Pale

Beer Name: Pale
Brewery: Southern Tier Brewing Company
ABV: 6.1%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: DOB was 5/4/11

This beer is outside my arbitrary 90 day window, and also my 120 day window, which are not based on anything other than seeming like a good amount of time in which to consume a beer after it's brewed. However, I am not sure that this window is significant for anything other than mass-produced macro swill beers, so what the hell, I'll give it a try.

Pale is a pale golden colored beer that poured with about a quarter inch of head (because I intentionally poured it to force some head to form) that quickly faded away, leaving a thin layer on top and a light lacing pattern. At first there is a hoppy aroma, but this disappears after a few minutes, leaving the beer without much of an aroma. That's kind of weird, so maybe we can blame it on the beer's age.

The first sip I took had a nice light flavor with a citrusy hop kick that was balanced by some maltiness. There was a light-medium level of carbonation, and a mostly crisp bitter finish with a mild aftertaste. The next couple sips were like this as well. Then, after a little while, that seems to vanish much like the aroma did. Now, I've had beers that change in flavor as they warm up, but to have the flavor disappear? That's a new one.

Final thought - While not a bad beer by any means, this beer doesn't really live up to the pedigree established by the other Southern Tier beers I've had. I'm willing to give this one the benefit of the doubt and try it again with a fresh one, but only because the first few sips seems like they were the beginning of a delicious beer. Let's call this one "Rating Pending," even though I don't even use a rating system here.

-Jon