California Pale Ale (CAPA)
FiftyFifty Brewing Co.

RB transfer

 

 

 

Beer No. 2 in my flight of beers at the brewery tap. Deep golden to orange colour, slightly hazy. Well hopped throughout in aroma and flavour, predominantly citrussy notes, also moderate pine, but not too bitter. A well made APA, the way I like them.

 

 

Poured from a growler via Premium Draught in Houston.

A: Pours a gorgeous copper/yellow color with a bit of haze. A dense egg white head forms with excellent retention and sticky lace all the way down the glass.
S: A rounded fruity aroma. Anything from orange zest, lemon, melon, grapefruit. Some pine, some biscuit malts. Very nice.
T: All the fruity hops are up front again. Orange, lemon, melon and grapefruit. Biscuit and caramel malts. A nice bitterness lingers. Love the balance and finish here, with a ton of fruity hop flavors and enough of a malt body to satisfy.
M/O: A medium body with good carbonation. Incredibly crisp and clean. Also incredibly moreish. The growler will be gone in no time, and I'll be looking to pick this up again for sure.

An excellent pale ale, kind of a more fruity hops version of Sierra Nevada Pal Ale, which I'm all down for. I'm really impressed with this, and is a great one to relax with during an afternoon. Well done.

Copper with a slight hint of haze, large and small bubbles looking like the configuration of atoms, and 2 fingers of yellow tinged head.

Smells of pineapple, peaches and caramel.

Tastes of oranges, citrus, grapes and a hint of grapefruit pith.

Medium to light body thats highly carbonated.

Purchased in Reno, consumed in Redding, a very good pale ale.

 

 

 

 

 

1-1.5" foam upon pour. Smells kind of medicinal and sweet. Can is dated 11/7/2018. Just sharp enough. Kind of sweet, malty, bready. Nice carbonation. Super smooth and it's the definition of balanced between sweet and bitter. It's hard when you expect/want the bitterness these days but for something smoother/mild this still has enough flavor.

 

If there is one thing at the outset of what I wanna say, its that for all of the remarkable consistency of the Eclipse series of beers, its like the opposite when it comes to their hoppy offerings. I've had some amazing hoppy beers from them, and then next time I have the same beer, it is woefully mundane and average. Lots of swing here. This one is a relatively newer offering, and I have noticed the two times I've had it, it was relatively in the middle and didn't have a lot of variance.

Anyways, pours a dark yellow to almost light amber color with 1/3" white head. I don't get much aromatics. That is usually where the inconsistency lies. Here, the two times I've had it has been consistently mild in terms of the Citra contribution, seems to be a minority hop in this beer.

Taste is alright, the body is consistent, they consistently do malts, those don't vary in any of their beers. Its the hops. Despite the claim of low bitterness 45 ibu, it tastes more like 65 ibu and leans on the grapefruit aspect more than anything of a sweeter citrus variety.

i like this one quite a bit, an interesting intersection of the old and new school, and a beer of high flavor yet great balance, one of the better beers i had in here, not named eclipse of course. its clear and golden, a tad lighter on the malt than was popular a decade ago, but also still a bit more robust on the grain side than what seems to be most trendy now, this has structure and character from the malt, a light honey note, a soft baked thing, and an earthiness that sets the hops up really well. the hops definitely have some late kettle and dry hopped character, but its not all juice, especially for these varietals, there is more bitterness than anticipated, which helps a sturdier pale finish clean and drinkable. the greenness of the hops balanced well by the cereal character of the grain, and there is a nice finishing note of orange zest and hop oils. well made beer overall here, better than a lot of them in this category, and a little more to it all around. i could drink a fair few of these...