Pale Ale (Pacifica Waimea)
The Kernel Brewery

 

Proved as fresh as it can be, right at the brewery.
Hazy yellow orangeish color with a two finger head with short retention but leaving laces.
Nice predominant aroma of sweet oranges, bread, vanilla, mild on pine.
Delicious and assertive flavor of fresh oranges, pine and bread. Dry, slightly acid and with an elegant bitter aftertaste.
Medium body with low carbonation and an acid sensation.
Very elegant and assertive APA. Those guys got handle of doing great beers.

Purchased at the Kernel Brewery in London recently, bottle-conditioned in a 500ml brown bottle; bottled on 21/10/2013, BB 21/02/2014, served chilled in a straight imperial pint glass.

A: pours a murky light golden colour, coming with a very thin layer of off-white foam and rather quiet carbonation.
S: sour-sweet pears and prunes come upfront, against an equally light-weight malt base; given a good swirl, a more attractive aroma as of sweet grass or herbs as well as green grapes or gooseberries emerges from underneath, coupled with a little nectar-ish or honey-ish maltiness.
T: semi-effervescent, the flavour is actually green-ish, with random input of hops, watery malts, and some overripe fruit estery flavour, ensued quickly by a medium+ level of hop bitterness which brings a bit more tangy stimulation to the palates. Bitter and dry-ish in the finish, while hop aroma and flavours are generally muted, as is that of malts.
M&O: the mouthfeel is generally refreshing due to the fine fizz in the beer, despite the apparent under-bottle-conditioning, but the body comes a bit too thin and thus the palate sometimes feels a bit watery; all in all, the hops are not executed well in this batch/brew at all, while the beer quality also shows under-maturation or is impacted by some other unknown factors. This is by far the least satisfying bottle of pale ale I’ve had from The Kernel so far.