Coyote Pale Ale
The Tin Whistle Brewing Company

650ml bottle - this one seems to have been brought out of retirement, at least on this side of the Continental Divide.

This beer pours a slightly hazy, pale golden yellow colour, with one skinny-ass finger of wanly puffy, finely foamy, and mildly bubbly chalky white head, which leaves some low-lying Ogopogo profile lace in places around the glass as things quickly blow off.

It smells of semi-sweet, grainy pale malt, a bit of wet cardboard, subtle acetone notes, and a very weak leafy, earthy, and dead grassy hoppiness. The taste is more bready, doughy pale malt, a still hard to ignore cardboard packaging thing, butter that's been sitting on the counter for too long, and bleary earthy, leafy, and weedy hops.

The carbonation is quite understated in its banal and hard to detect frothiness, the body a so-so middleweight, and not particularly smooth, as that pithy wet paper character just doesn't engender such perceptions and/or accolades. It finishes off-dry, the gritty, grainy malt still hindered by that now well overstaying musty cardboard 'character'.

I'm not saying that this one is off, but it's not exactly 'on', either. Lots of decent maltiness underscores this attempt at subverting my impression that this style just sucks as a whole - however, a more than slight brewing fuck-up seems too big for its britches here, sad to say.

 

 

Another Tin Whistle brew here newly arrived in Alberta from Penticton. This 650ml bottle sports a big tan label detailing the history of the brewery name and tells nothing about the beer or its style except calling it "Coyote Ale." The glass shows off a dull honey-coloured beer, quite light and extremely clear. A decent white foam that left little islands of lace. Seemed a little patchy, but my glass was a bit watery. A superbly balanced blend of wood-tinged spicy hoppiness and light caramel bread notes hits the nose above the rim. The hops edge out the malts just barely, creating an adequate "hit" for the h-heads. The malt is quite sweet on this beer too though, so that when it appears alongside the hops it gives some very strong butterscotch and raisins or even Irish Cream aromas. Very creamy in fact. In fact, the more the beer warms, the more the hop edge lessens and the toffee malt comes out giving candy, mollasses, and maple. Giving the beer a light swirl seems to release more of the hopping. All in all, a very balanced and extremely appetising nose on this beer. The beer's taste does not quite fulfil the aroma. Good malting and a hint of the hops up front, but in the middle and finish the beer loses any attempt at body and seems to drift out to a corn-sweetish aftertaste with hardly any carbonation. The dryness is very poor next to the oily sugary feeling. No hop bite. The malts seem a little weak, and somehow, even though there are no off-putting tastes from the hops and sweet malt, the mixture just not "work" somehow. Some flavours of vanilla, wafer, honey, and brown sugar. Very low carbonation here, with medium body. Definitely quaffable though. This will be a perfect pale ale for the summer time. It does not quite match the qualities of some other BC pale ales though. Still, wonderful beer, worthy of my money.

From a 650 ml brown bottle, the usual Tin Whistle motif for the label. A light crystal clear amber in appearance, small frothy white head, with slow carbonation. Toasted caramel malt with a sweet and herbally addition of honey, and mild grassy hops. The malt smells almost carmelized. Very laid back but inviting. The flavour seems a bit subdued, but it all seems to be there. Once again toasted, almost carmelized malt, some honey sweetness, and mild grassy hops on the finish. Just a bit too watery to provide the flavour with the backbone that it deserves. The mouthfeel, although it carries the illusion of a watery flavour, does have a bit of backbone to it, with some fullness that carries this pale ale. The pieces are all there for this ale, it just requires some more ooomph! Easily a session ale for those who don't want to be too overwhelmed by flavour, but want to settle in with a pale ale over a lager all the same.

This is the palest pale ale I have had in awhile but the colour does not mean that this is not full of flavour. There is a nice hoppy nose with an almost Belgian odour. The beer is decently hopped with nice rounded edges and good balance. I found this very drinkable with a nod to complexity.