Higland Brewing - St. Terese's Pale Ale

Today, I tried a beer from an assortment pack that I bought at Whole Foods. The assortment was from Highland Brewing in Asheville, NC. This is St. Terese's Pale Ale. I'm not sure who St. Terese is, and why she is honored with her own beer, but at least it's a GOOD beer. The Highland Brewing web-site describes it like this:

"A golden pale having a slightly malty body balanced by an assertive American hop flavor. This pale ale displays a delicate hop nose due to the process of dry hopping. A crisp and refreshing beer perfect for any occasion."

I definitely agree with the assertiveness of the hops. When I took my first sip, I had to look at the bottle again, thinking I had picked up their IPA instead of the pale. I was surprised to see that I hadn't made that mistake. This was an excellent beginning to the assortment. I'm looking forward to the other 5 varieties that await me.

Homebrewed American Pale Ale - 1st Sampling

Tonight I popped the lid on my first bottle of my latest homebrew - an American Pale Ale. I usually have problems brewing lighter color beers, so I'm very proud of this one. The recipe is created as a combination of several different recipes I looked at on-line. I tweaked them a bit so I could call it my own. It poured a pale amber with a big fluffy head that lasted longer than I expected. This is a hoppier version of an APA, similar to Sierra Nevada's brew.

Here's the recipe for 2-1/2 gallons:

3.3lbs Briess Pilsen Light LME
2 oz 30L Crystal Malt
4 Oz Caravienne Malt
1/2 Oz Columbus Hops - 60 minutes
1/4 Oz Amarillo Hops - 15 Minutes
1-1/4 Oz Cascade Hops - 5 Minutes
Fermentis Safale US-05 Yeast

I heated up the grains in a gallon of water until it reached 165 degrees, then pulled them out. I then added the Columbus hops when the wort started to boil. After 45 minutes, I added the Amarillo hops, and the LME. When there were 5 minutes left, I threw in the Cascades. After cooling the wort in an icebath, I poured it into the fermenter and topped it off to 2.5 gallons before pitching the yeast.

I left the wort to ferment for two weeks, bottled it with priming sugar, and carbonated for 2 weeks. I threw a couple in the fridge yesterday, so I could sample today. Yummy, hoppy goodness!

He'Brew - The Chosen Beer - Genesis Ale

Tonight I tasted another He'Brew beer from Shmaltz Brewing. This beer is their "Genesis Ale" and is described as a Light Brown Ale. It's a pretty accurate description, as it poured a deep amber with a light colored head. It's kind of a cross between a brown ale and a pale or amber ale. It's a little maltier than a traditional APA, and hoppier than a brown. It's actually similar to the Saranac I had last night. There was one thing that troubled me about this beer. It had a sour metallic flavor that was subtle, but a little distracting. I have to say that I have liked the other beers from Shmaltz better than this one.

Left Hand Brewing's Jackman's American Pale Ale

Today I selected anothe beer from Left Hand Brewing - Jackman's American Pale Ale. I'm not sure who Jackman is, but he or she has a pretty good APA. It poured a beautiful amber/orange color with a puffy white long-lasting head that left plenty of lacing. The nose was fruity and hoppy. The taste was also fruity, with plenty of malt and a nice bitter hoppy finish. This is another winner from Left Hand in Longmont, CO.

Flying Dog Doggie Style Classic Pale Ale

Today we went to Whole Foods, and couldn't resist their sausage department. We chose an assortment of chicken and pork sausages, and something new that we hadn't had before - Buffalo hot dogs. Not buffalo as in spicy chicken wings, but buffalo as in bison. I could hardly wait for lunch-time. As the sausages and dogs cooked on the grill, I selected Flying Dog's Doggie Style Pale Ale to go along with them. This pale ale is a bit hoppier than most, and reminded me of Sierra Nevada's version, which I posted about here. It's dry-hopped with Cascades, and the grapefruity flavored hops definitely stand out. It has enough malt backbone to offset the Cascades, and is moderately carbonated. It poured a copper color with a small white head. This ale was the perfect accompaniment to my Buffalo hot dog, which was excellent - lean and spicy, flavorful enough to be eaten with no topping. If there's a Whole Foods near you, check 'em out!

