Fresh Hop India Session Ale
Hale's Ales Brewery & Pub

Aroma and Appearance: The beer pours a cloudy pale yellow golden colour with 2 fingers of foam and a medium level of carbonation. Its aroma features lots of straw, hay and lemon notes with some floral overtones throughout the aromatics.

Flavour: It has some light straw and hay malts with faint oily lemon notes up front, which is quickly followed by an incredibly soothing freshly brewed chamomile tea like middle. As the beer moves into its finish, some mild fruity peaches arise before it ends with a grapefruit bitterness and a rind-like aftertaste that leaves you wanting another sip.

Overall Impression: Pretty nice for a lower alcohol craft beer as I thought the fresh hops worked well with the lighter malt profile.

Bottle from Whole Foods.

A clear light yellow iwth a dense, white head with good retention and lacing, this looks great. The nose is, as promised, a fresh hop ISA. Light citrus with orange and a little grapefruit, a little bit of creamy peach, a nice wet hop character... what's not to like? Malt character is mild, the most dominant characteristic here are the hops. The palate opens clean, lightly hopped, delicate with mild bitterness and moderate flavor. A real nice blend of clean citrus and a touch of peach is present. Bitterness appears on the mid-palate and lingers on into the finish with a clean fresh hop characteristic adding a little bit of a clean and mild oiliness. Refreshing. Recommended

 

 

 

 

 

10/27/2014 - On draft at Ballard Brewmaster Dinner. Pours with two fingers of head, which is thick, mottled and white-colored. Decent lace up the sides of the glass. Golden pale hue, clear with a few bubbles streaming from bottom of glass. Aroma is piney, resin, a little grass, malt. Starts bitter, but then proceeds with a wonderful sweetness, but not overly so. Very clean and smooth mouth feel, well-carbonated, long finish.

Poured into a Seattle Beer Week pint glass. Pours a light golden amber with a thin white head that dissipates to patches, leaving light lacing. Aroma of citrus and lightly dank hops, pale malt, slightly vegetal. Flavor is light sweet pale malt with a bit of biscuit and a hint of caramel, citrus and lightly grassy hops. Finises with pleasant light caramel and citrus and mild lingering grassy hops. Light to medium bodied. A nice light session IPA with an interesting malt body that keeps things interesting by combining the basic sweet light lager flavors with some biscuit and light candi flavors. The hops are somewhat subdued for a fresh hop, but that may be due to the low ABV. The hop flavor that is present is nice. Well made, but session IPAs always leave me wishing for more of the flavors in the ale, and this is no exception. I like what is here, though.More of a pale ale than an IPA, but I guess that's the nature of session IPAs.