Branch Bridge
Honest Weight Artisan Beer

 

16 oz can into a tulip glass.

Pours a hazy orange straw color with a huge, soapy white head. The head has very good retention, leaving a fair bit of splotchy lacing before settling into a thin sheet.

The aroma is citrusy upfront, bringing notes of lemon zest, tangerines, and grapefruit. There's some more subtle tropical notes, namely pineapple and mango, followed by some spicy notes and pine needles. Extremely pungent for a pale ale.

The flavor brings a ton of pine up front with a good amount of evergreen mint. Then comes the citrus grenade; oranges, tangerines, lemon drop candy and grapefruit. There's a touch of pineapple and melon before a rindy, bitter finish. Plenty of doughy malt hanging in the back. Such a unique flavor.

The feel is medium bodied with moderate carbonation. Creamy, almost chewy. Drinks far heavier than it should thanks to the oats (this is a good thing). Sharp lingering bitterness.

Ok WHERE did this beer come from? This is legit one of the best pale ales I've ever had. It has so much flavor and aroma that you'd think you're drinking a DIPA. The feel supports that with its subtle heaviness. It's full of sweeter fruit flavors but has plenty of piney notes backed up by a solid doughy malt character. All that said, date your cans, Honest Weight. It's almost 2021. There's no excuse for that.

Pours a hazy golden, maybe more a yellow orange than other hazy pale ales. Some candied fruit on the nose, maybe a little dried mango. This is nice balance between tropical and woodsy. There's some ripe pineapple up front that gives way to rindy citrus zest and some drying pineyness. If I had Branch Bridge available regularly to me, it would be one of my go-to pale ales.

From a 16oz can, undated - why is it undated? I hadn’t noticed, but I won’t buy your cans again without a date-stamp. Anyway, served in a cervoise, because I fancy.

Pours an opaque, cheerful sunshiney orange-gold with two fingers of short-lived foam. Retention on the order of under 30 seconds but leaves a nice thick curtain of creamy lacing.

Aroma is sharp, bright and clean, fruity, citrus rinds.

Taste is pine-forward on a smooth, bready malt base. Orange, orange rind, pine tips and sap, and lots of underripe pineapple. Finishes fast and clean with a piney tingle all over my tongue.

Feel is smooth and creamy-doughy but with bright, prickly carbonation. Very satisfying mouthfeel.

Overall, a very nice... pale ale? Not an IPA? OK, whatever. Label reads mosaic, centennial and chinook but I would have pegged this as single-hopped chinook all day long.

NO can date, and mosaic, so let's see how this one is
pours a large foamy 1+ finger head with great retention, never seems to fade, sticky whispy lacing, very hazy cloudy pale golden orange color

Nose brings citrus up front, light tangerine like citrus, faint grapefruit, and some tropical notes like mango and papaya maybe, a creamy-like flaked oats character and doughy malt notes,

Taste starts with lots of creamy oats and flaked malts, suspended proteins and doughy cereal, very thick suspended proteins like soggy cereal almost chewy like, fair hops, grapefruit up front, into tangerine zest, a little pithy, light tropical notes in the background, some mango rind on the back end, med bitterness up front increasing a bit on the drier finish, lingering slight spicy "green" hops that need to fall out maybe

Mouth is med bod but creamy chewy like from all the oats, med foamy carb

Overall not bad, not quite a style I'm much of a fan of anymore, but this delivers what it promises, and maybe more so given the level of chewy oats, and mosaic doesn't kill everything, I think Centennial comes out the most up front then Chinook on the back end

 

 

 

 

Very cloudy with an orange-green hued dirty gold. Good two finger starting head which leaves ring lace after each sip.

Prickly evergreen and grapefruit nose.

The taste is a bit more mellow with a decent pale malt base. The hop is the strongest element but it's not nearly as biting as the smell suggests. Full bodied; moderate to low carbonation. Overall, a hoppy leaning pale ale.

 

 

 

An 'unfiltered American Oat Pale' poured from a brewery-fresh growler into an Honest Weight pint glass. Cloudy, aromatic, delicious. Hoppy and chewy - perhaps the oats give this brew some of its great balance and mouthfeel. An excellent session beer at around 5%.

 

Had at the Worthy Brewfest in Springfield. The beer had a clear orange appearance with a decent load of citrus hops coming from the aromas. The taste followed the nose with a good hop characteristic that was well balanced. The carbonation was decent, which worked well for the well balanced hop flavor to this beer. Overall, not bad at all.

Growler fill from a nearly kicked keg; consumed four days later. Probably not ideal conditions but it still tasted great; I didn't come all that way only to be denied. Yellow gold with a bit of murkiness. Smooth, lightly malted body serves up the citrus and floral notes. Melon, orange rind and some grapefruit flavors followed by a yeast/oat smoothness.

 

Served on draft @ Foundry in Northampton. This ale presented a slightly orange hue, mostly clear with a two finger head. Strong smell of citrus with a flavor that followed through with much citrusy hop action. More hoppy than many "American" pale ales and more hoppy than the IPA I tried immediately after. The malt backbone was enough to stand up to the bitterness. I enjoyed this with a cheese plate (cheddar, blue, and manchego) and a smoked beef brisket sandwich. I'll definitely have this one again.