Wild Fly Ale
Yellowstone Valley Brewing Co.

Wild Fly AleWild Fly Ale
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From:
Yellowstone Valley Brewing Co.
 
Montana, United States
Style:
American Pale Ale
ABV:
5.9%
Score:
78
Avg:
3.32 | pDev: 12.35%
Reviews:
27
Ratings:
37
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Aug 07, 2019
Added:
Apr 05, 2002
Wants:
  0
Gots:
  2
The Wild Fly is a full-bodied malty light amber-colored beer.

Like the popular Adams fly, the Wild Fly beer shares its wide-spread appeal, distinctive and gentle appearance, and overall elegance.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by beerceller99:
Photo of beerceller99
Reviewed by beerceller99 from Louisiana

3.6/5  rDev +8.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
12 oz. bottle. Has a honey orange hue with an off white head. Cotten candy sweet smell. Light bodied with a lively mouthfeel. Has a burnt sugar malty flavor. Finishes with a spicy sweet hop bitterness. This beer reminds me of the old Kessler beer from the 1980's, pretty tasty.
Nov 14, 2004
More User Ratings:
 
Rated: 3.5 by LXIXME from New Mexico

Aug 07, 2019
 
Rated: 3.25 by Kolb from Montana

May 01, 2019
 
Rated: 3.82 by SamuelMiller from Montana

Dec 24, 2015
Photo of Libeertarian
Reviewed by Libeertarian from Montana

3.34/5  rDev +0.6%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25
Fairly hazy honey-amber, almost copper, with medium-retention lemon-white or light tan head. Aroma is bready and a bit tart, almost berry-like. Tastes like honey, and very nearly like maple syrup, I kid you not. Okay, not as sweet, thankfully, but essentially the same flavors. A little weird and unexpected, but not altogether unpleasant. Grainy backbone saves it from being cloying. Really not much else here. Very high, but controllable carbonation (i.e., it didn't over-fizz when opened or poured like they usually do when a beer has gone bad), although that could be resulting from its age. Maybe not, hard to tell. Nice medium feel, dry finish, and slightly metallic aftertaste, though the syrupy sweetness is still there.
Oct 09, 2015
 
Rated: 3.4 by sporklift87 from Colorado

Apr 08, 2015
 
Rated: 3.37 by DaveMiller from Minnesota

Mar 30, 2015
 
Rated: 2.75 by a77cj7 from South Dakota

Nov 18, 2014
 
Rated: 3.5 by Eric908 from South Dakota

Jul 15, 2013
 
Rated: 3.25 by JamLand from District of Columbia

Jul 01, 2013
 
Rated: 3.5 by spycow from Illinois

May 01, 2013
 
Rated: 3 by zeledonia from Washington

Nov 15, 2011
Photo of dirtylou
Reviewed by dirtylou from Oklahoma

3.08/5  rDev -7.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3
12oz bottle, purchased and consumed within yellowstone national park

from notes

appearance: dull light amber body, light beige head

smell: doughy, bready, grain - not much else

taste: flavor follows the nose - very heavy on the bread and grain notes, which overwhelm any sort of subtle hopping or malt sweetness below. drinkable, but kind of worthless as a beer

mouthfeel: medium

overall: a poor purchase
Jul 13, 2011
Photo of boss302
Reviewed by boss302 from Florida

3.18/5  rDev -4.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Yellowstone Valley Brewing Co. Wild Fly Ale. 12oz

A Red, clear, decent head, could have use some thickness. Head didn't last. 3.5

S Not much Hop aroma, in fact kind of flat on aroma altogether. 3 

T Bready/grainy some malty sweetness. Not much hop flavor. Balance toward malt. 3

M Thick mouthfeel, medium body, low on carbonation. 3.5

D A good beer, not bad, but could use some attention. This was served in a bottle and it is the only one I've had, so I can't determine if cellaring was an issue, but could have been. 3.5
Nov 04, 2010
Photo of xymyl
Reviewed by xymyl from Arizona

3.17/5  rDev -4.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5
Orange beer with a white top. Pretty large head with good staying power for something so seemingly light. Good carbonation.

