Dub 56 Pale Ale
Al's of Hampden / Pizza Boy Brewing

At long last, I am finally getting around to an extensive brewery horizontal to clear out a massive backlog in support of The CANQuest (tm). I knew that I had a number of their beers in abeyance, but it was not until I beCAN assembling them that I realized just how extensive my inventory actually was. 3/16.

From the CAN: "Handcrafted In Enola, PA"; "PIzza. Beer. Happy."; "Proudly Brewed In Pennsylvania".

I was CANurious as to what I was going to get with this one, but I forged ahead by Crack!ing open the vent. When nothing untoward ocCANurred, I CANtinued with a slow, gentle C-Line Glug into the awaiting glass. This netted me two-plus fingers of dense, foamy, rocky, tawny head with excellent retention, leaving behind a load of lacing as it finally fell. Color was Amber to Deep-Amber/Light-Copper (SRM = > 9, < 13) with NE-quality clarity. Nose held pine and white oak as well as a biscuit maltiness. Mmm. Mouthfeel was surprisingly big & full, especially for an APA. The taste was pleasantly bitter with pine, grapefruit, oakiness & a dry, biscuity maltiness. Mmm. Finish remained dry. Time to listen to some ska! YMMV.

Poured into a nonic pint glass, the appearance was a semi-murky pale burnt dark orange to tan wood color with a finger's worth of white foamy head that dissipated at a fairly slow pace. Slight lace.
The aroma seemed to pull into some semi-sweet to crisp orange pulp to marmalade-like character rolling over some dried leafy to muted grassy hops. Light floral hop and a stiff caramel/toffee maltiness crisps up the underneath in a light biscuit toned gracefulness.
The flavor was a dry sort of sweet orange marmalade to pulpiness of sorts. The floral to leafy embrace seemed to dry out the taste even a bit more than expected. Semi-sticky marmalade like aftertaste.
The mouthfeel was about medium bodied with a decent sessionability about it. Carbonation felt fine, perhaps a bit low. ABV felt on par. Finish was a bit sticky with the malts.
Overall, it's a pretty good APA, definitely one of the meltier APA's but I could still see myself coming back to if given the chance.

 

 

16 oz can, dated 9/1/17

Golden copper colored, white head. Aroma is mild hops, earthy pine. Taste has mild bready malt, moderately bitter. Thinner bodied.

 

 

Pours a light copper with a finger of head. The nose is nicely hoppy - more like an IPA than an APA. The hoppiness in the flavor is solid but the maltiness is a bit lacking and the body is a bit thin.

A thanks to the captain of the canquest, woodychandler, for this beer. Poured from a 16 oz. can. Has a dark golden/orange color with a 1/2 inch head. Smell is of citrus, pine. Taste is citrus, grapefruit stands out, light pine, bitter at the finish. Feels medium bodied in the mouth and overall is a refreshing and solid beer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

16 oz can. Amber color with slight haze. Sweet caramel aroma with some melon notes. Tastes similar with a sweet caramel backbone and ripe fruit with some piney earthy hops to round it out. Thin to medium semi-soft feel, very dry finish. Solid session pale ale.

 

 

My buddy brought me this in a 16 oz can. He had already drank the first 12 ounces. I drank it from the can (a la the much ballyhooed Heady Topper), so I didn't really see it. For looks, I gave it 4.5 for the can, since I didn't want to pull down the rating.

Smelled great! Nice pretty hoppy. The taste also did not disappoint. Nice work Pizza Boy!