He may be a yam, but he’s no sweet potato.
This brew brought to mind Neil Young’s album Harvest,* then I recalled Harvest Crunch.** Then as my mind continued to wander and wonder, I thought about the video game Harvest Moon that my kids played incessantly back in the day. But never, ever did I think about harvesting sweet potatoes. I mean are they really even potatoes? Are they even sweet? And how did they end up in my beer? Did Popeye really say “I yam what I yam”? I wonder if a potato by any other name would taste as sweet? All these questions and more will never be answered in this review unless our egghead editor gets out his Encyclopedia Brittanica.***
What will get answered in this review is whether this collaboration between Sawdust City and The Second Wedge brewing companies has resulted in a great beer. Spoiler alert: the answer is a resounding yes.
Just look at that amberesque glow of a deep dusky copper brown with a perfecto foam topper in my head space, all in front of a fabulous fire. Beauty pour. Even our disagreeable editor couldn’t agree more (I agree as much as I can, but not more. The Editor). Malt and hops combine for a caramel and hops crisp aroma. The taste is a full caramel malt with a crisp mild bitter finish. The sweet potato is part of the caramel sweet so it is not immediately discernable other than knowing it’s in there by the way of the name. The odd combo seems to work, and work well. This amber ale has the ESB crisp and bitters to finish, all in balance. An amber ale with something extra special, that being bitters, and of course sweet potato. These sweet potato suds surprised me in the best way. Super suds for sure.
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