Goat Candy
Five Dollar Ranch Brewing Company

Poured into a Seattle Beer Week pint glass. Pours a quite hazy, medium golden amber with a two finger white head with great retention and solid lacing. Aroma of pale malt and citrus hops, orange and mixed stone fruit. Flavor is pale malt, citrus and dank hops, vague mixed fruit with some grapefruit and orange citrus more forward; very modest bitterness. Medium bodied with moderate creaminess with a great mouth feel that I would expect from an ale brewed with oats, which are not mentioned by the brewery. A few ales came to our area and to be fair, I skipped the hazy IPA which would disappoint me if it wasn't bitter enough, so tried the pale ale. Probably a good decision, but the bitterness is quite low in this, which is too bad because I quite liked the hop bill. The herbal flavors are bit muddled, but appealing and leaning to the West/Northwest style I prefer plus some good dankness. I liked this enough that I may dip my toes into the hazy ale world again and check our some hazy pale ales. My bitterness expectations can be lowered leading to more satisfaction. This definitely did not have the left-overnight fruit juice finish that many hazies have for my taste, which makes it a winner. I’m looking forward to trying the next non-hazy that I find from this brewery.

lightly hazy and brightly hoppy, they are listing this one as an extra pale ale in here, very flavorful and drinkable at the same time, this little style wrinkle has fallen out of vogue, but i still dig it. creamy headed from the tap, softly cloudy, not overly light in tone, but not malty looking either in the traditional sense. the aroma is bright and grassy, the hops really pop in here, good and fresh with some spiciness too, cool for the fall, its brisk right away. the ferment smells and tastes clean, they have that aspect down in here it seems, everything was quite tidy and professionally done on this side. the malt here adds some body, has some earthy rawness to it, shows a wheaty or even oaty texture, a protein feel, but effervescent carbonation pushes right through it. the hops define it, slightly noble up front, more piney and northwestern on the back end, light resin and even citrus candy character too as it warms, bitter as pales go but i like that, fast finishing and flush feeling, creamy even. i like everything about this, and left here real impressed overall. this is the session choice for me, lower alcohol and beautifully proportioned. nice!

edit: liked this every bit as much the second time around, and it remains one of, if not their very best beers. well regarded for a reason, they have this one dialed in! great hop complexion, flavorful but still light, yum.