Earl Pale Ale
BNA Brewing Co.

 

 

Appearance: Murky raw sienna (almost sewage backup water colour) which I guess is what a lightly steeped tea might look like as well. It comes packaged with a rather course chunky head that never really materializes into anything significant. Some residuals do like to loiter about the ring at the edge

Aromatics: Aromas are weak, but you definitely get the pale malts and earl grey tea, some green leaf and hinted at pine.

Taste: In small sips you actually get a lot of the tea sensibilities the hops bitter actually pairing very nicely with the tea herbs. Definitely borders on a complex combination of flavours, the tea and hops coming together with added essences of lemon peel and subtle nutmeg/herbed spice together with a ramping bitter that starts out fairly mild with the earl grey tea staring the party and slowly creeps up the bitterness scale into the hops, and as the other flavours fall away, the stronger hops flavours linger about the finish.

Feel: Very refreshing, and medium weight. Carbonation is light, and though the finish is relatively clean and dry it tends to leave behind an herb silt as the bitters sit about the palate idly chatting about local town gossip over their own tea and crumpets.

Overall: I really like the flavour mix of tea and hops. It is unique to me, and has me wondering what some others that have forayed into a tea concoction taste like. I’ve only found a few in BA, but I think I just may have found a new flavour groove to research. It has a nice gentle flavour that builds, and served very cold it is highly refreshing. A great summer brew to challenge those iced tea drinkers.

Pairing : Being a tea inspired beer, and the fact it would be a great patio drink I have to go with lightly salted butter and strawberry jam on tea biscuits or scones (or crumpets lol). This is a refreshing brew and I feel shouldn’t be complicated with to much flavour else you will lose the greatness of the tea in the muddling. Just a light afternoon snack, finger sandwiches or just a few cookies. Try out something sweet and/or savoury but try something out of the ordinary. And a quick peek at what’s happening on Coronation Street might be a delight as well ;)

Copper coloured pour, white, frothy, lacey head. Aroma is piney, earthy, bergamot. Flavour leads with assertive bitterness, piney mid palate and tea tannins in the back end. Feel is resiny, slightly tea astringent and lingering bitterness. Overall a well crafted, balanced brew that is sessionable