Ølfabrikken Columbus Pale Ale
Ølfabrikken

Appearance: Pours a clear, reddish-amber body with a frothy, off-white head.

Smell: Aroma of earthy, spiced citrus with an altogether mild pale maltiness. Unfortunately, there's not much more to it.

Taste: Pale malts with a brief sugary sweetness. Spiced lemon flavor with a medium, earthy hop bitterness. Finishes fairly dry.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. Medium carbonation.

Drinkability: Decent enough for a single hop pale ale.

Best by date June 2008, Sampled November 2007
Pours with a frothy, initially two finger thick, light tan colored head that sits atop an opaque, cherry hued, concentrated amber colored brew that shows a brilliantly clear, bright cherry color when held up to the light. The aroma is nice and hoppy; as soon as I pop the swing-top cap a note of fruity, concentrated, candied orange peel greets my nose. When explored more fully the nose yields a nice mix of sharp (pine, piquant citrus oil, and herbal notes) and fruity (grapefruit, tangelo and lychee) hop components. There is a noticeable backdrop of crystal malt notes that adds a definite caramel edge, some brown sugar biscuit notes and some toasty grain aromatics. The hops are definitely the dominant note in the aroma though, with the grapefruit notes being most noticeable, but followed fairly closely by the pine scented notes.

Light, with a touch of crystal malt sweetness to an otherwise dry, albeit quite chewy with malt notes, beer. The hop character certainly adds to a perception of sweetness too though; citrus hop flavors add a nice fruitiness to this beer that is reminiscent of grapefruit and perhaps bitter orange. A fair amount of pine flavors, as well as a touch of menthol and even some herbal notes are found here as well, those last two especially in the finish. Speaking of which, the finish of this beer has a nice, solid, somewhat lingering bitterness to it, that is actually quite smooth and not nearly as biting as it could be. While starting out softly sweet and citrus like the beer definitely finishes with a harder, sharper edge (even with a touch of pithy, green hop astringency). The beer has a nice, yet light, creamy feel to it as it rests on the tongue; I certainly like the heft of this brew as it is quite spot on for a good Pale Ale.

Definitely a nice pale ale, but it seems to be lacking a bit of refinement & integration of flavors; this despite that this is a single hop focused style. I think part of this might be that I feel like a little more malt sweetness / complexity would help to accentuate and perk up the hop focus of this brew.