Pale Ale
Triumph Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

The more real ales I try, the more I grow to love that way of conditioning and serving beer. Triumph's cask pale ale in Princeton arrives a deep, clear copper with a perfect 1/2" ecru foam cap. The nose is slight, with grapefruit blossoms and bready malt notes. The taste is not overpowering either, but that is an asset: Biscuty malts support mellow citrus and pine-spice flavors. The mouth feel is nearly perfect, creamy and smooth with just a slight carbonated feel and a medium-light body. Paradigmatic of a sessionable ale. Nice.

Triumph- Pale Ale

-New Hope-

Appearance- light murky brown with no head.
Smell- dirty and earthy!? Slight toffee malt detected.
Taste- earthy mossy hops with a touch of sour malt. Metallic flavor and bitterness.
Mouthfeel- metallic bitterness and just quite bad.

Overall- what happened here?! I was expecting a floral/ citrus flavored Pale Ale. This was from the hand pump. Bad Pale Ale. Good thing their Hefe is a reliable beer.

So far, this is my second favorite beer Triumph makes. They should replace the Bengal Gold on the permanent beer list. It's a good light gold in color, with a white head that laces alright (probably would have better lacing in a non-bar glass). The taste is slightly malty, with a good hop "grassiness" to it. Overall it's a very smooth beer and second only to Triumph's Golden Double Bock (it makes it's official debut on February 4th!) as far as beers I've had at Triumph.

A clear, deep-amber body is capped by a frothy white head of foam that dwindles to a thin surface covering and leaves some thin but attractive streaks of lace about the glass. The nose offers some delicately floral and citrusy hops atop a caramel-streaked biscuity malt. The body is medium, and it's gently crisp in the mouth due to its very fine, median carbonation of about 2.4 volumes CO2/liter. The flavor mirrors the aroma with an exceptionally well-balanced character. The floral and citrusy hops enhance its malt component, but don't stray beyind that point; and it's lightly caramelish biscuit malt is backed by a firm but pliable bitterness that anchors everything while at the same time allowing each of the characteristics to shine on their own at one point or another. It finishes dry but with a subtle reminder of the citrusy and floral hop soaked malt. Exceptionally well-balanced. Far from over-done. Quite drinkable.

It had a medium-frothy, cream colored head on top of the orange-amber body. Firm bitterness that lingered will into the finish. Medium body bolstered by pale malt. Metallic retro nasal aftertaste. Unspectacular, but better than their IPA. This was my second beer of the lunch and my last. I hope they find their groove and make some better stuff.