Bloulder Beer Co. Hazed & Infused

Boulder Beer Company's "Hazed & Infused" is billed as a dry-hopped ale. It definitely falls into the category of a hoppy ale, somewhere in between an American Pale Ale and an India Pale Ale. Plenty of pine-flavored hops were used in brewing this beer. It's not as malty and sweet as many IPA's, so I would have to say it is closer to an APA. It poured a copper color with a healthy white head. The aroma was all hops. It has a medium body, plenty of carbonation, and just under 5% alcohol. I have had this beer in the past, and I remember it being more over-the-top hoppy. I don't know if this is a sign of the hop shortage, or just my aging tastebuds. It doesn't matter, it's still an excellent beer for hop-heads.

Virgin Islands Tropical Mango Pale Ale

Another interesting beer I picked up at the local wine and ale store, Virgin Islands Tropical Mango Pale Ale is contract brewed for St. John Brewers by Shipyard in Portland, ME. The beer poured a crystal clear golden color with a medium white head. The aroma is almost all mango, with a little bit of malt underneath. The flavor is definitely mango - much stronger than I expected. I'm assuming that they have added some sort of mango extract to make it stand out like it does. This is not a wheat beer, like most fruit beers tend to be. Underneath the mango, there was a little bit of malt, a very light body, and a slightly bitter finish. This is another nice warm weather beer.

Lukaya Beers Two Tail Pale Ale

I saw this beer in the local wine and ale shop and was immediately drawn to the picture. Not many beers have photos of dogs on the label, so it caught my attention. I had also never heard of Lukaya Beers before. The name is drawn from the names of the two dogs, Lucy and Kaya. What's interesting is that the bottle says that the beer is "Bottled for the Hmieliewski family by Florida Beer Company, Melbourne, FL". Is this a family of homebrewers that designed this beer? I don't know, but I think it's a pretty good beer. It poured an amber-orange color with a good-sized cream-colored head. It had a piney-citrusy smell from the hops. It's a pretty hoppy American Pale Ale. It had a medium body with a little bit of caramel and malt sweetness. All in all, a very enjoyable beer. According to their web-site - lukayabeers.com, they are bringing out some additional seasonal beers soon.

J.W. Dundee's American Pale Ale

J.W. Dundee is pretty well-known for their honey brown lager, but they also have a number of other options available, one of which is this American Pale Ale. The Dundee beers tend to be on the more affordable side of the microbrew list, so I decided to try this out. It poured an orange-amber, with a decent white head. It's a very basic Pale Ale, very middle-of-the-road for the style. It has some maltiness, and some hops in the finish, but nothing to really recommend it, except for the price. I have to say that I would definitely prefer to drink J.W. Dundee's American Pale Ale over most of the other beers in the same price range, so I guess that says something. This beer was brewed by the High Falls Brewing Company in Rochester, NY. High Falls Brewing is also the home of the Genesee line of beers. Anyone who went to college in upstate NY knows Genny Cream Ale, their most famous brew.

Shipyard Chamberlain Pale Ale

Shipyard Brewing Co. is based in Portland Maine, and they're a good solid microbrewery. At one time, they had a brewery based in the Orlando International Airport, but they closed it down. I guess the folks travelling through Orlando weren't interested in putting down their Budweiser long enough to try something different. This beer is their APA style, which they have named Chamberlain Pale Ale. It poured a medium amber with a cream-colored inch tall head. This is a basic APA, nothing exotic. I detected some caramel, and a finish that was hoppy enough to be satisfying. It went well with my dinner, without overpowering any of the food. It was worth trying, but I probably won't buy it again. So many beers, so little time!

Stone Mill Organic Pale Ale - Certified Organic!

