Mount St. Helena Palisades Pale Ale

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Considering that the place I bought this seems to have never heard of "shelf life" (as far as stocking beers go), and some dust on the bottle itself, I'm going to guess that this is a slightly older sample, and review it accordingly.

Brilliant orange body, but with rather miniscule amounts of foam/carbonation/lacing.

Juicy/hoppy aroma -- nicely dry-hopped with Cascades, I take it. Certianly no complaints with this beer's nose, at least.

And I have to say that while this beer may not be in the prime of it's life, it's still no slouch when it comes down to the flavor, that's for sure. Rather "old-school" in the extensive use of Cascades (i.e. no doubt first brewed when everybody-and-their-brother was trying to copy Sierra Nevada Pale Ale), but that unto itself is certianly not a bad thing.

Something of a bisquity/bready-thing going with the mouthfeel (especially in the middle). Maybe rye or bisquit malt in the mash? Either way, fairly interesting.

Overall, this was interesting enough to perk up my taste buds. I wonder if it's even still brewed? Either way, I have no complaints about this one....

[Edit: according to the website, this recieved quite a few Gold and Silver medals in 1998 and 1999..., and yes, this does have a dash of rye to the mix. But the website is ©2000, so maybe this isn't around anymore? I hope not, since this was both inexpensive and rather tasty, IMO....]
//TB