Creekside Belgian Pale Ale
Creekside Brewing Company

This was a different batch than Josh (barleywinefiend) sampled, and most, if not all, of Creekside's beers drastically vary from batch to batch. Ordered multiple pints of this beer on Monday, September 27, 2010. The following review is based on notes taken at that time.

Served in a standard American pint glass.

Appearance: Came to the table with a half inch of tight, creamy, eggshell-colored foam on top. Body was orange-amber and surprisingly opaque. The initially tight head soon settled as a splotchy array of large bubbles, and the beer drug tons of goopy lacing down the walls of the glass. Everything looked fine except for the body, which was totally out of place.

Smell: Banana, sweet bread/pie, vanilla, peach, and mild orange and/or lemon zest. Really soft and pleasantly sweet; not crisp or tart like most Belgian and American pale ales. An interesting approach. It worked.

Taste: Biscuit and caramel malts, banana, orange zest, and belgian yeast. Very malty with subdued hop bitterness. Again, interesting and unique.

Mouthfeel: Malty and full bodied with soft carbonation and a mildly dry, mildly funky finish. There's nothing "west coast" about this one; it drank for more like an English pale ale, and a heavier one at that.

Drinkability: Certainly not an exemplar of the style, but I still enjoyed this one quite a bit. Enough so that I ordered two more pints of it. A good choice on a warm, late summer night in San Luis Obispo.

Poured a golden color with good carbonation and a nice white head. Nose is nice belgian yeast, a little spice, hops and citrus. Taste is very nice. Perhaps one of my favorite beers here. Nice and balanced, West Coast Pale with a Belgian yeast strain, spice. Very good. Mouthfeel is spice, hops and citrus. At 5% ABV I found this beer to be very drinkable. Lighter beer with big flavor. Perfect.