Williamsburg Pale Ale

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

A true-to-style beer. Ligther colored than many with a slight head and very little lacing. Nice floral/hoppy aroma. Sligthly bitter and medium bodied on the pallatte. Tasty.

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

Cask-conditioned beer from the hand pump at the Green Leafe Café, in historic Williamsburg VA.

I originally ordered the Williamsburg Steam, but was told that it was out, so I settled for this offering. I was a little leary of this, since my previous exposure to cask-conditioned beer in the Hampton Roads area was obviously way past it's prime. Sure enough, this too was a bit long-in-the tooth, and virtually dead-on-arrival.

Basic appearence -- that is to say, nothing too thrilling to look at -- par for the course for cask-conditioned beer, IMO. But where this beer took a wrong turn (and never really recovered) was when it came to the aroma -- or lack thereof. I know East Coast Pale Ales don't overkill the hopping as much as their PacNW/West Coast brethren do, but, at the same time, Pale Ale needs to have *some* sort of hoppy aroma. This not only looked boring (a forgivable offense), but smelled dull too (an oversight that I find harder to forgive).

Things didn't turn around any when it came to crux of the matter -- the mouthfeel and flavor profile. In a word, lifeless. Not repulsive, but not appealing either. Quickly became something of a chore to drink, as the only flavors coming through were all classic signs of old age -- musty cardboard-like notes from start to finish.

I've had this in a bottle before, and remember it being decent enough. So I can only give this beer the benefit of the doubt, as far as the ratings are concerned. I'll be happy to re-review this again at some other time. But in the meantime, I would suggest getting a small sample of this before committing to a full pint.

(After mentioning how this beer was well past it's prime, the servers ended up finding out that the Steam was in fact still pouring, and I got a pint on-the-house....)
//TB

Aroma: 4 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 4 | Overall: 4

I can't find much good to say about this. I'm not a fan of Pale Ales, but even for a PA, this one didn't have much going for it. Very little head and lacing, cloudy appearance...not much taste besides just hops. Very bitter (yes, pale ales are like that, I know). It's what I imagine an American macro would do for a PA.

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

The beer has a nice hoppy aroma and is copper colored. The head did not last very long after it was poured. Decent flavor, slightly winey and fruity, but a nice malt flavor.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 6

Light copper colored ale, with an aroma dominated by signature “American” Cascades, and the earthy aroma of Willamette hops. Centennial hop bitterness is balanced by malt-caramel flavor. A rich, medium bodied alewith a smooth finish. A good example of the style.