English Ales Pale Ale

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 5

12 oz. bottle. Medium gold color. Small to medium sized white foamy head. Slight lacing. Aroma is slightly floral hops and bready. Not much aroma really. A medium bodied English Pale Ale. Malts are bready and earthy. Slightly sweet. Hops are slightly bitter, citrusy and floral. A mild flavored Pale Ale. Nie balance. Smooth taste. Touch of a hop bite at the finish. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly sweet.

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

A new beer for me, from a brewery I had never heard of until last weekend. Spotted a few different enclosed six-packs of this brewery's wares at Hi-Times..., and made it a point to grab a single from each of those sixers. For better or wose, I wanted to make sure that I was getting the complete picture of what this brewery is all about... :)

From the name, I'm guessing that this is their flagship beer. And if this beer is any indication, they have some interesting beers in their catalog.

First things first. What's with the dorky Ren-Faire dude in armor on the label? From a strictly visual basis, this has a distinctly "homebrewed" look to it.

But what counts is what ends up in my pint glass (in this case, my well-worn Diamond Knot Brewery glass). A bit yellow/honey/amber-ish in appearence, with some rather fine lacing and foam on top.

A little indistinct in the nose. Hints of some esters from the (perhaps) English Ale yeast, but nothing really all that assertive.

This beer only really gets out of it's "indistinct rut" with the flavor profile. Immediately "pops" in your mouth, with some nuances that reminded me of a few of the Cornish Bitters that I had in the U.K. last Winter. Not sure about the hop bill, but this does seem to toe the party line, as far as keeping it real, and not going balls-to-the-wall, aka "Hops! American Style...!"¹

Odd finding this to be 6%ABV, since it really comes across to me as more of a well-behaved Bitter. Perhaps this is more along the lines of an ESB? But that's neither here nor there....

Overall, an interesting beer, all-told. Really seems a bit out-of-it's-element, since this definately does not fit in with the Left Coast Hop Monster Mold that way too many other beers find themselves trapped doing. And, in my mind, that's a refreshing change of pace...!

Music: The Forsaken's "Mainfest Of Hate".
//TB

¹ Bonus points here if you remember the frickin' gawd-awful American TV show "Love, American Style!" from the mid-`70's....