Sweetwater Tavern Great American Pale Ale (Snake River Pale Ale)

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

Been to Sweetwater a handful of times and this may very well be their best beer, which isn't saying a whole lot. A rust coluiored beer with skunky grainy malts, sokme weak caramel and floral hops. The flavour is slightly sweet and a weak finish.

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

My parents picked up a six pack for me when they traveled to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I was pleasantly surprised by this beer and enjoyed it very much. Clear amber pour with white head. Smell of hops and flavor of hops. Very good!

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 7

Clear dark copper with a long-lasting creamy head. Orangey hops in the aroma. A bit like grapefruit juice in the flavor. Malt is a bit thin. Slightly harsh bittereness in the finish.

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

A very weird beer. Decent enough to drink, but still..., weird.

This particular beer isn't just for one pub or resturant, but an entire conglomerate of resturants, under the rather hackney "Great American Restaurant" banner. Wouldn't be at all surprised to find a single glossy color ad in an airline magazine featuring many of these resturants, one-per-major-city, of course.

But anyway, with all that out of the way, how does this Pale Ale match up? This isn't neccesarily going to blow your socks off. But you shouldn't find it too disappointing, either. Enough of a hop prescence to keep this satisfactory, and with enough gumption in the malt, too. Drink well enough, no serious faults or what-have-you. And it's fine in the mouthfeel, as well.

But there's really nothing here that I haven't had 100s of times before. A Grade-A Standard, run-of-the-mill American Pale Ale, that really does taste like dozens of APAs that I've had before. Okay, for what it sets out to do. But if this is being made for a chain of resturants, I tend to think that those resturants are selling their customers short, beer-wise....
//TB

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

Poured from a growler. Very nice amber color with an white head. It smelled very nice and I was expecting an awesome hop flavor but it never showed up. Had a watery finish with no real taste to it. To bad that the hoppiness doesn't come through on this beer.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 7

From a growler. Poured a clear, amber color with a medium, white head. Above-average lacing. Very strong and pleasant hoppy aroma. Nice mouthfeel. Flavor was decent, but not very hoppy. Aftertaste was rather disappointing, with not much of a hoppy aftertaste. Okay beer, but didn't taste as good as it smelled.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 6

Easily Sweetwater Tavern's best offering. Compared to the four other brews on tap that night, this one had complexity and robustness. However, when compared to any other pale ale, it falls flat. Decent ruddy orange color, hoppy flavor that doesn't permeate the aroma, unfortunately. Nice and smooth, but no hoppy aftertaste. This was the only one I ordered again the night I was at the Sweetwater in Falls Church, VA.