant.

-Everitt

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