Midlander Dark Ale
Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery

Cascading, lightly tanned leather brown infused with amber and orange. The ecru cap was creamy, compact, persistent and left thick, patchy sheets of lace. Midlander Dark Ale looks (as well as smells, tastes and feels) like the several pints of AK Pale Mild Ale that I had last month.

The nose was unexpected to say the least. Based on the aroma, this beer isn't a dark mild. Given the name, though, I'm not sure what else to call it. Of course Three Floyds Pride & Joy, which it resembles, isn't a dark mild either, so what are you gonna do? There very little malt that I can detect. The nose is clean and bright... orange and apple fruity... not much else.

There wasn't a whole lot of malt on the palate either. Perhaps a hint of barely toasted pale malt, but that's a stretch. There was a mildly sweet fruitiness reminiscent of debittered orange zest and red apple skins. While hops superceded malt, MDA wasn't a hoppy beer. I got the sense, as I've noted numerous times in the past, that some of these fruity flavors are yeast-derived rather than hop-derived. Of course I could be way off base. It would be far from the first or the last time.

Although it wasn't sweet, the beer was sweeter than it was bitter. The mouthfeel was light, approaching medium over the course of each mouthful. The finish was lightly sticky and mouthcoating, as is the case with most of this brewpub's beer.

I was expecting a true dark mild ale and got a pale ale instead (I'm not going to change the style listed above). Midlander Dark Ale is a decent, drinkable summer offering that tries hard not to offend, and succeeds. I wish it had set its sights a little higher.