1st Largemouth of the Year
Location: Pond next to Fern Ridge Reservoir
Beer: Widmer Brothers Drop Top Amber Ale
So, picture this: it’s a beautiful spring day, you have to work so your fishing time is limited to maybe a couple hours before it gets dark, all the local rivers are fully blown out due to rain and snow melt, and you can’t take another afternoon of sitting around the house. What do you do?
I’ll tell you what we did – we scoured the internets looking for some sort of local fishing that we hadn’t already discovered. We found two options: carp, and early, early season bass. With that in mind we hopped in the car and began cruising the streets of Eugene.
He's looking at the beer!
Our first stop was the Delta Ponds. We had found information indicating there might be both bass and carp at the ponds. But after half an hour of wandering, getting hissed at by geese and seeing nary a fish we decided to give our other option a try. Onward to the ponds by Fern Ridge Reservoir!
We stopped at Kirk Park, which was closed, threw on the rain pants, grabbed a fly rod and a couple of spinning rods and went exploring. After an hour or so of wandering, casting and seeing very little in the way of fish we struck gold! Using a swim senko we hooked into a nice little 12†largemouth. Awesome!
Bass and Drop Top Amber!
On this early spring excursion we decided to bring a beer that we’ve tried before, but hadn’t had the opportunity to review until now: the Widmer Brothers Drop Top Amber Ale. We chose Drop Top because it’s a very easy drinking amber ale. Drop Top is a smooth, sweet amber ale with a slightly bitter finish, and it perfectly complimented the first bass of the year!
Drop Top Amber
Appearance:
Clear amber, or very light copper color. Good clarity. Has a foamy light head that dissipated very quickly leaving minimal lacing on the glass
Smell:
Very sweet and fruity. For some reason it made me think of apricots.
Taste/Mouthfeel:
Sweet and malty. Sweet would probably be the most apt descriptor. The beer is good, no doubt about it, but might be a bit sweet for many beer drinkers. Has a very slight bitter aftertaste.
Overall:
I like Drop Top. It’s a pretty standard amber ale. Drop Top Amber is very sweet and refreshing, really nice for a warm day, or if you are thirsty and wanting a tasty treat. Personally, because it is so sweet I am only in for a couple before I need to move on.
3 out of Six Pack
Beer Stats:
Original Gravity: 12.25 Degrees PLATO
Alc/Vol: 5.0%
Bitterness: 20 IBU
Brewery Location: Portland, Oregon
