Steam Whistle Premium Pale Ale
Steam Whistle Brewery Biergärten and Taproom

 

 

 

 

Clear amber with a thick head and cap. Sweet caramel malt nose. Mild medium malt body, sweet, quite smooth mouthfeel. Quite English to me.

 

I was expecting much but was pleasantly surprised. Solid APA with just enough bitterness to be interesting. Some complex flavours.
Very crushable...

473ml can - wow, I now recall trying to get into this brewery right after a Jays' game about 10 years ago (right?), coming from a beer bar, and not the stadium. So, remember me?

This beer pours a clear, medium bronzed amber colour, with two fingers of puffy, loosely foamy, and bubbly off-white head, which leaves some decent splotchy lace around the glass as it lazily sinks out of sight.

It smells of gritty and biscuity caramel malt, some mild dark orchard fruitiness, tame stoney flinty notes, and some earthy, musty, and green noble hoppiness. The taste is crackery cereal malt, more muddled dark fruitiness, a damp minerality, and some plain herbal, floral, and grassy green hop bitters.

The carbonation is adequate in its palate-coddling frothiness, the body a so-so middleweight, and sort of smooth, but in the way that the new boyfriend of your child's mother greets you when he comes to town - fuuuuuuuuuck. It finishes rather dry, the malt petering out for the most part.

Overall - not a bad example of the style, to be sure, but nothing that I might want to revisit by the same standard. Simple, easy to put back, and that's about it, as what might already have been apparent in my attitude thus far.

Steam Whistle Brewery’s Pale Ale. 5% alc.

The beer is a light light copper colour and it has a small white head that peters out quickly.

Smell is somewhat yeasty and bready but in a subtle way. The taste is very clean with light notes of barley malt and mild hop bitterness. The beer is light to medium bodied - a particularly prickly feel to the tongue - and the finish is crisp and so refreshing.

Really enjoyable. I wish the hop profile was more pronounced but overall that’s not a big deal.

Clear amber color with thin head and little retention. Decent lacing. Citrus, hop and caramel dominate both flavours and aromas. It's on the high end of the carbonation and mild in bitterness. Not too dry and smooth finish. Good, safe APA.

 

Golden amber with red hues, very clear and insipid. The head is very shy; like me on my first high school dance.

At the nose: hints of hoppiness from another life. Shy hints of caramel that tickles the nose. There is a cheesy smell or butterscotch I cannot figure which one.

In mouth I find it harsh; very carbonated. The hints of caramel are present but they get move away by a high carbonation at first but the more I drink the less that carbonation is present and brings a smoother taste

 

good amount of head amber color very nice good to pair with some foods such as pizza,burgers or chicken or dark meats. little carbnaiton simple beer to enjoy if only they made a IPA or Porter it would probley be good.

 

Nice medium dark clear amber, with a good head. Taste is nicely balanced between hops and a sweetness. A bit different, but not too different for non-beer aficionados.

473 mL can from the LCBO; dated Jun 17 2019 and served barely chilled.

Pours crystal clear and effervescent; its golden amber-toned body is initially topped with nearly an inch of foamy white head that slowly recedes, lasting well past the five minute mark. A lumpy cap and generously soapy collar stick around even longer, with a thick coat of lace also left in place; looks fantastic in the glass, but its nose is downright plain in comparison. I'm getting grainy pale malts and a touch of caramel sweetness, as well as hints of floral, tea-leafy hops - smells more like an English pale, to be honest, but I'm not complaining.

A fine session ale that keeps things very simple. It tastes mostly of clean, grainy pale malts, helped along by hints of bready sweetness, citrus peel and grassy, floral hop bitterness - the latter gaining in prominence towards the finish, but failing to last into the relatively dry aftertaste. Light in body, with average carbonation levels that provide a gentle bite to this brew's generally smooth, crisp texture. Just as drinkable as their pilsner IMO.

Final Grade: 3.82, a B+. I'd probably take Steam Whistle's Premium Pale Ale over their mainline Pilsner... but on a muggy summer's night such as this one, it'd be more of a coin flip. A flawlessly brewed product that I could easily drink several of in a row - I've had plenty of APAs that were more interesting than this one, but I can't rightfully say that I was dissatisfied with it. Give 'er a go if you spot it in your neck of the woods.

473ml can served cold into a pint glass. LCBO purchase for under $3.25 CDN. Canning date appears to be June 17, 2019.

Appearance - Rich, dark golden color with a finger plus of white head. Great clarity and pretty good staying power for the head on top. Little bits of lacing left behind too.

Smell - Leafy followed by some floral and perfumey hops. A hint of some tropical citrus in there, but rather subdued.

Taste - Pretty clean, some grainy flavors, hints of earthy bitterness and genereally less hoppy than most in the style.

Mouthfeel - Super smooth, easy drinking like their pils, nearly perfect carbonation, drying finish. Spot on.

Overall - These self proclaimed brewers that "Do one thing really well" are branching out and taking on other styles and exeuting them quite nicely as well. Not the most flavorful APA out there, but at the same time it's really easy to drink making up for that. No off flavors or bitterness for the sake of being bitter. Worth a try for sure and I will try to pick up another few before summer ends.

These guys do not do a lot in terms of variety as near as I'm aware. Their flagship product is a good quality pilsner which I quite enjoy (especially on tap) despite not being much of a pilsner guy. So seeing something new on the Beer Store shelves from this crew is cause for at least a little excitement.

They've offered up another good quality brew (although I will admit to preferring the pilsner). Very malt forward, sweet, and grainy. Gently bitter up front. The balance you'd expect from the style, more British than American in timbre. Easy to drink.

Excellent like anything Steam Whistle. Pours amber colour with a nice thick head. Smell is grainy, a bit hoppy and a tad citrusy but not overly so like an NEIPA for instance. The taste is delicious mixing hoppiness and maltiness with a bit of bitterness and a bit of sweetness. Feels very smooth going down.
Dec 1 2021