Pale Ale
Marietta Brewing Company

 

 

 

Was down in S. Ohio over the weekend and had to try this place. We got in around noon on a Friday. The building is one of many old, nostalgic, brick buildings lining Front St. in downtown Marietta.

I'm a big pale ale fan so I had to try this one first. Their APA is 6.6% ABV with 68 IBU. Taken from the tap:

Look: About 1/4" of head on top of a slightly hazy, tan beer. The cream-colored foam stays around for quite a while, eventually dissipating to patches on the top. Nice lacing on top of glass after foam resides.

Smell: Not overwhelming, but aromatic. I could smell the cascade hops but also the burnt malt.

Taste: I was pleasantly surprised. Not overly hopped but finely balanced. I think a lot of the smaller micros have a tendency to overly hop particularly their IPAs. This stuff had the balance of one of the bigger micros. The hops were up front but not overwhelming, just a simple smell and taste of cascade hops that were then balanced by a sweet malt flavor.

Mouthfeel: Perfectly carbonated.

Drinkability: Fantastic session beer. I stopped back 2 days later to get more.

One of my all time favorites is GL Burning River and I have to say this brew was as good or better. This is simply fantastic beer with great taste and balance. Something you would want on a regular basis.

drank on tap at MBC on 7.3.08

very light and clear color, golden yellow with some hints of orange. crispy smell, light hop aroma peeking through, but not much else there. almost a sweet taste, good hop bite at first, but dissipates pretty quickly. good full mouth spread of flavor, hop is all up front. this is probably one of the better beers at MBC.

Beer was a medium straw in color with a fair head and some lacing later observed.
Interestingly enough, this beer wasnt really clear as expected. It had a slight haze to ot. Cloudy.
Smell was pretty good, with a intermingling of Cascade hops, pale and caramel malts.
Taste was decent, had an odd "off" taste at the initial drink, but in the middle and end it was good. Nice mouthfeel, maltiness and a good snap of hop.
Not bad.

On-tap at Casa Nueva in Athens. Pours a cloudy copper color with a thin one-finger white head, the retention isn't great; no lacing.

The aroma is malty and hoppy, some caramel, lemon zest, and herbal notes. The flavor is robust, plenty of the cascade hops, yet well balanced. The mouth is medium-bodied, rather complex, a slight creaminess counteracting the strong hops, with a nice dry finish, not overly bitter. Very drinkable. A nice American IPA indeed.

Presentation: On tap at the brewery, poured into a pint glass.

Appearance: A nice copper color with about a finger of head.

Aroma: Mmmm... hops. Wonderful citrusy aroma of Cascade hops with a hint of caramel.

Taste and Mouthfeel: I love how the malt comes through in this. The sweetness and caramel flavor is still quite evident behind the prominent hop flavors. It's quite well balanced for an IPA, and oh so drinkable.

Notes: I was amazed at the drinkability of this beer. It totally satisfied my craving for hop flavor and aroma, while at the same time allowed me to enjoy my barbeque pulled pork sandwich. I'll be going back for more of this.

I love the hoppy beers, but too often they are a little overbearing to be a session beer. This one is not. The cascade hops have an obvious presence but not so much that it overpowers your dinner or other beverages. I can see myself drinking several of these over the course of an evening.

Appears copper hued with an off white cream toned head leaves nice even lacing around my pint. Aromatics here contain a nice dose of cascade with the citrus and floral combo and a somewhat pronounced malt layer. Taste has a nice hop flavor some grapefruit tones with a sweet balancing malt backbone that is hard to characterize a bit of a biscuit character to it. Mouthfeel is medium bodied evenly carbonated with a slight oily texture. Drinkability is quite refreshing offers a decent hop profile and remains very drinkable not too agressive pretty tame straight up IPA.