Good Company Pale Ale
Calvert Beer Company

Initial taste isn’t bad but like so many MD brewed Pale Ales and IPA’s the finish has a strong yeast or bready taste

I got a late start on NBS (Week 774) & I did not finish up my DelMarVa (+ DC) adventure as planned. 8=( Further, I promised that NBS (Week 775) & now, Week 776, would be dedicated to the wonderful beers sent to me by @jkblr who seems to have a real handle on my drinking habits. CANsparency is key in these things! As a result, I am going to CANcentrate over the next few days on eradicating everything that would have CANbined to form the finale of the DelMarVa (+ DC) adventure. Sit down, strap in & hang on. It's gonna be a wild ride! That last one kind of put me off of Maryland, at least for the moment, so it's time to visit some of the other victims, I mean, honorees. I'd like to give a shout-out to my local, in-person beer trader, @tone77 who dropped this CAN off for me a while back.


From the CAN: "Building a Better Beer (tm)"; "Drink Fresh, Store Cool."; "The use of the image of the Maryland State flag is not an endorsement of this product by the state of Maryland"; "Calvert Brewing Company beer is carefully hand crafted[,] often unfiltered, and always delicious."; "With its notes of citrus, hints of dry earthy flavors, and crisp clean finish, this beer has all of the hop flavor without the pulsating palate punch."; "42 IBUs".

I Crack!ed open the vent & beCAN a slow, gentle C-Line Glug into the awaiting glass. I was surprised by the quick formation of two-plus fingers of dense, foamy, rocky, tawny head with very good retention, slowly slipping away to leave a load of sticky lacing behind. Color was a faintly-hazy Amber (SRM = > 7, < 9). Nose was piney hops & caramel malt, but not in any kind of great quantity. Hmm. Mouthfeel was medium. The taste was mildly hoppy, still piney, but with a light presence of grapefruit bitterness, offset by a light caramel sweetness. Finish was semi-dry & pleasant enough. My bugaboo here was that it was nowhere near an SNPA, which is the standard-bearer for the style. It kind of struck me as a pale (no pun really intended) imitation of an SNPA. Oh well. YMMV.

Poured from a can into a pint glass. Pours yellow orange with a fluffy white head. Smells of sweet grain and earthy hops. Tastes of sweet grain and citrus and earthy hops. Beer is light bodied and easy drinking with good carbonation. Overall, a good beer.

Pours a very dark amber from the can, with a thin creamy head. Taste is very smooth with carmel sweetness, and just a bit of bitter citrus flavor coming through. Overall a light taste for a 6% pale ale. As the name promises, this is a very drinkable pale ale with nothing too exciting but also with no discernible downsides.

 

 

 

Did I drink the same thing as everyone else rating this? Because what I had was the worst pale ale I've ever tasted, and one of the worst beers of any style I've had. I bought a six pack of this, excited to try it. It had nasty sour fruit taste like orange juice that's been sitting in the fridge for way too long, and a soggy hoppy taste that reminded me of a moldy bathroom. Who knows, maybe I just got a bad batch, but for how pricey a 6 pack was, I don't think I'll be trying it again anytime soon.

Poured from a 12 oz. can. Has a golden/orange color with a 1 inch head. Smell is of citrus, malts. Taste is big citrus, lots of oranges, some grapefruit, malts are present but in the background, mild bitterness. Feels medium bodied in the mouth and overall is a refreshing beer.

 

12 oz can, no date

Hazy golden yellow, foamy white head. Good head retention. Fruity citrus hop aroma. Taste has a bit of that hop flavor, then some caramel malt. Medium bodied.

 

 

 

 

 

Poured from the can into a nonic pint glass. No obvious dating from what I can see.

Cloudy out of the can, an orange muted yellow and a very unfiltered looking like body. Fluffy topped white head, two fingers, with a level top and swiss cheese like fine bubbles. Excess pouring really muddies it up. Hits the body so fine it looks like there are whaffs of smoke from the excess trub. Go big or go home, or perhaps just go to New England (wink wink).

Man and with that big trub and excess there is definitely aroma to be had. Thick rich oils of citrus orange hop quality, hints at a real nice tangerine sweetness too. Really big dominant Christmas orange on this sucker, with a simple malt backbone. Boy this is delicious smelling but does hint towards IPA territory.

Palate takes much of that juiced up hop angle nicely. Big whaffing orange and light bodied, slightly hinting at wet and forgoing much malt distinction. Manages to be a supportive palate, but the hops shine on this one, particularly real well on the citrus angle. Oily finish which goes for hop flavors of citrus and zest, some of that brings out a good pine bitterness too.

So there you have it. A hop forward IPA, but not quite New England (snicker Cough), but nearly hazy enough to be one? Is this the new Maryland style now? In the end it's just like another solid hoppy pale ale, so we will leave it at that.