Greenshields Brewing Company - Greenshields Amber Ale

Greenshields Amber is brewed with 7 different grains including 50% Vienna malts, 2-row pilsner, caramunich, carapils, munich and 2 other caramel varieties. It’s hopped with high-end type 45 German hops including Brewers Gold and Spalt Select hops in 3 additions. The hops used are tannin reduced which mean that stems and non-cone pieces are removed resulting in a rounder, cleaner tasting beer. Look for good head retention in this deep copper colored, filtered ale. Note a subtle aromatic floral hop nose with some maltiness evident. We found it refined, clean and very well rounded. It’s brewed to be in the English Extra Special Bitter class. Overall, a clean, flavorful interpretation of the style. Very well balanced.

Greenshields Brewery & Pub is among the oldest brewpub operations East of the Mississippi. It was founded by Gary Greenshields, a native of Oklahoma, who has over 25 years of experience in the beer and beverage industry.

Gary started out in late 1987 researching brewpubs throughout the U.S and Canada and finally decided to start up the business following a month-long pub-crawl through England and Scotland. Believing that it is better to visit snow than to live in it, Gary limited his search for a location to the nice weather states of Kentucky, Virginia and North Carolina. Raleigh’s Old City Market seemed to offer the right ambiance and so Gary and his wife moved from Winston-Salem in early 1989 to build their dream.

Operations kicked off in the summer of 1989 in a 200 seat restaurant in Raleigh’s historic Old City Market building, where the beer was brewed in a new 10 barrel "old English" style brew house designed and commissioned by Michael Lewis. The 1989 facilities proved too small to satisfy Raleigh’s taste for handcrafted beer, so in 1993 an expansion of both the restaurant and the brewery began. When all was said and done, another 200 seats were added while keeping with the cozy English manor house decor style.

The expanded brewery is built around a 25-hectoliter brew house constructed by the notable Kaspar-Schulz, a German company that has been in the business since 1677. Brewing operations are directed by German brewmaster Thomas Kunzmann, who has over 20 years of training and experience. With three years of training to become a brewer and a malter, an additional two years in practical, and another two years to get his Brewmaster and Maltmaster Degrees, it's not hard to see that Thomas is truly devoted to creating beers that are of the highest possible quality.

Greenshields has the awards to show for the excellent work done by Thomas and his staff --- taking the silver medal at the Great American Beer Festival, winning Spectator Magazine's "Best Draft Beer in the Triangle" award six years in a row, and receiving the award for Best Micro Brewed category for the last four years.

For more information about the brewery and scheduled tours, call (919) 829-0214 or check out their web site at www.greenshields.com.