Pale Ale
E.J. Phair Brewing Company

 

12 oz. bottle- color dark amber , with a decent tanish quickly departing head - nose of sweet roasted malts , apricots , and slight hops – taste of sweet red fruit , spruce , bitter hops , slight grains , and malt - body is medium to light , semi bitter , and with mild carbonation – light aftertaste of resin , hops , and malt

Bottle obtained for my volunteer efforts at the 2006 GABF. This bottle was left over from the beer judging. Thanks a million to EJ Phair and GABF for the opportunity. Hard pour to get a falling one-finger yellow head with an odd reddish quality...like a hint of pomagranite. Liquid is a gorgeous light amber golden color. Smells of oranges and somewhat sour, like an american barley wine hopped. Some fruity esters, which I think are to style of an English Style Summer Ale.

Tastes like hallertauer hops. Dry and heavy esters. Dark hops like spalt. Noble overall. Not quite 'greasy dirty' like tettnanger. Some cardboard oxidation. Sharp carb clean the pallete and leave acrid forming on the tastebuds. The cardboard comes across almost as a pumpkin fruity with just a touch of edgy pie spice.

Md-light mouthfeel and heavy carbonation.

the ipa from this brewery was of those beers. one of those beers where you don't really care for the first beer from the sixer, but by the last one, you kinda start to really enjoy it and are thinking you might pick up another sixer one day. Seeing the pale at the local corner store, I had to pick this up, to support a small craft brewery if nothing else. But I was pretty sure that this beer would be good. Great all around drinker/sessioner

appearance: that nice pale color with some amber hues. the head doesn't really hold long at all, but it's something.

smell: hops nowhere in the game, in case people thought that was where this beer was headed. Very unhoppy PA. But this beer works as a pretty good showcase for nice malts actually. The IPA was bassically this same malt base, with more hops, which muddied the flavor up a bit. This is just a nice sweet, chocolatly grainy smell, with a house character. Darn good.

taste: Ditto from the smell. Just an excellent showcase for the malts, you can't taste hops much at all,apart from a very mild bitterness. Almost tastes like a brown ale, yet completly free from the dark malts. a similar beer was the DPA from Great Devide, this is a malt showcase PA, no hops allowed. Hard to describe, ok Yeah there is citrus tang...but in the backround.. The bottle says three kinds of hops, I taste a hint of the citrus casades and more of the earthy nobles. This beer screams class....no tricks here, just a solid ale.

mouthfeel: sort of tastes like the mouthfeel. a bit thick, but i'd rather it be too thick than too thin. Nice, New Beligum like, consistatcy.

drinkability: very high, I found this be a classic sessioner. I can tell you right now I will buy more, granted it stays in the ice cold fridge of the corner store a block and a half away. This is a perfect, easy drinkin' ale, it should come in 12er's....non craft beer drinker's would like this I bet..., I like this sucker alot. The hops aren't missed because they got the malts balanced so well...with the ipa it could be a bit much, but here it works great.

If you see it grab it....Recomended.

Pours a clear medium apple juice color with a copper hue, similar to soda off white head, and some carb action.

Toasted caramel and cookie malt smell with a perfume/resin and orange hops smell.

Lightly sweet, moderately acidic/bitter, and roasted almost burnt caramel malt taste with a resin and grapefruit hops finish.

Medium bodied, slightly syrupy texture, soft almost flat carbonation, and a metallic/astringent finish.

A syrupy soda type of beer with the instantaneous head dissipation, the balance is a little off, and has a strong resin/grapefruit/metallic/astringent finish.

Medium copper color, medium head. Aroma is malty and slightly fruity. A medium bodied pale ale. Malty with a spicy hop bite. Nice balance. There is a slight fruitiness to the flavor. Good taste. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is crisp and clean. Aftertaste is slightly bitter

I don't find this in the Sierra mold as the previous reviewer has said. This brewery is a stones throw from where I live but at the same time, I'm unsure of it's exact location. They are pretty new but their beer has found it's way in to some pubs I've been to. This pale was a medium amber, had nice head retention, and pretty good lacing. Aroma was pretty benign and I really cannot define it. Taste was as I saw it very malt orientated and a bit chocolatey, hops were there but not at the forefront. Full creamy mouthfeel, and decently drinkable. Good and a possible fall back beer in the future.