Spanish Peaks Yellowstone Pale Ale
Spanish Peaks Brewing Co.

 

 

 

 

A pretty average Pale ale. It has a few flaws, but no serious problems. It gets lost in the shuffle with other great Pale Ales out there. The malts and the hops are too separate. They never quite meld well. The malts are a little big for an American Pale Ale. Though there are hop bitterness, flavor, and aroma, all are a bit too subdued. American hop spiciness never really shows up and leaves the beer a bit less than clean. Not as crisp or dry in the hop finish. Nevertheless, no real issues here. A very drinkable beer despite the lack of comming together.

This Pale Ale could easily pass muster as an IPA. Dull copperish amber with a nice fluffy white head and trailing lace. A predominantly floral hop aroma and a hint of malt. The medium malt body is a little grainy without enough sweetness to counter the abundance of sharp bitter, grapefruity hops. Fairly complex. Dry finish. Well Made.

Notes from a trip to S. Dakota and Wyoming May 2001 Purchased at Devils Tower, Wy

Color is a pale orangey brown with a very tine head and lace. Smells very bittersweet and citrusy, pretty strong. Taste is a souring bitter and to much for me, very sharp and strong. This was not my favorite out the samples I bought from this brewery.

Presentation: 12oz brown bottle. No freshness information.

Appearance: Pours a very cloudy orange/amber beer with a thin creamy white lace. There's a hell of a lot of sediment in the bottle -- way too much in my opinion.

Smell: Big citrus, pine, soap, bready, faint caramel.

Taste: Farily light bodied with a dry, coarse initial mouthfeel. Carbonation is tiny, tight and fizzy. Very bitter upfront with a large citrus-like snap and a sharp salty, rind back. Hop flavours are raw and near astringent. Fresh bready malt flavours come forward in an attempt to balance the harsh bitterness with a mild sweetness and splash of caramel, but they fail to balance in the end. Notes of soap. Lots of hop oil and leaf residuals on the palate in the finish and well afterwards in the linger.

Notes: I'm not that impressed with this brew. For starters the amount of sediment in the bottle turned me off, then there's the bitterness which can be quite overwhelming in an unpleasant harsh kind of way. More malt and some filtering could do the trick.

Still worth a try for all of you hopheads out there.

Highly hopped but rather thin. Color slightly paler than amber. Needs a little more malt sweetness. Would give it high drinkability marks because it fades quickly, inviting another sip.

Pretty good pale ale. Not terribly impressive, but good.

Well hopped, but a little harsh.