Headwaters Pale Ale

Beer Name: Headwaters Pale Ale
Brewery: Victory Brewing Company
ABV: 5.1%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Best by 9/12/11

What an oddly specific date. I am tempted to save 2 of the bottles from this 6-pack to drink one right before the 12th and the other right after and see if there is some terrible metamorphosis from good beer to beer-like poison. But if I had to guess, I'd say that I probably won't do that and that said metamorphosis won't actually happen.

Headwaters Pale Ale is a fairly dark beer for a "pale" ale. It looks a bit like an IPA with an orangey shade of copper coloring. There was a little bit of head, but it faded pretty quickly, leaving only a light lacing behind. This beer has a very strong aroma of citrus hops. It smells like there's a little bit of sweet malt in here as well.

As I mentioned on another branch of my empire, I enjoyed this beer in 4-oz form up at the Brattleboro Brewers Festival. In bottle form, it is still enjoyable. The aroma of this beer was very accurate in predicting the flavor. This is a fairly hoppy beer, but it's not too strong, and there is definitely some sweetness in the background. It finishes with a crisp bitterness, but it's not that dry, and it doesn't leave much of an aftertaste. This beer feels very clean and light, and the low carbonation makes it very easy to drink.

Final thought - It's pretty simple: if you like pale ales, then you should do yourself a favor and try this one, as it's delightful. And if you don't like pale ales, then this one probably isn't going to change your mind. Although it's not overly hoppy, so it's worth a shot. Kate even tried a sip without me forcing it on her, so that's a start.

-Jon

Denver Pale Ale

Beer Name: Denver Pale Ale
Brewery: Great Divide Brewing Company
ABV: 5.4%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in an unknown glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

The Publick House in Brookline has a pretty ridiculous number of beer choices. And that's fantastic! The only problem is that it's a little overwhelming when you pick up the 4 page beer menu. Picking just one beer from this extensive list is a daunting task! I'm glad I had checked it out beforehand so that I could narrow my list to 4 or 5 possibilities.

The first beer I had was the Denver Pale Ale from Great Divide. It was served in a glass that was also roughly 12-oz, but I'm not sure what kind of glass it was. It was short and stocky, with 8 defined sides. If you ever see one and find out the name, I'd appreciate it if you let me know. The beer is a golden color with a light head that quickly fades away. The aroma is mostly citrus hops with a faint hint of malt in the background. At the end, there was a light lacing on my glass.

The taste of this beer is a little surprising. I went in thinking that this was going to be another hop festival, but it's not. It's actually a little bit sweet upfront, with both maltiness and hoppiness in each sip. The beer finishes with a little bit of hoppy bitterness and a medium aftertaste. It keeps a good flavor as it warms up, making it a nice sipping beer.

Final thought - This beer has a much more mellow hop intensity than most pale ales. I wonder if that is because it's technically an "English" pale ale instead of an "American" pale ale. I have so much to learn about beer. At any rate, I enjoyed this beer much as I enjoyed the last Great Divide beer I had. I think these are sold at Ryan & Casey, which means I'll have to pick some up.

-Jon

NorCal

Beer Name: NorCal Ale
Brewery: Bear Republic Brewing Company
ABV: 4.5%
Serving method: 16-oz draft in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

The NorCal Ale is something of a hybrid beer, with characteristics of a bitter and a pale ale. I decided to put it in the pale ale category because it tasted more like that than like a bitter.

This beer has a coppery amber color with a head less than half an inch. Most of it fades pretty quickly, but the last eighth of an inch or so hangs on for dear life. It also leaves a ridiculously thick lacing pattern on the glass. The beer has a very mild hop aroma.

Hey! I know this flavor! This beer is like an IPA, only a bit milder. It's got the hoppiness that you'd expect, just dialed back a little. There's also a little bit of sweetness. There's a little bit of carbonation, and the beer has a mild bitterness in the aftertaste.

Final thought - NorCal Ale is a very tasty beer. I think even someone who doesn't enjoy hoppy beers might like it. Or someone who likes hoppy beers but wants to have something a little more mild. Delicious!

