Aberdeen Pale Ale
Medicine Hat Brewing Company

 

355ml can. Ok, so this has nothing to do with Scotland, and is a weak ode to the titular street in Medicine Hat, which also has nothing to do with the west coast American hoppiness inferred here.

This beer pours a clear, bright medium copper amber colour, with four fingers of puffy, rocky, and bubbly off-white head, which leaves some decent sudsy island chain lace around the glass as it lazily recedes.

It smells of grainy and biscuity caramel malt, muddled domestic citrus peel, a hint of indistinct earthy spiciness, and some plain leafy, weedy, and piney green hop bitters. The taste is bready and doughy caramel malt, some still hard to differentiate generic citrus rind, a hint of phenolic yeastiness, weak dirty spicy notes, and more understated weedy, herbal, and dead grassy verdant hoppiness.

The carbonation is fairly adequate in its solid-state frothiness, the body a so-so middleweight, and mostly smooth, with a wee airy creaminess kind of waiting to exhale, as it were. It finishes off-dry, the biscuity malt holding court over all who might otherwise give a shit.

Overall, this is certainly a respectable enough Yankee-style pale ale, filtered through a local, self-referential marketing measure. Once brought 'round to what it really is, I can say that they've done a solid job here in producing a hoppy brew to enjoy for we Albertans who revel in such things.