Flying Aces Ale
Third Base Sports Bar & Brewery

Sampled on-tap at the brewpub on 6/3/06..
According to their blackboard right above the bar: 3.5% ABV, 50 IBU's...what the hell is with the weak abv??

From their beer menu: "Flying Aces Pale Ale - Four large hop additions to the boil of this brew give this one its characteristic hop finish; every hop head's dream!"
I mean, how could I not try it with a write-up like that..

Hazy amber color. Head looks like soap suds..bright white, huge bubbles. I thought I had ordered a beer, not dishwater...disgusting.
I can pick up some hops in the aroma, but the metallic copper smell (like the kind you get when you handle a bunch of pennies) pretty much overshadows the hops here. Taste follows suit, with a metallic element that makes this very hard to drink. Old/bad batch possibly? Let's hope so for the sake of this brewpub's future...

Overall, I'm hoping that this was the last bit in a very old keg, and that the glass had dishwashing liquid in the bottom before it was poured..otherwise, this is a pretty sad excuse for a beer. Maybe I'll give this one another shot next time I stop in...then again, maybe not.

Sampled on tap 2/5/05 at Cedar Brewing. Comes to me with a cloudy amber color with a thin head to top it off. Nice spotty lacing along the side of the glass...nice. Nose begins with a sweet grainy caramel and a nice grapefruity, citric spicy hop nose. Smells nice.

The brew begins with a sort of nutty, caramel sweetness with a nice bitter blast of citric, slightly spicy hoppiness. A nice balance of flavors with an emphasis on the hops...quite nice.

Medium body with nice small carbonation...goes down smooth and easy. Easily sessionable and a nice ESB. Definetly worth a shot and one I'd enjoy having again.

Lucent dark amber-bronze topped with a small, bone white head that fell quickly to a fleeting film and left tissue paper-thin, broken sheets of lace. The nose was underpowered, but was surprisingly hoppy; orange and lemon zest primarily.

The beer was undermalted, thereby limiting its appeal. It did, however, have a delightfully bright hoppy flavor of orange, lemon and grapefruit. I doubt that it was single-hopped so I'll go with Cascade plus a lesser quantity of an English hop, say Goldings or Fuggles. Due to the lack of malt support, the body/mouthfeel was thin and harsh with a moderately mineral-like finish. Too much fizziness didn't help either.

Flying Ace's Ale has enough hops, but doesn't have quite enough malt to round it out and give it dimension and depth. While it went pretty well with my lunch, I probably wouldn't drink it on a regular basis. Assuming I lived in the area, that is.

On tap 9/15/04 at Cedar Brewing Co.

Copper colored with a nice beige head. Nice overall balance with a light citrusy hop aroma and flavor. Use of American hops (from what I can tell) for the style may lean it more towards an American Pale Ale but very nice nonetheless. Light-medium bodied and very sessionable.

One of Cedar's better brews and in my Top 3.

Per CB website: An Extra Special Bitter (ESB) style ale brewed with lots of hops. The hops contribute to the robust flavor and aroma of this ale. This is our most bitter beer.

4.3% ABW / 5.375% ABV

This is a neat brew. More of a bitter than an ale, this one pours out an orange brown color that either looks like pumpkin juice or poo juice, depending on who you ask.

It smells very hoppy, with a hint of fruit and alcohol. It tastes like it smells, more or less, only with a very bitter fruity taste complimenting the insane amount of hops. Like, imagine if you just drank a glass of hops and orange rind. That would be this. Really not bad, but not great either.

The body was fizzy but full and it went down pretty smooth.