-Jon

Long Trail Pale Ale

Beer Name: Long Trail Pale Ale
Brewery: Long Trail Brewing Company
ABV: Um. . .
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Bottled 11/1/10

Alright, I am mildly concerned because this beer is not listed on the Long Trail website. That's weird. I hope this isn't a trap beer, which is actually poison. I guess we'll find out.

This particular pale ale is a cloudy golden color with a little bit of orange in there. There was about 1/4" of head on top which faded quickly and left a decent amount of lacing behind. The aroma here is of piney hops, as expected in a pale ale.

Hmm. There's something off about the taste here. I don't know if this is an issue with this beer in general or this specific beer because I remember trying Kathryn's beer before and it tasted fine. For whatever reason, this bottle of beer just tastes off. I can taste the hoppiness and the crisp bitter finish, but there's also something weird going on. Maybe it IS poison!! In non-paranoid news, the beer has a medium carbonation that works well with the beer's style. The finish is a little dry, but not too much. There's a mildly hoppy aftertaste.

Final thought - I hesitate to make a decision about this beer until I try another one. I had a sip of Kathryn's last time she was here, and it tasted like a good pale ale. Not top notch, but still good. This one just tastes wrong. I will save my final judgment until I get another opportunity to try one.

-Jon

Pale Ale

Beer Name: Lefty's Pale Ale
Brewery: Lefty's Brewing Company
ABV: 6%
Serving method: 16-oz pint poured from a 22-oz bottle
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

Last time I tried this beer, it had been sitting open in Kathryn's fridge for a couple weeks (or months possibly), so it wasn't too spectacular. Or even drinkable. Seriously, I did my best to drink it, and managed like 3 sips. So obviously this isn't the type of beer that you can open, then not finish, and then let sit for an extended period of time. Having committed such a grievous beer atrocity, I felt that I owe it to Lefty to give his beer a real try.

This pale ale is lovely golden color with a thick head. The foam sticks around for an extended period of time, and it leaves a heavy lacing on the glass. The aroma is mostly hops (Cascade hops, if my nose is correct), and there is a slight hint of sweetness.

The taste come in two parts. There is a sweet flavor at the beginning, and then the hops finish with their standard bitter taste. The sweetness is similar to the sweet flavors I was getting from Lefty's Coffee Porter and English-Style Porter. I think that has to come from the malt being used. The beer is lightly carbonated, and finishes with a very mild bitterness.

Final thought - I want to like this beer, mostly because it's available within 10 minutes of Kathryn's house, but it's too sweet for me. Not too sweet for a beer, but too sweet for a pale ale. Just give me a bunch of hops and we'll be fine. Don't get crazy.

-Jon

Porkslap

Beer Name: Porkslap Pale Ale
Brewery: Butternuts Beer and Ale
ABV: 4.3%
Serving method: 12-oz can
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

I have been drinking a lot of beers with unknown brew dates lately. I thought they were making a big deal back in the day about beer freshness, but I guess it is no longer important. Every time I learn something new about beer, something else changes. Remember when people told you that letting beer get warm and recooling it made it skunk faster? Turns out that all you really have to avoid is light, and temperature fluctuations really don't do anything. The world I grew up in is gone. . .

First off, this beer is weird because it's from a can. Usually if I'm drinking beer from a can, it's ____ Light/Lite and I'm about to get silly. However, this can is different, because it's hilarious. Go over to Google and look it up. It's got pigs high fiving!! Actually, they are high tenning, but I wasn't sure you would understand that since high ten is not used nearly enough. You know, because you're a little slow. Maybe it's time to actually talk about beer.

This is a pale ale, so I am assuming the scent I'm picking up on is hops. Maybe not though. Really, I am just so focused on the can that I can't think about other things. It's got pigs!!

This beer is alright. It feels very carbonated, and the major sensation is malt. That's kind of weird, since it's a pale ale. Maybe the aroma I was getting was malt and not hops. Who knows. There's a sweet taste right at the beginning before it turns into that malt, and the aftertaste is pretty clean. That's probably because the beer seems pretty watery.

Final thought - Probably 98% of this beer's awesomeness is the can. While that means the can is super awesome, it also means that the beer isn't that great. I doubt that I would drink this again unless someone else bought it for me. However, I think it would make a good substitution for beer pong though. It's not that strong, so you could easily substitute it for Busch Light and actually enjoy the beer you're pounding. So it's got that going for it.

-Jon