Cream Ale
Good Mood Brewery

This one pours a golden pale yellow color, with a small head, and lots of lacing.

This smells like earthy hops, doughy malts, and some light caramel.

I love seeing a pretty much Western NY style out in Alberta. This is pretty good as the style goes, with a nice lightly sweet maltiness, some doughiness and caramel, and just a hint of slightly dirty but earthy hop character. I’d want a cleaner hop character but this is overall solid.

This is light bodied, slightly creamy, and very drinkable.

This gets the job done in a un-fussy way.

 

A - Good Mood Creanm is pale, clear and the color of ripe hay. It throws a rocky, bone white head with decent retention.

S - At first blush, this reminds me of so many other lager styles of beer. Bready, biscuity malts up front lead into something reminding me of soda crackers. From there it leads smoothly, straight into subtle hop aromas, sort of earthy and gently peppery. Very pleasant nose, but one that doesn't stand out from so many other beers |I've had.

T - Flavor-wise, Good Mood Cream Ale is smooth, crisp, clean with no adjunct or other undesirable flavors. Center has a quality that reminds me of bread, fresh out of the oven....kind of yeasty and subtly wheaty. From there, it leads into a dry finish with almost just the right amount of staying power, before fading away.

Overall, not bad. the flavors are slightly better than the nose led me to expect. The flavors were clean, bright, even desirable. But in the end, the dryness was just a little more lasting than I would have wanted in this beer.

 

 

About to try a 2018 award winning Cream Ale from an only two month old brewery at the time of this review!

A- Crystal clear appearance with a slightly off white looking head that starts off about two fingers in thickness, before settling gently into a medium puffy cloud like topper to the golden colored liquid underneath. The carbonation seems to be quite aggressive in nature, with many columns of large bubbly goodness rising to the top quite rapidly....I think this is alright for the style......the lacing is impressive, with a solid half inch line of thick film clinging to the inside of my glass and a solid patchwork as I drink this down as well!

S- A couple of distinct aromas come to mind......one, as the brewery suggests, there is a subtle spice about it....somewhat of peppercorn to be precise. The second is a fairly strong malt scent, and after these, there are complimentary smells of grass, dry barley kernels and a finish that is of mild wild flower floral notes alongside hints of hop bitterness.

T- Heavy cereal sweetness is probably the dominant flavor happening....definitely more than a standard lager, as it should be, with some dry grassy/grainy Earth, hints of floral petals, a yeasty profile throughout and a finish that is clean, yet lingers somewhat on the palate after the swallow.....and just the right amount of hops used. A well balanced and flavorful Ale!

M/O- The carbonation is heavy, yet subtle at the same time....I guess one could say that the bubbles are fine and fizz on the palate in eloquent fashion. The body is medium and the alcohol is not really noticed. I think this would pair well with a BBQ steak dinner on a warm Summer evening, as it does a wonderful job in cleansing the palate with its' crispness, yet could compliment the boldness of a charred meat I think this is definitely worthy of the Bronze it won at the Canadian International Beer Awards.....does a fine job and anyone looking for a more robust 'lager' style brew should give this a try! Looking forward to more tasty treats from this little brewery in future visits to Calgary!

355ml can - why do most new breweries around here insist on releasing something like this at the outset?

This beer pours a clear, medium golden yellow colour, with three chubby fingers of puffy, loosely foamy, and bubbly off-white head, which leaves some random splattered lace around the glass as it lazily sinks out of sight.

It smells of grainy and bready cereal malt, a touch of buttered toast, some muddled pome fruitiness, ephemeral yeast, and very plain earthy, musty, and floral green hop bitters. The taste is bready and doughy caramel malt, saltine crackers, still rather hard to differentiate domestic fruity notes, a bit of free-range diacetyl, and more understated leafy, weedy, and musk y floral hoppiness.

The carbonation is fairly timid in its been there, done that frothiness, the body a solid middleweight, and not particularly smooth, as an uncertain acridity takes hold right after takeoff here. It finishes trending dry, that rising acerbity really gnawing into the lingering experience.

Overall - this 'style' seems too ill-defined, that even when I come across something as weakly made as this, I feel the need to make a connection. Nope, both are bad ideas, with the difference being that the latter is still 'resonating' on my various palates. Not a thing that can validate its own existence, let's put it that way.