Old Jalopy Pale Ale
Powell Street Craft Brewery

Had this beer about 7 years ago as I purchased a bottle & glass from the brewery when were in Vancouver, BC. Had to go because of the name. Good tasting Pale Ale but not real memorable, though at the time it was.

 

OVERALL: An easy drinking pale ale, rooted in English tradition with a west coast flair.

Appearance: Slightly cloudy copper with a foamy, but short lasting head.
Aroma Caramel, raisin, with notes of citrus (orange) and esters.
Taste: A nice balance between old world caramel-y malts and earthy new world hops. Some biscuit, raisin, and floral notes.
Mouthfeel Crisp and dry.
Finish Silky, with a lingering bitterness.

Serving Style 473ml can
Notes: vegan friendly

Hazy copper with a thick soapy but fast disappearing head. What's this? A citrus hop nose. Lovely, but to style? Medium caramel malt body, not too sweet. Satisfying and definitely to style. Great crisp finish makes this an easy-drinking beer.

Cloudy red-brown color. Cannot observe carbonation level. Poured with no head at all and no lacing. There is a thin white circle around the glass.

Very complex mix of malt, more than one type of wood (oak and cedar), and some mint. Swirling the glass kicked up the mint and oak.

This is a very complex mix of malts, wood, tea, and mint. Each mouthful pops up something else to the foreground. Slightly tart. There is a medium-mild bitter level that takes over at the end and lasts into the aftertaste. Some cherries popped up for a brief moment once, never to show up again. Similar with some stone fruit flavors that showed up after it had warmed up a bit.

Light tongue tickling at the start with small bubbles. This grows to a foam of larger bubbles.

It is very easy to see why this won a few silver medals in the Canadian beer awards. Each mouthful surprises me with something new. While it is unusual to smell and taste mint, it does not seem out of place or call attention to itself. Thankfully there is no barnyard smell/flavor like so many other local brews.

 

 

 

 

650ml bottle - nice to see more of this Van City brewer's wares making it over the Continental Divide, and into Alberta.

This beer pours a clear, bright medium copper amber colour, with two fingers of puffy, rocky, and bubbly ecru head, which leaves a few instances of hovering organic alien spaceship lace around the glass as it quickly dissolves.

It smells of bready and biscuity caramel malt, mellow domestic citrus peel, a hint of earthy yeastiness, and some rather laid-back leafy, grassy, and piney green hop bitters. The taste is gritty and grainy pale malt, a lesser biscuity caramel joint, muted orange and white grapefruit rind, some strange earthy woodsiness, and more subtle leafy, weedy, and floral hoppiness.

The carbonation is fairly active in its working-man's frothiness, the body an adequate middleweight, and mostly smooth, just a weird pithy astringency taking a wee tithe out of it all here. It finishes off-dry, just, as the lingering limey malts carry on with a stiff upper lip, and the Yankee hops continue fading into the woodwork.

Overall, this comes across as an attempt to sex-up a boring old English Pale Ale (isn't that what an APA is in the first place?) with some American hop varietals - but not nearly enough of them. Kind of boring, and not really something that I would want another of, even if offered it.

 

Poured from a 650ml bottle.
A: Pours a slightly hazy Orange Amber with a thin white head and some lacing.
S: Some Pine and Citrus and faint floral nose.
T: Crisp and dry with hops in the background.
F: Nice carbonation not heavy or sweet at all.
O: A really nice Pale Ale i bought the last bottle where i live if they get more i will pick up a few more.

 

Serving: On tap at the brewery tasting room, served in a 12 oz tulip glass.

Appearance: Clear, bright amber with a good frothy head of off white foam; leaves nice lace strata.

Smell: Mild grains and caramel.

Taste: Crisp malt body, some cereal, bit of caramel and toasted notes, but little overt sweetness. Hops bring some light pine, citrus and earth. Just enough herbal bitterness for a clean finish.

Mouthfeel: Medium body with crisp carbonation.

Overall: Really tasty and drinkable - a display of balance and restraint. Everything needed is there without needing to shout.

 

Powell St. Brewery 'Old Jalopy Pale Ale' @ 5.5% , first tasted on tap at HOPoxia'13 plus a 650 ml bottle & 473 ml can
A-pour is gold from the tap/bottle/can to a clear dark gold/amber in the glass with a medium size white head leaving a spotty lace along the sampler/pint/tulip
S-faint citrus & pine , mellow malt backbone
T-crisp & clean tasting pub style pale ale with a slight dry finish
MF-ok carbonation , medium body , refreshing & easy drinking
Ov-nice beer , decent pale ale
prost LampertLand

 

 

This poured a translucent golden colour with a white head that quickly disappeared. The nose had some citrus hop and definitely some grainy malt. The taste revealed much of the same but it was very subdued. I was expecting a bit more of a defined flavour based on the nose but it came across as "okay". The body and carbonation was on the medium side even though the beer "finished" quickly. It was good but not spectacular.