Old Nate's Pale Ale
Rohrbach Brewing Company (Brewpub)

 

From notes

Poured a light amber, very slight haze, with a dense white head that left a decent amount of lacing on the glass. Aroma is kind of hard to find. A touch of biscuit and grains, a little bit of pine and grass. Same with the taste, there's not really much here to talk about. Smooth carbonation. I don't know about this one. It seems kind of bland all over to me. Nothing offensive about it, but nothing that captures me either.

Old Nate's Pale Ale is a slightly hazy red brown ale with a thin, dense, bubbly, light khaki head that leaves very nice lacing on the glass. It has a resiny aroma. There is piny hop oil and grains in the nose. It's pretty full bodied, soft and very smooth. It's almost flat (it's from a cask). The finish is clean and slick. It has a full, well balanced flavor. It pretty much tastes like the aroma. Pine resin is the biggest flavor, along with some almost-sweet malt, caramel and some toastiness. It's very flavorful and it goes down very smoothly.

Review from January 2009:
Old Nate's Pale Ale is a slightly cloudy light amber ale with a small white head that dissipates quickly. It has a slightly sweet aroma with a slight diacytl note. The hops are citrusy and floral in the nose and there is a hint of tea. It is light, maybe medium-light, bodied and bubbly on the tongue. The finish is light and dry. The malt flavor is deep, dry and resiny. There are notes of peat and possibly smoke. Then, the finish has a citrus slap of grapefruit. The flvors of the malt and hops are nice on their own, but juxtaposed, they seem a bit at odds with each other. I think this is just about the last available growler of this beer.

The appearance is amber red, glassy clear enough to watch TV through. Flat-topped white Italian Ice head. Looks more amber than pale. Thick curtain of icy lace.

The aroma is crystalline pale malts, but also a toasted, bitter amber-style malt. Also an estery, flowery, slightly woody hop. Good.

The taste is bitter malt that is of the amber variety, but with a nice flowery hop to balance. Lots of pale, bitter hops on the back end after it's warmed up.

The feel is bubbly and creamy. It's a solid brew overall. Very interesting with dual properties of a pale hop and amber malts.

Had at the Tap and Mallet on cask. The beer seems well suited for being served from a cask- a little more watery and undercarbonated than having it on draft but it has a strong bittering addition and otherwise silky mouthfeel and good hop flavor that pulls through.

Appearance- It is a dark gold /brass color with a small head but it had good lace and both have some staying power.

Smell- It has a little bit of a bitter aroma.

Taste- The hops are what do it for this beer there is a distinctive blend of hop. This beer is floral and fruity but at he same time mildly sweet.

Mouthfeel- Light bodied.

Drinkability- A nice anytime beer it is very refreshing.

Being the Rohrbachs regular that I am, I feel bad doing this but I need to share a dirty little secret. Old Nate's is just another name for X-ale or visa versa for that matter. Maybe a very slight difference in the process but for the most part it is X-ale with a different label on it so that it appears unique to another establishment when distributed on tap. But what the hell, a pretty good ale at the least and I recommend trying it mixed with the scotch ale. (It's better than it sounds)

I could drink about 5 gallons of this stuff and since it wasn't a very high alcohol beer I think I could. Poured a nice amber color with a nice thin white head and eventual ring of lacing as all good pales and bitters should have. Smell was not very hoppy and leaned more in the direction of sweetness with notes of mango and mandarin oranges. The taste was also relatively sweet with a little drier feel of apples and just enough bitterness imparted from the hops in the finish to make this a perfect beer to order from the bar and chat over.