In The Tasting Room: Lost In Time Amber Ale From Swamp Head Brewery

Like the sands of the hourglass, these are the beers in our glass... beers from Florida! Every Friday, we take a look at a beer brewed in the Sunshine State, giving analysis to the burgeoning craft beer movement of Florida.

This week, we'll be looking at an easy drinking beer from central Florida. Lost In Time is an amber ale from Gainesville's Swamp Head Brewery - a 10 barrel brewhouse located near I-75 just west of the University of Florida campus. Though generally not distributed this far south, there are some places that manage to get a keg or two, and with a new 13,300 S.F. building on a 5-acre site including a full canning line set to be operational next year, it won't be long until they make themselves available throughout the South Florida area.

See also: In The Tasting Room: Category 3 IPA (In A Can!) From Due South Brewing

The tap art is reminiscent of the fossilized amber of long-dead trees, which is, unsurprisingly, similar to the color of this beer.

It arrives a deep copper and reddish color, with a good layer of off-white foam that stays throughout the entire session. The beer is quite the looker.

A faint aroma of toasted bread and sweet wet grain are evident, but not too much so. The flavor is strong with the caramel malts up front, there's a moderate mouthfeel that then gives way to a more biscuity bitterness at the end. It's a ride that, after each drink, makes you want to go back and relive those first moments of beervana. It's not overly complex, nor does every interesting beer need to be, and it turns out to be an easy drinker, even as it warms a bit. This is a 5.8% abv beer that could be an all day drinker in the slightly cooler South Florida winters. Yes, on these 80 degree December days.

It's not too exciting, though it brings you to keep drinking it. As a small batch, it seems mediocre, but then Swamp Head puts out some solid core beers like Midnight Oil oatmeal coffee stout and Big Nose IPA, that it can seem underwhelming when a straightforward, but on style, amber ale comes along.

Perhaps when you see it in the wild, you can make your own decisions on it, before it becomes lost in time...

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