Pale Ale
Cumberland Brews

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very tastey, I had the pale ale with a veggie pizza. The combo was good together. Also had a pitcher after we finished off the pizza. The pale ale washed the pallet very well. Who needs dessert when you have a great beer. I'm not good at reviewing a beer, but I know what tastes good to me. I perfer an ale over a stout. Being diabectic, I don't suppose to drink beer, but I will have a good pale beer to take care of my beer erges. I would love to drink beer more, my body won't let me and have good glucose readings. But I do love beer. Can't drink beer like I use to. Cumberland's pale ale is smooth, and crisp in taste. I usaully pair the beer with food like pizza, fish or a juicey burger.

 

Pours a slightly hazy medium brown color with copper highlights and a solid, one inch, dense cream head that lingers. When it does dissipate it leaves significant lacing.

Pine and grapefruit are dominant in the aroma, with lemon, mint, and bready caramel malt offering support. There's an underlying cardboard and somewhat rubbery note. Subsequent sniffs reveal a wine-like, almost lactic tartness that seems out of place.

Flavor is fairly malt dominated, with lightly roasted caramel malt carrying fleeting hop flavors of grapefruit and lemon into a fairly resiny, slightly bitter finish. Rubbery phenol is subdued, but present...almost soapy.

Body is a touch watery, with moderate carbonation and a bit of astringency at the finish.

Overall, a fairly malt forward pale ale. Bitterness level is appropriate, but hop flavor is fairly simple. The malt is probably a bit too roasty, and I'm not sure about the funky tartness in the aroma.

Well balanced and properly proportioned, Cumberland Brews' Pale Ale carries a fuller body and richer taste than is common to American pale ales and begins to resemble those from Great Britain

Stolidly copper in color with the exception of orange highlights toward the edges, the ale slowly releases a creamy egg shell white foam with firm creaminess, moderate retention, and light lace.

Malty aromatics of caramel and bread blend with fruity esters for a rich scent that's equaled by citrusy and grassy hop character. Somewhat earthy and sharply of grapefruit, the hop display seems both English and American. Even the marmalade-like sweet fruitiness points toward English pale ales as well.

The richer than usual flavors seem to favor malt sweetness with counterparts of jammy esters, lightly stale bread and dough with medium intensity. The hop balance of grapefruit, orange zest, fresh cut grass, and earthy tea balance the sweetness early through mid palate but develops into a mild piney bitterness to finish.

Medium bodied, the beer's low-lying carbonation allows the full weight of the beer to be felt on the tongue. Where it may give up a bit of refreshment, it translates to fuller flavor. Finishing semi-dry with zesty alcohol warmth and light hop derived astringency that weaves in and out of the hop bitterness; the beer resembles cask conditioned versions at times.

With the strength of nearly six percent, the beer flirts ever so slightly with IPAs, especially when the high hopping rates have to match the stern malty sweetness. Its proportions and scale deviate from the pale ale path slightly. The mild stale character and weedy hop bitterness allow for mild distractions to interfere with a crisp clean taste of the style.

Served on tap at Cumberland Brews in Louisville, KY.

A: Pours a crustal clear amber to copper in color with some light orange hints. The beer has a half finger tall creamy light beige head that reduces to a thin film covering the surface of the beer and a ring at the edges of the glass. Light amounts of lacing are observed.

S: There are aromas of caramel malts with a little bit of sweetness as well as moderate notes of pine/resin and citrus hops.

T: The taste follows the smell, starting with a caramel malt body with some light amounts of sweetness. Then the hop flavors kick in - pine/resin and citrus hops.

M: Medium bodied with light to moderate amounts of carbonations. Slightly sticky/oily.

O: This is a very enjoyable pale ale that I found pretty easy to drink. A little too strong to be sessionable but definitely a beer I could have more than one of... just not more than two or three.