Switzer Pale Ale
Cally's Restaurant and Brewing Co.

Cally's Switzer Pale Ale, courtesy of dkachur at a huge C'ville throwdown on 01/09/10. Poured out of a growler.

Appearance: A clear light orange body capped by a foamy white head of average retention. There's a swirl of dusting and a foamy thick collar - it's that brewpub collar, if you will - that spreads out almost as a continuation of the surface dusting after it fades. The lacing is runny and glittery - too much so for the style, perhaps - but it does manage to dry and stick in flecks and blobs in some places.

Aroma: An orange bomb. Heavy orange and biscuity maltiness provide the majority of the aromatics here, with the former coming across as very very juicy but also a little pithy and the latter as moderately sweet. A slight pineyness compliments these notes, but a little solvent-like note detracts from them. It's pleasant though.

Taste: An array of simple but competent hop notes. From moderate, lightly spicy pine to somewhat juicy citrus (mostly the aforementioned orange, though some lighter lemon notes are a little more obvious in the taste) to slight herbal notes, this one has a surprising amount of hop flavor (and a moderate amount of hop bitterness) to compliment the simple lightly to moderately roasted malt backbone.

Mouthfeel: A moderately thick body that has enough carbonation that it's a little uneven, but also enough hops that's it a little oily. These work well enough with the flavor profile, however.

Drinkability: Simplistic but also solid. Good for a brewpub brew, really, especially for a quasi-rural Virginia brewpub brew. And even though it "tastes" like a brewpub brew - there are just those characteristics that you notice about smaller operation breweries after a while, you know? - it's better than most I've had. I'll be trying more from Cally's if more of their brews taste like this.

A: Pours an effervescent peachy red amber with a thin ring of head and very thin, tiny lacing.

S: Mostly bitter hops. Slight pine and grapefruit--in fact, smells a bit like a broiled grapefruit with brown sugar on top.

T: Even more bitter in the mouth. There are the requisite hops and along with them pink and white grapefruit is very heavy. Piney and slightly spicy, but also balanced by floral and malty notes.

M: Very light, crisp, and bubbly, not heavy at all, and not over or under carbonated. Nice dry hoppy, grapefruit and pine aftertaste.

D: quite drinkable. Very nice, and easily sessionable.

Appearance- Great brown/amber body. I think I am noticing a trend with the colors of their beers. Nice even head and lace.

Smell- I loved the aroma from this beer. Very floral and sweet smelling it is better than tasting it. It like you can sense everything they put into this beer through your nose.

Taste- Bitter but balanced out by some nice malt. The bitterness is also pleasantly herbal.

Mouthfeel- Nice and smooth.

Drinkability- I enjoyed this beer a lot compare to most of the other beers in this place.

Named after a local damn and swimming hole, this is a great example of an APA!

The first pour was at 45 degrees, after that I let it warm as I tasted.

Normal pour from growler into pint glass produced two fingers of head. Light tan color to head, creamy. Average carbonation, clear amber color with orange hues in light. Lots of lacing. Little retention, not too stable. Darker than I thought it would be, but about normal for APA's.

Nice hop profile in nose of piney with a slight citrus that combine to create the great greapefruit aroma of APA's. Mellow malt background is nice and accenting.

The taste is great. Balanced yet accentuating the hops, the play back and forth of the malt and hops is awesome with each vying for dominance in the end the hops dominate, but the malt is more prevalent in the finish. The malt profile is very nice, not sweet or roasty but nutral and mellow while still providing balance. The classic grapefruit taste of APA's of the hops. Slight spiceyness to hop bitterness in middle.

Slightly heavy thick mouthfeel and low carbonation. Very fitting. The mouthfeel is an interesting combo of heaviness with a drying finish.

The drinkability is higher than average for me, but the hops may be overpowering for some.

I like a nice hoppy beer. This fits. But is it a pale ale? Who cares? It is tasty. Seems to me more like an American Amber / Red Ale or an IPA with all the caramel and all the hops. Well. It is the most hoppy beer I had all day at Calhoun's and it is the one for hops fans.

Appearance: Served an attractive brown color with an off white head a nice lacing along the glass.

Smell: Light grain, toasted caramel malt and hops in the nose.

Taste: This is a nice hoppy beer. There are hints of grain and fruit salad flavors but the malt character is a bit week making the beer a one dimensional hop flavor beer. That is okay from time to time. Since leafy hop flavors dominate this pale ale (and the aftertaste is quite dry) it is hard to categorize as anything other than tasty. I like hops =)

Mouthfeel: This is a medium light body beer with great carbonation and a nice drying on the cheeks.

Drinkability: If you like a simple Hop flavor ale with a great aftertaste and a caramel balancing flavor attribute, this could be a very sessionable beer.

Hope this is helpful.
Cheers!

Finally got a chance to try a pale ale at my local brewpub... I'm not sure if it's the same as the American Pale they describe on the website (which I've never seen), plus this one includes the moniker Switzer, so I'm adding it as a new beer. Maybe a guy by that name helped with this recipe... It pours from the 2 liter growler a clear caramel/bronze with low carbonation and a 2 finger tan head that reduces to a thin cap and leaves moderate lacing. Initially the nose consists of grapefruit, mango, pineapple and mandarin orange from the hops and sweet, caramelly malts, but soon a pleasant woody/cedary hop aroma appears. It smells quite fresh as does the taste, which has a mild to medium bitterness (36 IBUs), the same tropical fruits, apricot, resiny hop oils, leafy green hops, a low toasted/caramel malt presence and a big cedary hop flavor as it warms. The body is medium with fairly active carbonation and leaves a medium, somewhat drying finish. It's a pale ale that borders on an amber, with complex hop flavors and is as tasty and quaffable as SNPA.