American Pale Ale
Ribstone Creek Brewery

 

650ml bottle, #2 in their single-release bomber series. I'm guessing that this one will make that poor ol' stalwart Range Land Pale Ale a wee bit jealous.

This beer pours a slightly hazy, pale golden yellow colour, with two fingers of puffy, rocky, and somewhat fizzy eggshell white head, which leaves some decent alien language script lace around the glass as it quickly evaporates.

It smells of dank pine resin, gritty and grainy cereal malt, a hint of pink bubblegum, muddled domestic citrus rind, a further indistinct tropical fruitiness, and more plain earthy, musty, and floral green hop bitters. The taste is grainy and crackery pale malt, some pineapple-forward exotic fruity notes, a touch of estery yeastiness, fading generic citrus flesh, and some additional leafy, weedy, and musky floral hoppiness.

The carbonation is adequate in its palate-coating frothiness, the body an average medium weight, and generally smooth, with not much really calling for a release of the hounds here, as such. It finishes off-dry, the malt, mixed frooty essences, and fading forest detritus working the lingering crowd.

Overall - yep, this comes across as a well-made version of the style, with lots of robust flavours abounding, which mostly work in tandem to keep everything on the level. Refreshing, easy to put back, all while considering why anyone would pick this exact ABV: 'hey dude, regular is 5%, so how 'bout we kick it up 2 bits, or so?' 'I like the way you think!' End scene.