Pale Ale
Union Barrel Works

 

A: Pale orange appearence, neat clarity, with a frothy bready white capping of of one inch. Carbonation is almost non-apparent, but the lacing is evident leaving a full band of frothy, healthy coverage.

S: A faint whisper of citrus, blink and you may miss it. Small pine, slight toasty malt, fairly clean, could of benefited from some hop awareness.

T: Flavor was bready, dry malt, a bit starchy, with dry citrus. The hops seem very muddled, more background ambience then focus. The simcoe isnt as bright as hoped for, sits quietly in the background not wanting to draw attention to itself. Some faint forest pine with a dryn finish, dry orange, and again not much hops to draw attention to.

M: The body was decent, bready, medium substance, dry, but felt it was lazy on the tongue with not much carbonation to give it that snap, crackle pop.

O: Overall the hops are muddled and lazy here, a very safe stance, most likely geared towards the casual lager drinker of the region where they may find this to be more suited for thier liking, but if you're a dedicated hop fan, you wont find much here in the way of excitment, flavor or bitterness. Just a monotone experience that is more bready malty then hoppy.

 

 

The beer pours a golden color with a thick frothy white head that slowly fades to lacing. The aroma is good. It has a nice pale malt scent along with some grassy noble aroma. The taste is good as well. It has a smooth pale malt flavor with little specialty malt character and a lovely Kent Goldings hop finish. It goes down easy and finishes dry and clean. The mouthfeel is fine. It is a medium bodied beer with adequate carbonation. This is a very solid pale ale. It's beauty is it's simplicity. Well done!

a: This was a surprisingly clear, dark coppery amber color. It was served to me with a smallish, white, soapy head that faded quickly leaving a little lace.

s: Mildly sweet pale malt aromas and decent amount of hop bitterness that smells of grassy, herbal lemons.

t: Nicely bitter for an APA. Grassy, lemony, English tasting hops dominate with a little brown sugary malts for balance.

m: Very gently carbonated, a nicely done cask overall.

d: This is a bit better than the draught version, it's slightly more bitter. Nothing to knock your socks off, but this is a solid offering.

On tap at UBW on 2/9/08.

A - Hazy deep amber/copper colored body with one-finger width of dense, spongey off-white head that receded into a thin, whispy veil, but left some nice sticky lacing around the glass. Very attractive looking pale ale.

S - Pale malts with some sweet caramel and a hefty dose of Kent Goldings in the nose. A little citrusy too, but the hop profile is primarily herbal and earthy. Citrus hops come out a bit more as the liquid warmed up.

T - Starts off with a sweet, bready malt aspect with lots of toasted grains, but quickly turns into a bitter bite that lasts well into the finish. Kent Goldings are obvious in the finish. There is some toasted bread in the finish, but ultimately the hops win out.

M - Body is a little thin and watery, but has lots of active carbonation, resulting in maximum tongue prickle. Moderately bitter finish is a little metallic, and lasts for quite a while.

D - Quite bitter for a pale ale, but fairly well-balanced with a nice maltiness. The Kent Goldings give it a bit more character than your typical pale ale, but it's not one of my favorite hop profiles.

Served as a pale golden colored beer with moderate white puffy head.
Significant amounts of hops found in the nose.
Taste also presents with some nice hop notes, but little balancing malt is to be found.
Finishes dry in the mouth, which usually I really enjoy, but this sensation from this beer did not impress me.
A good beer, but not anything great.