Archive Ale
Grain Bin Brewing Company

650ml bottle, a collaboration between the brewery and Archive Magazine, a local Grand Prairie print rag.

This beer pours a mostly clear, dark orange-brick brown colour, with four fingers of puffy, finely foamy, and somewhat fizzy tan head, which leaves some smoke signal pattern lace around the glass as it slowly but surely fades away.

It smells of roasted caramel malt, bruised black orchard fruit, some oily nuttiness, a hint of cafe-au-lait, and very tame earthy, leafy, and musty floral noble hop bitters. The taste is gritty and grainy pale malt, a lessened toasty caramel sweetness, damp earthy nuts, dry coffee, a suggestion of ephemeral cocoa powder, and more rather plain leafy, weedy, and floral verdant hoppiness.

The carbonation is quite active in its swirling and prodding frothiness, the body a so-so medium weight, and generally smooth, with just a touch of free-range ashiness maybe not playing ball here, as it were. It finishes trending dry, with the malt bottoming out, and the hops fading in their own manner.

Overall - well this one is certainly an ale, fairly dark, pretty mild, and yes, more or less English in its bearing, so I do believe that they've nailed the style. Nothing complicated, just a laid-back, gently toasted brew that would pair nicely with a dark pub, your drinking buddies, and a round of fish 'n chips, methinks.