Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Boston Beer Works: cask-conditioned Fenway American Pale

So, normally this is a moderately boring standard pale - nothing to write... home? about. However, now apparently they're cask conditioning the pale ale (instead of the usual IPA or oatmeal stout) and dry-hopping it with Palisade hops. It's important to mention that I know very little about particular hops or malts. I'm guessing Palisade hops are born somewhere on the west coast, and guessing from this beer, near orange or clementine or grapefruit farms.
-Color: darker amber than most pales. very nice, foggy, slow settling bubbles at the beginning that make it turbid at first and settling like a Guiness. Thin, but nice head with impressive retension
-Aroma: sweet citrus and hops, or better, sweet citrus hops. Some subtle malt.
-Taste: straight grapefruit. soft mouthfeel, almost no carbonation. Hoppy, but to my tongue not even slightly bitter. the taste is not as sweet as the scent, but the taste is like a grapefruit with sugar. I wouldn't say the taste is unpleasant, but it's honestly way too much grapefruit and too little normal (?) hop flavor
-Aftertaste: Just like the taste then fades into a very nice, hoppiness with only fringe grapefruit. I think (hope) this is the flavor they were going for - I nice dry-hopped, IPA-ish ale with a hint of grapefruit, as opposed to this juice with beer flavor.
This is a good idea and an adventurous twist on a somewhat boring standard pale.
Kudos to them for trying. It's worthwhile if only for uniqueness.

BTW, just picked up 2007 Stone Old Guardian barleywine... just thought I'd put that out there.

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