Drylander
Maritime Pacific Brewing Company

can into glass
Rocky, meringue like, off-white head. Almost completely clear, medium amber, with the slightest hint of an orange hue, for the look. A caramelized, toasted malt, with a little spiced fruitiness, for the aroma. Really full, balanced malt to hop ratio, the malt is a caramelized, medium toasted sort, the hops are a mixed fruit and whiff of pine flavor mixture and a hint of orange peel, quite nice.

 

 

 

 

 

A: Poured a light yellowish gold with good carbonation and a nice white cap

S: Very nice, fruity and floral, smell of fresh hops

T: Wow. This beer has undergone some major tweaks since I last sampled this in 2008. Lots of flavor, light booze, floral and lightly fruity, fresh cirsp hops, clean, little bit of bread and some light grains. Very tasty beer!

M: Light body, clean, crisp and refreshing. Outstanding

O: A must try and killer beer by MaritimeP!

This is the best APA I've had in a long long long time, Fantastic aroma, resiny floral hop forward first impression. It is well attenuated, very little carmel malt the way I like it, clean sweet malty base holds up well to the bittering hop profile, overwhelming hop aroma, nice balance between citrus, piney, earthy, catty, & grassy notes. Quite possibly the best session APA I've ever had.

the brewery website says this is dry hopped with cascade hops, (the flavor is incredibly complex for a single dry hop) and is only 5% ABV I could drink it all night long!

I drank this at Vohn's on my recent trip to Seattle, WOW!

Appearance is a light golden hazy color with a thin head and fair lace. Smell has a good combonation of malt and hops with citrus. Taste has a fair amount of hops with a good malt backbone, slightly piney with citrus. Mouthfeel is medium with good carbonation. A good solid brew if you want your pale ale with a little hop zing.

This one was on tap at the Elk Public House. Served in a pint tumbler.

Pours a deep gold color and is slightly cloudy. Served with a foamy stark white one-inch head. The head is somewhat resilient with nice lacing.

Smell is faint and a little fruity.

Taste is bitter without much else to speak of. It's all about hops. A little malt & citrus flavor along side, but bitter the way to describe this one.

Mouthfeel is crisp and clean.

This is a drinkable brew but not a memorable one.

Lightly hazy rich amber with a heavy blush of orange, topped by a dense three finger cap of ivory foam whose surface displays variously sized bubbles that become fine pits and larger divots when they burst. The best part of the beer's appearance may just be the fine, intricate, filigreed lace that occupies every square inch of the glass that's available to it.

The nose is a true original, at least to me. First of all, it's plenty powerful for a 'mere' APA. I'm sure the Cascade dry-hopping had a fair amount to do with that. Islander Pale smells of citrus fruity, 4C-type hops, yet it smells just as strongly of spicy, floral hops. Sort of an APA-Double Pilsener hybrid. What makes it especially good is that the floral quality is more musky than it is sweet and perfumy.

The flavor profile is a near perfect replica of the nose. This beer is absolutely chock full of hops. Again, white grapefruit and pine blend beautifully with their spicy, noble European counterparts. Unlike the nose, which was supremely balanced between the Old World and the New, the American hops surge ahead on the palate. I love single-hopped pale ales, but the yin and yang evident in this beer is truly a wonderful thing.

There's just a touch of pale malt sweetness to keep the bitterness from getting too carried away. Ultimately though, the resinous hops take over to provide a lovely puckery quality from beginning to end, ushering in an exceptionally clean, dry finish. Diminishing echoes of spicy, bitter grapefruit zest provide pleasure long after the swallow.

I was initially less than impressed with the mouthfeel, since I felt it was too light and too bubbly. It quickly settled down though and is close to APA perfect now that I've downed the first twelve ounces or so. The carbonation results in a sprightly mouthfeel that keeps things hopping; literally. More bubbles mean more hoppy burps, and that is a very good thing.

Maritime Pacific Islander Pale Ale is a tweener, a trans-Atlantic hoppy masterpiece of the brewer's art. I'll stick with my previous impression of an American APA-Double Pilsener hybrid. This is the first beer of that description that I've had and it sets the bar pretty high. Any pretenders to the throne had better bring the trebuchets, because the king will not be easily deposed. Speaking of royalty, much thanks to the venerable RoyalT for the growler. Smashing stuff.

Fresh from a H-G-Growler, courtesy of our dealer ;-) the main hop man Royal T:-) When poured into a pin glass this nectar is a great slightly cloudy/hazy orange colour that is nearly clear. The head of foam is thick, and pure white. It is long-lasting and leaves nice lacing as well. The aromas of this brew are great. Dry-hopped PacNW goodness. Big cascades seem to be in the nose, with maybe some centennials and probably one-eight other kinds of hops as well, who knows! There are also some sweet toffee/caramel notes in the aroma too. Find them. The taste is big with a big malt backbone, and an excellent dose of citrusy, fruity, piney hop flavors. Mouthfeel is medium bodied and quafability is exceedingly high. Another winner, in a long line of Seattle-area winners!

Had this on-tap at The Elk for $4. This made the pain of having to listen to annoying yuppies who were trying to score almost worth while. My only complaint is that it's put me in the mind of questioning just why the hell this isn't an IPA.

This was a pleasant shade of orange. Good sized white head, though it vanished somewhat quickly. Fair amount of lace, though not stellar in this regard.

Smell was sharp and citrusy. There was also a mild, malty backdrop to the proceedings, but it was just that, a backdrop to the hops that were stealing the show.

This is the hoppiest thing I've drank in a long while, perhaps since the (sadly) one time I've gotten my hands on a DFH 90 Min. The first (and most memorable) impression was of a very sharp hoppiness, accompanied by a surly maltiness that hovered in the background like a bitter benchwarmer while the team's star talks to fawning reporters. I don't know enough about hops to be able to tell specific varieties, but this seemed rich in them, with both pleasantly citrusy and highly spicy varieties seeming to be on hand. The finish was pleasingly dry as well.

This was a medium bodied ale, and did much to restore my faith in M.P. after the weird experience of their pilsner the other day. Perhaps I was just lucky today. From what I'm reading, this one tends to be rather streaky in quality (as, frankly, Maritime Pacific seems to be in general). I only wish I'd had more in my wallet, as this thing made me hungry, and eats at The Elk are not so cheap to my grad student budget.

Appearance – This one is a clear, heavy orange in color with a big, frothing head that showed great retention. The head left some good lacing, even out of a growler.

Smell – The hop nose here is well done. The floral notes are very leafy, and the big pine screams, “PacNW.” The malts are lightly-toasted with some good caramel notes. Overall this is a very balanced nose.

Taste – The hop profile stays well-balanced at the taste. I can pick up a light citrus to go along with the leafy flavor and pine resin. The malts are a bit grainy but very good. The light sweetness at the finish from the malt is held up with a stiff bitterness from all of the hops.

Mouthfeel – This one is medium-bodied with some good bitterness at the end. It is very well-balanced and feels terrific in the mouth.

Drinkability – This is much better than the cask-conditioned version that I had on-tap back in May. I went through this growler with a big smile on my face.

Comments – This version of their Pale Ale is very “batchy.” That is to say, sometimes it’s really good and other times it’s kind of lame. This is definitely one of the better batches.