Crate Pale Ale
Crate Brewery

 

 

between this, their golden, their ipa, and their session, there are a whole lot of similarities, and even in a near side by side lineup, many of the failed to distinguish themselves, and the more we drank here, the more we all kind of thought the beers ran together a little bit, and nowhere was this more true than with this pale ale, which is objectively pretty decent, but a little less compelling than the others, or more easy to lose in the shuffle, whatever. a fine beer, some of the mouthful of pennies complexion i got in the others is maybe a little stronger here, and there is less flavor then bitterness to the hops, but the malt and yeast, much as they are in the others, are classically english, somewhat subdued, and balance the hops well. this is the opposite end of the spectrum from the piney and high alpha northwestern pales most american palates have gotten used to, but its still somehow modern, pale in color, drier for the style as an english one, and mellow on the yeast side. by itself it might be a little more distinctive, but next to the others they make in here on the low alcohol, hop driven, and drinkable side, this one did not stand out in the least...

L- [This beer smells loudly, but I'll get there next!] Pale amber, very cloudy indeed. Pours with medium white head that's holding up pretty well.
S- Distinctly fruity, citrus.
T- Grapefruit, sour but aromatic at the same time. Hard to much of anything beer-like from this as the sourness dominates.
F- Dry, sour, seems to lack dimensions to me.
O- It's not THAT sour like some others fashionable new beers I've had recently, but I prefer my beer to taste of beer rather than squeezed fruit juice.
Bought today from a Tesco in west London

canned in a crafty craft can
pours a slightly hazy wheat coloured body with big foaming white head
big candy grapefruit aroma
good solid hoppy pale ale