North Coast COOP Organic Whale Tale Ale
Mad River Brewing Company

I originally purchased and tasted this on 12/26/06. From a 12 oz bottle. This is sold under the label of our local North Coast COOP. I am familiar with everything Mad River brews and this seems very different. However it was not up to their usual high standards . The color was kind of like Corona, a very clear yellow, it smelled kind of skunky. Mouthfeel was a bit fizzy, and flavor just seemed a little “off”. There are malts and hops there for sure, but nothing remarkable. This is a brewery known for some really good brews so I am not sure what happened here. I wondered if I had gotten a bad batch? I am contacting the brewery and it will be interesting to see what they have to say for themselves. Follow-up. I did talk to the brewery. This was brewed to the specifications of the COOP. Also it was brewed last summer for the grand opening of their new store. However the beer was stored refrigerated so that eliminated that variable. So they gave me another six-pack. New taste test coming up. Stay tuned. New taste test. No change, Score was an average of 2.5. New taste test on: April 26, 2007. This was from a double blind tasting and included both the original batch and this, which I will call batch 2, which the brewer claims is improved. It was indeed quite different, and this time it poured a cloudy yellow with a small head and a bit of lacing. It has a better nose with additional floral hops. My brother and I carefully compared this to the original batch. The appearance is much better along with the improved nose, and the mouthfeel and flavor are slightly better. So I need to raise the ratings for, appearance, aroma and slightly for flavor and palate. This new brew is now just flat average, but not bad, and is now the beer of choice for my former Bud drinking son-in-law.