Updraft Pale Ale
Black Raven Brewing Co.

Poured from 12oz can into a dimpled mug. Canned 6/23/22, so maybe not the absolute freshest, but probably still okay. This can says 5.5% ABV.

Appearance: medium golden hue with a light, shimmery haze and a nice effervescence. Head is a finger of frothy ivory foam that has an OK retention.

Smell: lightly sweet and toasty malt with a dainty citrus and floral character. This is something I encounter in a lot of pale ales, I feel like -- toasty malt and floral hops make for a kind of soapy sort of thing. It's not bad, though.

Taste: the flavor tracks almost 100% with the aroma: malt is sweetish and just a little toasty, and there's kind of a purple-gumdrop floral character with a dash of lemongrass. A cromulent pale ale, along the lines of an English pale ale or bitter.

Mouthfeel: medium body with a good level of carbonation and really quite a good creaminess. I like it a lot.

Overall: a solid, if unexceptional, pale ale.

12oz can served in a nonic glass, canned on 05/28/20.

Look- Clear golden color. Small off-white head that recedes quickly to a thin cap of foam, little lacing. Moderate/light carbonation streams visible.

Smell- Citrus (grapefruit and lemon), some light pineapple and dank weed, bready malt, wet pine needles and earthy grass/herbal notes.

Taste- Similar to the aroma. Citrus and light pineapple, wet dog, bread dough and pine, slight lingering hoppy bitter finish. Decent balance.

Feel- Medium/light bodied, on the dry side and fairly crisp. Medium carbonation on the tongue.

O- I remember this being much better at the taproom. Somehow canning it adds the unpleasant wet dog flavor. Can't really recommend this.

12 oz can from Brewers Haven. Deep golden pour, fizzy, foamy head. Caramel malty aroma with a citrus edge. Taste follows the nose, toffee, caramel, hops take on a bitter edge. Finishes dry.

cool art on the can of this nice pale ale, looks right on for halloween, new to the market here in idaho. i was unimpressed with their trickster ipa, but i thought this pale ale was really nice, sort of an old school build on it, but nice back and forth between the crystal malts and the hops, which are more than just bitter here, and the whole thing has a lot of flavor, a long flavor trajectory, and still high drinkability. it is a little denser, has some grain sweetness lingering past the swallow, but i think its a nice pale ale for the chilly evenings setting in here, and i like its roundness and size. i swear i get a little bit of yeast character to this, not quite english, but not sterile either, and i always like that in this sort of pale. the grain has notes of honey and graham cracker and tastes just a little bit baked and warm and concentrated to me, while the hops have sweet orange, pine needle, and hemp notes all the way through the whole beer, culminating in a late but bright climax, bitter enough to balance the grain but not much more than that. its a smooth beer, somewhat unremarkable in terms of uniqueness, but the quality speaks for itself on this, and its a nice early fall drinker, the better of the two i have had from black raven so far. i wish for more carbonation, but thats it. kind of old school, but an enjoyable pale for sure.

bottle (into glass)
Clear golden medium orange. Smelling the faintest coconut in the malt essence. Medium bodied. Hop presence is similar to well hopped pilsner. Good finish, with the malt making an appearance.

Clear dark yellow brew with a big pile of foam in the Stella Artois goblet. Aroma of pine and yes, pineapple. Pleasantly frothy in the mouth. A chalky sensation. But juicy and fruity with hints of lime peel and a little canned apricot.

Moderately sweet with lots of aromatics. Some brambly, resiny astringent notes but more of the pineapple upside down cake. Modest bitter aftertaste, certainly less than a lot of current Pale Ales. I think I'll try mixing this with the Kölsch. From the 12 oz can in the sixer purchased at Haggen Market.

 

 

Easy drinking - flavorful