Smells like orange blossoms, then fresh squeezed orange, lemon and lime juice. Super citrus on the nose, so much so that you have to try very hard to smell the malt beneath.

Taste is honey and bitter citrus, then suddenly light and dry bringing the acid to the fore. Certainly not representative of the style. More like a semi-sweet lambic than anything else.

Light bodied beer that I'd like to experiment a bit with. Maybe try it with king crab and butter? I don't know. Strange. Interesting, but not in a complex way... more like a "what the?" way.
Sep 10, 2008
Photo of JohnGalt1
Reviewed by JohnGalt1 from Idaho

3.31/5  rDev -0.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3
12oz picked up in a recent MT trip by my brother.. pulled out of the "on-deck" basement cooler. Listening to the RIS iPod Party mix.. Rolling Stones "Under My Thumb". My half is poured into a stemmed balloon.

Crystal clear lite amber... nice head... sorta suprising... I typically do not expect alot from this brewery.

Smell is dominated by low American hops and yeast fruitiness... descent malt aroma.

Flavor is toasted malts... maybe a little roastiness... good body.. as it warms there is alot of fruitiness (a minor distraction).

I've been to Yellowstone Valley in Billings a few times and while it doesn't look like much from the outside, they make pretty OK brews. Though this one and most of there others need more body, hops, and flavor... EG... they need to take a chance here and there.. but this still is a pretty nice pale ale.
Dec 13, 2007
Photo of Enola
Reviewed by Enola from North Carolina

3.13/5  rDev -5.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
This beer is a reddish orange with no head or lacing. The smell is citrus like and bready. The taste is malty, herbal, somewhat like candy and has a nice cherry aftertaste. The hops are really not there as this is more malty. The beer is sessionable, overall it is fair. Middle of the road. Thanks to Wcudwight for sharing.
Jul 17, 2007
Photo of wcudwight
Reviewed by wcudwight from North Carolina

3.09/5  rDev -6.9%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
Looks like lemon sweet tea. Head everything considered it looks like lemon sweet tea.
Smells a bit like lemonade. Doesn't have the typical citrus, piney hop aroma for the style. Kind of reminds me of Juicy Fruit gum.
This has the same intense fruitiness the other Yellowstone beers I've tried has. Almost like a beery tropical fruit punch. Not very APA like.
Mouthfeel is light bodied and uninspired.
It's drinkable. It's not a drain pour, but that's about all I can say about it.
This is the last of the Yellowstone Brewery beers that a buddy of mine brought back on vacation. Great novelty beers, especially if you are into fly fishing as I am. But, they all tasted pretty similar, which is not all that great. Better than your typical macros out there, but in the broad world of craft beer, you can usually find better options.
Jul 12, 2007
Photo of woodychandler
Reviewed by woodychandler from Pennsylvania

2.09/5  rDev -37%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2
I cannot convey strongly enough just how excited I was to see this beer made available to me, and on tap, no less. I had a beer calendar on my door while doing a one-year internship at Pitt from ’02 to ’03 and this beer’s label stared me in the face for a month, reading “Be Wild. Drink Fly.” It just really intrigued me.

The beer arrived with almost no head at all, just some dissipating light, white wisps. The color was a deep gold, approaching a light copper. The nose had a lager-like sweetness to it. The mouthfeel was light/thin with a honey-like sweetness in the mouth. The finish had that same lager-like sweetness. Wait a minute! This was supposed to be an APA?!? Oof.
Jan 01, 2007
Photo of wolffman17
Reviewed by wolffman17 from Texas

3.37/5  rDev +1.5%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
Wild Fly Ale pours a hazy amber/orange; not quite copper. The head falls quickly and leaves bits of lace.
The aroma is sweet (grape candy) and very bready with a hint of citrus from hops.
The hops are more evident in the taste than the aroma indicated. It's citric (mostly orange) and nicely balanced by the sweet malts. Tart aftertaste.
Very easy drinking. It's simple and refreshing.

It is what it is...a decent pale ale but nothing too exciting. Many are better, many are worse.
Sep 19, 2006
Wild Fly Ale from Yellowstone Valley Brewing Co.
Beer rating: 78 out of 100 with 37 ratings