DoorYard Ale
Oak Pond Brewing Company

 

 

 

Bottle from Damon’s in Augusta.
Pours a lightly hazy deep straw color with a smallish white head that dissipates quickly. Aromas of bready pilsner with hints of spice and light fruit with just a touch of lemon. The flavor is lightly herbal and spicy with hints of lemon and bread. Medium body with a moderate level of carbonation. Ok blonde ale, not horribly clean but somewhat drinkable.

In the rest of the country a door yard is the front yard, in Maine it's a door yard. Hence, this beer's local name.

Appearance: 22 ounce brown bottle poured into a pint glass. Gold with a thin, dense head.

Smell: Slight fruitiness

Taste: Smooth and sweet. Finishes clean, but not dry, and with an ever-so-slight hoppiness.

Mouthfeel: The mouthfeel is pretty significant, even for a light-style beer. It has a nice weight on the tounge and a nice fizziness that is not overly carbonated.

Overall: This is a very good summer-time brew and one I've been enjoying over the past few months.

 

really wanted to like this beer. always hope the small local brewers succeed. A friend of mine brought home a case (mixed) from a recent weekend trip in Maine.

It was ok. Nothing to dislike.
But it seemed watered down to me.
The mouthfeel seemed overly carbonated, and very light (like water).
Nice brown color, but very little head.
Ok carmel notes in the taste.

Maybe fresh from a growler ... it would've been better.

Looking forward to trying the other beers in the case from Oak Pond. Perhaps I will find my favorite in a future review.

From 12/22/11 notes. Thanks to joepais for sending this one my way in the Secret Santa BIF; thanks Joe. Poured from a 22 oz. bottle into my Duvel tulip.

a - Pours a somewhat transparent dark orange color with two fingers of white head and moderate carbonation evident. Some spotty lacing left on the glass, and head lasts for one to two minutes.

s - Smells of grains, wheat, bready malts, light floral notes, and light corn. Not bad or offensive at all, but a bit average...lots of malts.

t - Taste of grains, bready malts, floral hops, fruty malts, wheat, biscuit, and toasted malts. Taste is lightly sweet and a step up from the nose.

m - Medium body and moderate carb. Crisp and easy to drink; I'd guess an ABV of around 4.5%.

o - Overall a slightly above average APA. Not too hoppy, and focuses more on grains and bready malts, but I liked it. Easy to drink a bomber of, and worth trying.

Picked up a bomber at the Belfast Co-op to drink with a lobster dinner. I had the beer in a pint glass, and it pours from the bottle a hazy goldenrod color with a thick, frothy white head. There is a steady flow of carbonation. The beer's aroma is roasty/toasty, with a sweet honey highlight. Flavors are slight sour malt, with a toasted cereal overtone. Slight cut grass character present, also. The beer has a great lacing while you drink. The aftertaste is almost buttery, with some roasted characters leading to a filmy and slick finish.

Poured from the bottle into a shaker pint glass.

Foamy two finger head that falls fairly normally, solid white. Body is a pale yellow gold, almost green in appearance. Some slow rising carbonation coming from the bottom. Virtually no lacing.

Smell is powdery sweet. Kind of orange powder juice drink. Not much sense of malt or grain. Not that impressive.

Taste is truly middle of the road with not much fault but also not much going on for a pale ale. A little better than light bodied texture but missing malt flavor. No sense of hop profile, a little bit of muted crispness on the swallow.

Overall though not much really going on here. Missing even some basic bread action. Can't say I would have this again.

This brew poured out as an amber colored brew with a light tan head on it, the head didn't really give off much lacing really. The aroma of the beer was ok, it had some hops and a big sweet malt background to it. The taste was a little light, kind of bummed me out a little. I was hoping for more of a depth in the beer but it just didn't follow through. The mouthfeel was decent also. Nothing really special here. It was nice to try but wouldn't need to have again.

Poured golden cloudy with a little head that did not last. Smelled like buttery sweet lager to me, I think i even thought it was a lager until I got a look at the bottle. Very light on the palate and sweet. Got a lot of butterscotch in the flavor with some citrus zest and mild hop flavor. This may sound all good but I thought it was a bit of a mess. . . And I actually like the sweet mess beers more than most. I could drink more but would never bother. If I was 18 again i would have loved this one. . . too bad I'm NOT!

