BJ's Piranha Pale Ale

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7

An orange colored beer with a three fingered sudsy textured, off white head rising above. There's some hang time on the head. There's some hang time on that head. It settles into a moderate ringlet. A light, sessionable hoppy profile in the nose and in the tasting. A sweetness balances it out. Light, effervescent.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

The beer pours a light, orange, copper color with just a thin, white filmy head, but it leaves some decent lace. It smells nice and sweet, I mostly noticed vanilla and orange. The taste is kinda fruity, there are hints of orange, and sweet, bready malt. The beer is medium bodied with a good amount of carbonation.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Little hazy dark yellow/orange with small white foam head. Aroma is nice bitter, likewise the taste. Nice long bitter aftertaste. More an IPA then American Pale Ale to me. (Houston 201303)

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

an average pale ale, but that said, it's a fairly pleasing beer. Hoping for more from the nose...a bit mellow...but the flavor is pretty much what you expect from a classic apa. body is ok, maybe a touch on the thin side, nice dry hoppy finish.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

Copper colored with a mild piney hop aroma. Grapefruit hoppy flavor, slightly sweet but overall somewhat mild. The finishing hops really aren't there as it finishes a touch bland. A decent Pale Ale.

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

Your average pale ale here. Typical nose. Typical appearance. The flavor is lacking hops (toned down for the average customer's palate I'm guessing). Not much going on. OK for a chain brewery's pale ale, I guess. The only thing good about this beer is its name.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 9

During the Brewin' With 2006 Herb Vegas Pubcrawl, I won one of the many raffle prizes -- a case of this American Pale Ale. Heck, I didn't even know that they bottled any of their stuff. But after passing around some of my loot to my buds, and keeping some to stock my fridge, I've learned to appreciate this beer all the more. The fact that this is my very last bottle of the case kinda backs that up, eh...?

I've had this several times draught at the various BJ's I've been to, and it always seemed a little too fizzy to me. Over-carbonation is a pet-peeve of mine, especially if we're talking about a commercial pro brewer that should know better.

But the bottled version? Much calmer. Not "English-style flat", not all. But with much more balanced carbonation levels.

But this is otherwise identical to the draught version -- including the golden/copper body, citrus-y aroma and front-end bite, and the dry bitter middle and finish. Tends to push the never-to-be-wholly-defined boundary that seperates American Pale Ales from American IPAs. In other words, in terms of pure bitterness, this would be called an IPA on the East Coast, and virtually unheard of across The Water!

The mouthfeel is adequate enough here, but I have always thought that the malt bill of this dude to be a bit on the thin side of things. Enough girth to matter..., but I tend to think that if this were made with a classier base malt (e.g. Marris Otter), and with some Biscuit or Victory malt, it would push this beer from "likable" to "crave-able"...

But overall, like I mentioned, I had no trouble what-so-ever putting this away. With the reduced carbonation levels (vs. the draught version), I could see ordering this offering the next time I'm at a BJ's location -- vice my ussual go-to Tatonka Stout.

Music: Hexx's "Morbid Reality".
//TB

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Golden amber color. Thin head. A hoppy aroma. I smelled some pine. The beer had a very hoppy taste to go along with the aroma. This is my favorite beer so far at BJ's.

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

The pale ale is a golden amber color with a fairly thin head. Aroma was hoppy and slightly sweet. Flavor was hoppy grapefruit, slightly spicy. An average pale ale that I found drinkable, albeit non spectacular.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

Great lacing...good copper oraange colour...small medium head settles down decently..slight pine smell...big hop taste for a pale...good but not a pale ale at all!