Union Pale Ale
Northwest Brewhouse and Grill

From a 12 oz brown bottle, it's a slightly hazy gold with a trace of orange. It's a Pacific Northwest PA so, as expected it's on the hoppy side. However, the grapefruit-like hops are nicely balanced by a full, malty sweetness. This is a very solid pale ale, which leaves me longing for more Bear Creek products. Fortunately, I've got some. Thanks again to RoyalT for the sample.

Appearance – Lovely, thick, cloudy orange body with a pure white, tight, shaving foam head that lingered for a few minutes and left a little lacing.

Smell – There’s some stiff, piney hops in this one. There may also be some balancing malts, but it’s hard to tell at this point. Mostly it’s a gorgeous, aromatic hop bouquet.

Taste – Yes, there’s just enough malt to keep this super-charge Pale Ale balanced. The hops are terrific. This is a sharp interpretation of the style. It’s not an IPA, but it’s on the sharper side of the Pale Ale spectrum.

Mouthfeel – Faint (if any) carbonation to this medium-bodied ale. This one is ultra-smooth beer.

Drinkability – I thought this was the ale’s strong point. This thing went down like an Iraqi gun boat attacking the USS Eisenhower in the middle of the Persian Gulf. It was a real treat.

Update – Only about 6% of the beers I rate score a “5” in the “Drinkability” category, so I really wanted to taste an ’04 vintage. It was easy finding this as the brewers have decreased production and moved on the other side of the state, but I managed to come up with one from Bottleworks.

It looks, smells, and tastes exactly like it did over a year ago. There’s actually some good, sprightly carbonation to this bottle, which was a shortcoming of the ’03 that I had. I’m going to keep the Drinkability at a 5.0 and raise the Mouthfeel from 4.0 to 4.5.

Nice gold color (slightly hazy) with a fairly light/non-existent head. Nice zesty, citrus nose. Moderate (leaning on the high side) bitterness with pineapple and other citrus flavors. Nice complexity. Good crisp and clean beer.