Inclined Plane Ale
Jones Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The label identifies the brewery as "Flat Rock Brewing Company" but according to http://mybeerbuzz.blogspot.com/2011/08/atwaters-lagerlatrobe-pa.html this is brewed at Jones Brewing. Hm. 12 fl oz aluminum green can with simple label art acquired as a single at me local Whole Foods HQ and served into an Independence Brewing pilsner glass in me gaff in low altitude Austin, Texas. Reviewed live. Expectations are average given its current 74 rating. No ABV or style is listed on the can.

Served cold - straight from me fridge. Side-poured with standard vigor as no carbonation issues are anticipated.

A: No bubble show forms as I pour.

Pours a two finger wide head of white colour. Okay creaminess and thickness. Lightly fluffy consistency. No lacing clings to the sides of the glass as the head recedes. Head retention is decent - about 4 minutes.

Body colour is a hazy translucent semitransparent copper with lots of visible floating sediment. Above average vibrance.

Overall, it looks pretty decent. There's nothing unique or special about it. Looks like a standard pale ale. The sediment is a bit off-putting.

Sm: Hops: vague citrus - mango, sticky pineapple, and cotton candy/bubblegum. Lacks the usual floral hop character you'd expect in a pale ale, and I think that absence is detrimental here.

Loads of sweet pale malts. Sticky grains. Sweet bready notes. Fruitcake, even. A bit heavy on the residual sugars for a pale ale. Caramalt. Yeah, it's seeming too sweet overall. Not as cleanly fermented as would be ideal.

No yeast character or alcohol is detectable. I don't find any overt off-notes.

An inoffensive aroma of below average strength.

T: Has some notieable hop bitterness on the climax, but otherwise it's well tamed by the sweet malts. The combination of vague fruity hop notes, sweet bread notes, and sweet malts lends it a distinct fruitcake vibe. Pale malts. A kiss of corn adjunct. Caramalt. Some mango hop notes. Maybe a bit of pine. Not much in the way of floral or herbal hops. Bubblegum. It comes off somewhat candied. There's also a touch of saltwater taffy. I definitely want more depth of flavour from it; it's pretty shallow. Duration and intensity of flavour are both below average.

Mediocre balance. There's some general cohesion, but it's not a gestalt build. Definitely needs more complexity and subtlety, but then so do many beers I review. Do I like it? Kind of. It's a hard beer to hate; there's little in the way of bold flavours. It's pretty indecisively brewed. I'd like to see the brewers commit to something - anything. As is, it's boring and bland.

I'd definitely guess this is a pale ale, albeit a mundane one.

No yeast character or alcohol comes through.

Mf: Smooth and wet. Lacks body and thickness. Lacks presence on the palate. It needs to be fuller and stronger. Well-carbonated. A biteen oily. Largely unrefreshing. Suits the flavour profile decently in a general sense, but the texture is by no means custom-tailored to the taste.

Not biting, hot, gushed, boozy, hot, astringent, or harsh.

Dr: As forgettable a pale ale as you're likely to find. That said, you could do far worse for the price. I definitely won't be buying it again, but it might be a good introduction to craft beer for a newcomer. Drinkable, but mediocre. I wouldn't recommend it to friends. Meh.

C-

 

 

 

 

Pours a hazy orange-ish color with an off white head. In the aroma, a small sweeter malt. In the taste, sweet to dry skunky like malt and quite watery. A small bite, and a lighter bodied mouthfeel, with a note of citrus in the aftertaste. Nothing exciting, and kind of funky and icky.

A-cloudy dark gold with a thick white head.

S-aged creamy grains and honey. Strong scent

T-tastes much like it smells though there is a better taste of grains. It's a light taste with a crisp matching after-taste. Much better quality than the nose suggests

M-low carbonation with a semi-dry finish

O-a very drinkable APA. Always going to be able to find something better, but for an alternative, in a can, this is a decent substitute if you're looking for something new to try.

The CANQuest (TM) rolls along this afternoon, thanks to the generous Beer Representative whom I met at the recent Pints for Pets Fest in Altoona. I promised that I would give the beers a fair shake (as I always do) and that the CANs would become immortalized as a result.

From the CAN: "Up High or Down Low [,] Inclined Plane Ale Is the Way to Go".

For the non-knowing, an inclined plane is also a funicular and we have a couple in Pittsburgh and one in Johnstown.

The Crack & Glug went nicely and produced just over two fingers of dense, tawny head with good retention. Color was a slightly hazy orangish-amber. Nose was very minty with hops, kind of spearmint or evergreen, but definitely hoppy. Mouthfeel was medium and it had a definite hops bite on the tongue. Finish was semi-dry and I got a caramel sweetness on the extreme finish to accompany the hops. The site has it as an APA, although some have speculated in their reviews that the name is a nod to the IPA style. I think that I would review it more highly as an APA, given that the hops are not overly dominant. Let me research this a bit further. All in all, not bad, but not a standout, either.

A - Not sure if it's a good thing but this can is aggressively carbonated since I got well over 2 inch's of head in my glass. Color is a nice clear amber brown.

S - Well I get little hops in the nose mostly sweet corn and pale malts. Smells more like a crafted lager to me.

T - Taste is very light maybe a mild touch of hops but no way close to even pale ale status. Again vegital sweet corn and a tint of hops.

M - Light to medium but way too carbonated.

Overall I can't really bash this one since I got the can for a dollar so I assume it was a hard sell next to the Leinenkugel beers but really not a great example of a pale ale. More of a lager to me.

a - poured a one finger thick, bubbly and light tan head into a snifter that settled into a thing ring. the body was a bright yet slightly hazy amber color.
s - syrupy sweet with some graininess. some light earthy hops.
t - bready and caramel malts with some hop bitterness but it doesn't taste fresh and it's a little dead.
m - kind of thin and slick.
o - meh. they try to convince you it's an IPA with their name but i'm not fooled.