Side Piece American-Style Pale Ale
Manayunk Brewery and Restaurant

I am indulging The CANQuest (tm) for the next several beers as I have enough for a brewery horizontal and Manayunk is getting its turn. The name may be a very Philly-centric term as I used it in a training class last year & many (most?) said that they had not heard it before. It can also be "Side Jawnt", as in one of my former students, "Side Jawnt Sarah", who was somebody's not-so-secret lover on the side. Get it? A Side Piece is all well & good until one of the involved parties falls out.

From the CAN: "The Place Where We Drink"; "Every brewer has been fascinated and inspired by the classic American Pale Ale. Our Side Piece turns traditional logic on its head and introduces a more complex and surprising brew with thriving pine and citrus notes. Refreshing and bold, Side Piece genuinely shows our brewer's passion for the American Pale Ale."

An unnamed beer writer recently wrote that we on-line reviewers should face up to the idea that our reviews are only for us & there is no audience out there. I beg to disagree & there are a number of you that I especially look to when getting ready to review a beer. One such is NeroFiddled who, in this case, suggests a gentle Glug following the Crack! Thank you for the heads up.

I love hearing the Crack! upon opening a CAN & where I used to be a CANficionado of an inverted Glug, I have come to realize that such is not always the best course of action & so, following my learned CANleague's advice, I went with a very gentle Glug from this 16-fl. oz. pint CAN. Once sufficiently deCANted, an in-glass swirl raised three-plus fingers of dense, rocky, tawny head with decent retention. Color was solid Amber (SRM = > 7, < 9) with NE-quality clarity, so it does help to read up on these things. Nose was citrusy and tropical, but I was not getting pine. Mouthfeel was medium, which was appropriate. The taste was VERY tropical, kind of coconut, with hints of citrus, but still no pine. This CAN't be THAT old & yet it was a VERY different beer than what NeroFiddled described. I got a distinct tropical fruitiness throughout with hints of coconut and a light citrusy bitterness. There was no question that it was an APA, but it was quite different from what I am used to in the style. Finish was semi-dry, not so citrusy as to knock me off of my feet, which would put I in the AIPA range, but not so malty as to be out of the style's spectrum. I am unsure as to the brewer's intentions or if this is what they wanted me to taste, but it was decent.

A: A light tarnished orange has a moderate clarity, with a faint haze. A heavy rush of macro-effervesce fills the vessel. The crowning is the jewel point here, a towering conical shaped structure is dirty dairy in color with large, soapy air pockets lining the vessel along the walls. Retention is exceptional with a slow lapse leaving small soapy deposits behind.

S: Freshly squeezed grapefruit, wet and juicy aroma has a mild and tart citrusy scent. Some green melon fruit, moderately lasting.

T: Flavor was citrusy and tart flavor with a deep toasted grain backing. Lightly dry with a nice level of hoppiness that starts tart and juicy wit a dry hop flower finish. Lemon peel, spicy grapefruit highlights turns increasing dry and bitter on the swallow and hold.

M: Mouthful was fairly light, turning creamy on longer holds. Dry and toasty, bitter.

O: Good casual dry hopped Ipa with some juicy grapefuit movements that you can throw back with good conversation with friends. Solid level of hops, good drink-ability for pub side seating.

 

 

Manayunk Brewing Co. "Side Piece American-style Pale Ale"
16 fl. oz. can without packaging codes or freshness dating
$2 @ Weis Market #231, Conshohocken, PA

Notes via stream of consciousness: Nice label. I'm not sure what "side piece" means but I'll assume it refers to a lover on the side. What's really confusing to me, however, is that they've chosen to call it an "American-style pale ale". If they were not in the United States I'd say that's perfect, absolutely as it should be, but as an American producer it's weird. Moving forward, it opens with a solid crack and pours a two finger thick head of pillowy, slightly off white foam over a hazy (it's unfiltered) golden orange body. Man, that's cloudy. The body looks like a hefeweizen. The head is collapsing before my eyes. It looks like a dollop of whipped cream settling in against bigger bubbled, frothy foam along the rim of sides of the glass. There's some lace but it's not much better than average. Ahhh... uhh... the aroma is quite yeasty, not good in my book. It's yeasty with apples and berries and perhaps a bit of pear as well as some light grapefruit and a whiff of soft pine. There's a bit of sugary, biscuity malt to it, and it has the basic gist of an American pale ale but it seems lacking in the aroma, particularly given the current hoppy state of the nation. The head has held up well though, fantastically in fact. It still has a half-inch solid cap and there are "mountains" of foam rising along the side of the glass. Let's move on... the flavor is thinner than the aroma suggest, and there's more pine to it than citrus or other fruits. It's solidly bitter and it finishes dry and lingering with bitterness and pine. The label reads "Our Side Piece turns traditional logic on its head and introduces a more complex and surprising brew with thriving pine and citrus notes." Who wrote that nonsense? Firstly, it's neither particularly complex, nor surprising, and pine and citrus are common for the style. Of course maybe I just don't understand "traditional logic", whatever that means. Is there a new logic that I've missed? And how do you turn "logic on its head" I don't know - or wait, is that like making a double negative? Because everything about this APA is completely common, and certainly not "complex" or "surprising" except that it's made in America but labeled as and American-style pale ale. Or maybe I'm confused about that too, and German brewers are selling beers labeled as "German-style" in their homeland now as well. OK, rant over, I just get irritated with bombastic, illogical sales type. Medium-light in body and crisp. Average. Unique only in that the yeasty fruitiness stands out over the fruity hops in the aroma. Decent enough but nothing special; and I'd suggest that if you try it you make sure to let it sit in the refrigerator for a while to get the yeast to sediment out and then pour it carefully. If it was just a little less cloudy I'd have given it a better score for appearance.

16 oz can, no date

Golden in color, white head. Aroma is what I think of for American C hops - pine and citrus. Taste is hop dominated, mildly bitter. Medium bodied.

Picked up this local beer at the supermarket. Poured into a pint glass from 16 oz can. Nice thick head and beautiful pine/ grapefruit smell. Taste is even better. Nice citrus notes and very hoppy. I thoroughly enjoyed this beer and hope to pick up more.

16 oz can poured into a shaped IPA glass.

Appearance
Hazy gold with 1 finger of creamy head. Moderate carbonation.

Nose
Grapefruit zest, pine, florals, candy sugar, and peach.

Taste
Grapefruit zest and juice. Pine needles and bright florals. Light notes of peach syrup and candy sugar. Finishes with lingering grapefruit and pine.

Mouthfeel
Medium-bodied, crisp, semi-dry, and lightly bitter.

Overall
Very traditional in flavor with some extra Northeast juiciness.