An interesting American pale. A bit to light for me, it has aroma of malt and wheat. It is very golden pale in color with a white head. The taste is very light in body with malt to start and very little carbonation and no hops.very easy to drink but you don't necessarily want to, try there White fox its way better.

Poured from a 22oz bottle into a standard pint glass.
I really wasn't impressed with this beer at all, I don't know if the bottle I got was bad or if that is the way it should be.
Light golden color topped by a thin fizzy head that is gone in under 20 seconds.
Smell is buttery like this bottle may have had some oxidation problems.
The taste is thin and fizzy.
Watery mouthfeel with a buttery aftertaste.
Based upon my experience with this bottle I would not drink this beer again.

Bottle Poured into my pint glass produced a fingers worth of head that turns to a ring of lace. The body of this brew is cloudy pale yellow in color

Aromas of light hops and bread filled my nose

Flavors are nice and light great summer ale, it starts of with sweet malts and finished with a light hop bitter light in the mouthfeel good carbonation on the tongue

Very drinkable light and crisp great for a hot summer night a good session brew

Bought from Lou's Beverage Barn.

Pours a cloudy golden color, very little head and fades quickly.

Has a slight citrus smell but is dominated by grassy hops, not pleasant smelling hops either.

Taste is much better than the smell department. Beer is very light and the citrus notes are more prevalent. Initially sweet but fades into a nice crispness with a hop follow-up. Perfect amount of carbonation to complement the balance between the sweetness and the hops.

22oz bomber from Lou's. Amber-yellow body with a half inch of white head that dissipates rather quickly. Smells caramel malty with hints of hops and diacetyl. Tastes like caramel malt with a good balance of hops (English I think) and just a hint of citrus. Flavor is a bit lighter than expected, but rather pleasing. Lighter mouthfeel makes this a very drinkable and refreshing beer. Not what I'd expect from an APA, but a really good beer IMO, and at 2.29$, for a bomber, it's a great deal!

Poured a slightly murky, warm, golden amber hue with lots of carbonation. A while, 1/4" head of mixed white foam faded slowly and laced subtly. Nose was nice - light, sweet, fruity with apple hints, some mild malts, perhaps a wisp of spice, a crisp, champagne like dryness when cold that faded as it warmed.

Its light, sweet, crisp with some body to it. Mild apple tones sing quickly & fade quickly. This has more body & presence than OPB's Octoberfest. Its even on the tongue, then slowly fades on the throat as the malts and a lite hop presence sing a farewell. Pleasantly surprised.

I would dribk this again. I'm not big on the Pale Ale genre, but this played sweetness vs. some body strength nicely. It went fantastic with some sweet onion soup. I'd recommend it, a nice, crisp ale.

From a bomber bought 3 miles from the brewery.

Pours a pale clear yellowy copper with a thin white head. Smells of hops and crisp pale malt.

Taste is surprisingly balanced and full flavored. Sweet pale malt balanced nicely with the hops. Good flavors that don't get in each others way. Crisp mouth.

Really well done and tasty. Good summer session brew. Seek it out ye Mainers...

Presentation: 12 oz brown long neck bottle with a plain gold cap, no freshness date to be found.

Appearance: Pale weathered straw colour, a bright glowing beer with a very mild touch of chill haze. Foamy three fingered white head dropped down to a thin bubbly lace after a few minutes.

Smell: Light whiff of fresh cut hay with the sweetness of malt and fruitiness which leaves a vague candied fruit nose.

Taste: Light in body with a quick initial burst of malt sweetness that is gone in a flash, more smooth than crisp with a growing graininess. Twang of the grain nearly puckers the mouth and extends a refreshing dryness. Hops get a free ride from the carbonation to leave a slightly prickly bitterness and seem to complement the grainy finish. Towards the end the flavour does go a tad overboard with the huskiness but not to the point where this beer would be undrinkable.

Notes: This is the trend of the past few summers that seems to be growing, light beers. Not a bad brew, it has too get damn hot for me to want this beer again.