Pacific Rain
Ninkasi Brewing Company

Nice tasting light beer, light hop flavor, very drinkable, you can always count on Ninkasi for Great beer. Rated 8-4-2018
50 IBUs

 

 

Look: Opaque but not cloudy light orange with a minimal head that recedes quickly, leaving decent lacing behind
Aroma: Lime, blueberries, orange, strawberries, a little pine, passionfruit, and sweet bready malt
Taste: A huge citrus fruit and mixed berry blast starts things off and quickly followed by a nice piney hit that shines on its own before blending into the mix nicely. Sweet bread-driven malt is ever present and comes in and out of the fold before it closes out hop-forward
Mouthfeel: Full, medium-high carbonation, more body than the look or taste would lend one to think, and minimal dryness on the finish
Overall: This is tasty stuff. A solid and well-made American Pale Ale with a hop blend in the flavor and aroma department that I very much enjoy. More malt support in the body than the taste would lead me to think and pretty hoppy tasting for “just” a pale ale. I think this is definitely one of Ninkasi’s more underrated and overlooked beers. Recommended

12oz bottle

Pours about a finger of white head into my can-style glass. Retention is average and fades after a minute, leaving a nice thick rim of foam around the edges. Initial lacing looking great. Body is yellow, pretty light for a pale ale. Crystal clear, with a lot of bubbles coming up. Looks quite nice so far.

If memory serves, what I’m smelling is the Ninkasi house yeast I grew to have a distaste for - really hard to describe, maybe musty, dirty? I think a lot of what I’m picking up on is some super earthy hops though. Either way, still has plenty of pale ale in here, citrus, pine. Spicy and very very sharp, smells dry and bitter. Classic northwest pa, not juicy or anything. This isn’t too bad, it has character.

Starts off pretty similar to the nose with those sharp, early hop addition flavors of pine, citrus, and significant earthy notes. A little spicy as well. What began as a stale grain flavor has mellowed into a decent and subtle malt backbone. Comes together much better on the flavor than the nose. Pretty flavorful and complex for a pale.

Mouthfeel is fine. A little under carboned probably partly due to the rocky pour, but this also isn’t a very nucleating glass so I can’t excuse it too much. Body is medium-light. Bitterness is maybe a hair below medium, but it certainly has character. It leans towards the drier side, but just barely, sugars are not very noticeable. Good mouthfeel.

Drinkability is pretty good, it’s tasty.

Appearance turned out a little disappointing, I agitated this guy a little bit and that may have hurt the head. Either way, not a lot going on in the way of lacing, pretty patchy.

Perhaps not my style with the heavy earthy tone, but I have always enjoyed this beer so I only really notice that when I break it down. All in all a pretty flavorful and crushable pale ale despite my inner struggle with the house yeast.

Draft at the Handlebar. Either this is missing something, or my palate got jacked by the Dark Swan. Hard to believe. Bland. Nothing. Aroma, taste, finish. I’m getting pale lager all across the board. Minor bitterness and dryness, but nowhere near the NW pale it’s touted to be.

 

Very average American Pale Ale. Balance between hops and malts is a little off.

 

 

 

 

Poured from a 12 oz can. It's golden, with a bit of a head. The smell is pretty mild, barely noticeable. The taste is a bit grainy, a bit hoppy (not too much). Overall, this is an innocuous enough beer, pleasant but not in the least memorable.