Orange Grove Ale
Craftsman Brewing Co.

 

 

 

 

On tap at The Surly Goat in West Hollywood, CA.

Pours a slightly murky orange with a foamy orange-white head that fades to nothing. No lacing on this one. Smell is of orange juice, orange soda, orange candy, and some mild malt aromas. Taste is much the same with an acidic quality with each sip. This beer has a good level of carbonation with a crisp mouthfeel. Overall, this is a pretty good beer but does not seem like a pale ale or really even too much like beer in my opinion.

Pours cloudy orange with low white head, super cloudy.

Aroma is biscuity and lightly hoppy, very malt oriented.

Moderate upfront bitterness leading into fruity, orangy hop flavors, fairly sweet hoppy finish.

A decent beer with an interesting take on apa, decent.

A-CLOUDY orange, with a small white head, that disappears, has such a glow to it! VERY nice looking beer. It made me thirsty just looking at it.

S-A hint of orange, a tad of maltiness, but lots of fruit coming off of it.

T-Subdued orange, creamy smooth malt profile, with a hint of hop and some drying carbonation in the finish.

M-Light, a little lighter than I would wish for a beer like this, but has just enough cream to remind you that its not sunny delight, and is in fact, a real beer.

D- VERY VERY drinkable. I wanted more but my wallet said no. Thanks Craftsman, this is a great beer!

NOTE: This is most definitely a flavored pale wheat, not an APA.

On tap at the Pure Luck in LA.

Described as a hefe into which whole oranges had been added. Where? The boil? Was this dry -oranged? Oh god, that sounded wonderful. I've known for years that Leine's Sunset and Bud's Shock Top both add orange flavoring to their beers, and the thought of someone doing that *well*, with actual oranges, was a dreamy prospect. Friends had discussed doing something like this, as a homebrew, but they didn't know how to go about doing it, since fruit beers aren't openly discussed among homebrewers.

This was nearly as good as I dreamed a well-made orange wheat would actually be. That's to say, nothing seemed ersatz and inorganic. There were no nodes of Starburst. But it also tasted more like beer than OJ. The orange sweetness wad made to accentuate the wheatmalt, instead of masking it, and the result was solidly (not cloyingly) sweet, with a firm backend of light spice and wheaty pepper.

On-tap at Beachwood BBQ. This is one of the old Craftsman brews from the early part of the 2000s that I've always wanted to try, but have never seen it on-tap, now I have,

A: Pours a hazy orange with a soft finger cap of white foam. Solid retention.

S: Juicy orange pulp, hints of grapefruit and other citrus.

T: Upfront this beer has this great flavour of orange marmalade jelly and orange creamsicle. Hint of residual sugar. A light biscuity malt note and citrusy hops are there - pink grapefruit particularly in the finish, but overall the beer is ruled by the oranges.

M: Very crisp, juicy and refreshing character. Light-bodied overall.

D: This was a fantastic beer to drink on a hot day like to day. Delicious real fruit flavour, refreshing mouthfeel, low alcohol, a delight.

Sampled on tap at Lucky Baldwin's, June 2007
The beer is lightly hazy with a darkish honey amber color. The head is frothy, tan colored and starts out about a finger and a half thick and even leaves some lacing on the sides of my glass. The aroma is not as orange smelling as I was expecting; soft notes of oranges zest, some pith aromatics (which could be a malt contribution). There is a touch of biscuit like malt, but all in all the aroma is quite muted overall.

The taste is lightly sweet and citrus flavors accentuate a light tartness. This almost has a creamy mouthfeel to it, though it is quite light bodied. There is something here that reminds me of watered down orange juice (I would hope that actual juice was not used for this, but you never know). This is not bad, but it seems a bit washed out. It makes me wonder if they in fact did use orange juice instead of orange peel (which is actually were a lot of the flavor is).

Sampled at Lucky Baldwin's Delirium Cafe - Draft only ale.

Fresh oranges are pureed and added to this beer during the boil and it shows.

Pours bright coppery orange in the pint with a crispy white head that fades quickly on the touch of the lips.

Aroma is of oranges and hops with just a touch of toasty malt. The orange isn't just the bright zesty oil character found in the skin, but a bit like pulpy orange juice.

Flavor is of a crisp biscuity malt that holds in the face of a sweet orange character that is chased off the palate by zesty American citrusy hops.

Finish is a little sweeter than expected from an APA, but this is a heck of a sessionable beer