I'm not very impressed when I hear that a food item is "certified organic". For the most part, I can't tell the difference. So the exclamation point in the title of this post is a bit facetious. This beer is from the Green Valley Brewing Co., in Merrimack, NH. Coincidentally, Anheuser-Busch has a brewery in Merrimack as well. A little Google time found that there is indeed a connection, and that A-B felt that they needed a new name for their organic brew. Stone Mill Pale Ale is a very average pale ale. It has a little bit of malt sweetness, a little bit of hop flavor, and very little else to recommend it. I know that the brewers of Budweiser can do better than this, because I've had a couple of their other microbrew style beers, and they've been more interesting than this one. If you're looking for a basic, average, uninspiring pale ale, this is for you. I think I'd prefer a Sierra Nevada - even if it isn't "certified organic".

Terrapin Beer Company Rye Pale Ale

Terrapin Beer Company is based in Athens, Georgia, and this is the first beer I have tried from them. Since I recently brewed my own version of a Rye Pale Ale, I was compelled to give this a taste. Besides, the label was irresistible. The color was a medium amber, with a nice head that left plenty of lace on the glass. I was very impressed with this ale, it was malty and had a healthy dose of citrusy Cascade and Amarillo hops. It wasn't as hoppy as an IPA, but it was close. Terrapin has a beer they can be proud of, and I hope to find more of their varieties soon. I do have to say that my own Rye pale ale was not as hoppy as this one, but could definitely hold its own in a comparison.

Orlando Brewing Pale Ale

Orlando Brewing Partners is a relatively new microbrewery here in Orlando, and their bottled beer is starting to show up at some local stores. I got this one at Whole Foods. The brewery is dedicated to making organic brews, and they're proud of their adherence to the Reinheitsgebot - the German Purity law of 1487. This law required beer to be made from 3 basic ingredients - water, malt and hops. Yeast was not understood at the time, so it was not included in the law. This is a beautifully clear amber ale, and is very mild in flavor. It has very little hop presence. I think the brewers were more concerned about it being organic and pure, than they were about making it interesting. This is not a "bad" beer at all, and would make a good session beer - but it's not an interesting beer. One thing I liked about it was its nice full head, and subsequent lacing on the glass. I have several other beers from this company, including a stout, so I hope their other offerings are more exciting.

Lagunitas Brewing "Censored" Rich Copper Ale

I don't know how to pronounce their name, and I don't "get" the names of their beers, but I really like the Lagunitas Brewing company. Their beer is always flavorful and interesting. And then there's the Frank Zappa thing they have going on some of their labels. Zappa was a musical genius, but I would not expect him to be honored on a beer label. This beer is called "Censored" Rich Copper Ale and copper is the color of the ale when poured. Once again, the head was there, and then almost immediately gone. This is a malty brew with plenty of nice West Coast grapefruity hops. The hops balanced the beer nicely. I have tried a number of beers from this brewery, and have never been disappointed.

Gritty McDuff's Original Pub Style Pale Ale

Gritty McDuff's Original Pub Style Pale Ale is brewed in Portland Maine. The Northeast part of the US is a brewing powerhouse, and equals the Northwest in quality and style. This particular ale is very refreshing. It poured a beautiful clear amber, with a decent head that lasted for a short while. It had plenty of pine flavored hop presence. This was my first sample of a brew from Gritty McDuff's, and I will be looking for more varieties in the near future.

Left Hand Brewing's Juju Ginger

When I saw this beer, I just had to try it. I really like beer and I really like ginger, so this was win-win. It poured a nice honey color, with a great big white head. The head evaporated rather quickly, but at least it had one for a little while. This is a very light beer, and would be excellent for the summer. It tasted almost like a wheat, but it's actually a pale ale, flavored with ground ginger root. The ginger was more obvious than I expected, which was a good thing. I liked this a lot, even though my tastes normally tend toward maltier brews.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

This is one of the more popular American Pale Ales, and for good reason. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale poured a nice golden amber color with a decent white head that left some nice lacing on the glass. It had a strong hop profile, noticeably grapefruity Cascade hops were very obvious. In fact, this had more hop presence than the Long Hammer IPA I reviewed a while back. Being somewhat of a hop head, that suited me just fine. I've had this brew before, but I didn't remember it, so it was a pleasant surprise to come back to. I wonder if the other Sierra Nevada selections are as good....