Brickstone Pale Ale

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

A very aromatic pale ale. A pale golden orange in colour with a small off-white cap, it’s nothing special to look at. The aroma is what is special here with lots of citrus, tropical fruit, and piney notes in the mix. The flavour falls in line with the aroma, some sweet malt up front, but the notes of citrus and pine are the star here.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 10 | Overall: 9

Copper pour with medium white head. Initially appeared to have a lot of carbonation. Average amount of lace. Pine and citrus aroma. Taste started out grassy and ended with grapefruit. Very nice hop presence that was nicely balanced. Easily one of my favorite APAs.

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

Poured into a pint glass, it has a pale copper hue. I noticed the lack of head at the beginning of the pour, so I aggressively poured until it came close to the top of the glass. There was a small eggshell colored head which quickly disappeared. But later, when I poured the remaining 6-7 ounces in the glass, it left some nice clinging lacing on the sides of the glass. The aromas of grapefruit, lemon, mandarin and muted pine cones fill my nose. As the brewer noted on the label, "intensely hopped with Citra and Amarillo". On my tongue, the citrus parade continues with a surprisingly sweet malty finish. The piney hops show up late and leave a pleasant sappy aftertaste. The flavors are well done, but the amount of carbonation falls short. The lack of a head, sparce bubbles and only a slight hint of them in my mouth is a bit of a disappointment. I love my hops and this beer is extremely flavorful, but the lack of carbonation forces me to give it an slightly average mouthfeel rating. I will definitely try this beer again and hopefully it will have a few more bubbles than this one. All in all, the flavor profile makes this a very solid APA. Lots of APA competition here in the Midwest with Three Floyds "Alpha King" and "Zombie Dust" and Half Acre "Daisy Cutter", this is another solid brew in that category. To be continued... Update: Went to the brewpub today and had another one. A bit more carbonation. Brought home a bomber and had a similar experience to my original one, but raised my mouthfeel and overall rating slightly due to pub visit.