Champ Ale
McNeill's Brewery in Brattleboro, Vermont, United States 🇺🇸
Pale Ale - American Style / APA Regular|
Score
6.08
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Bitterbill (4330) reviewed Champ Ale from McNeill's Brewery 8 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
From Jul 2008
I got this bottle in a trade with Vermonthiker. Thanks Tom!
My first sample from McNeill's:
It pours a hazy orange gold with a 1 finger head of foam. There's some good lacing here and the head retention is very good.
The smell is light but nice. I'm getting some fruity notes along with some caramel sweetness and some citric bitterness.
The taste is definitely fruity. I can taste some pear, some lemon, maybe some orange, a bit of malty sweetness in the background, and it finishes quite bitter and with a slight sourness. This has a real grapefruity kick at the end and like I said, it's very bitter....but nice.
It has a medium mouthfeel that's on the lower end of medium, and it's on the medium side with the carbonation. Most unusual tasting American Pale Ale because of the flavours here and because it's only 5.5%abv, it makes for a pretty darned good sessionable Ale. I see the sticker on the bottle says $3.99 for the bomber..that's an outstanding price for a very pleasurable APA indeed! Well done McNeill's and thanks again Tom!
CoastGuardVet (6205) reviewed Champ Ale from McNeill's Brewery 9 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 2 | Flavor - 2 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 4
Reviewed from notes.
This was poured into a nonic pint glass.
The appearance was a ruddy burnt orange color with a decent transparency to it. Mild carbonation could be seen bouncing its way to the top (weird). Bubbly white to light foamy head was seen dissipating quickly. No lacing.
The aroma has some burnt toast, roasted biscuits, burnt grass and then the burnt chex mix. Everything seemed burnt, okay, not sure if I like where this is going.
The flavor was basically the same, everything is burnt, even the aftertaste and finish (which comes across fairly ashy).
On the palate, it sat between light and medium bodied. Carbonation seemed fine. Sessionability, well, if you like to sip on overly roasted ashiness for your APA’s, maybe this is for you.
Overall, was this a bad joke? Dave, you suck, if you’re reading this. Mother effer, how old is this? Well, if anything, if you like your APA’s tasting like a bad rauchbier, go ahead, but I think I got \"played.\"
AdamChandler (5745) reviewed Champ Ale from McNeill's Brewery 11 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 4 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Gold brown. Vienna malt, pils malt and a touch of pine cone. Again, overly sweet rice Krispy treats tastes like a mildly bittered homebrew
omhper (44752) reviewed Champ Ale from McNeill's Brewery 13 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 4.5
Draught at Oliver Twist, Stockholm. Hazy amber, small head. Piney tangerine aroma. Sweetish with light body and clean, spritzy mouthfeel. Crystal malt and pine needles. Diluted orangy hops, some resiny bitterness. Shallow malt character, odd hops.
bhensonb (22605) reviewed Champ Ale from McNeill's Brewery 14 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Bomber from Carl. Pours amber with a large creamy off-white head. Aroma is a bit perfume - could be grape I suppose. Med body. Foamy carb. It’s a little floral, a little fruity, and a touch of grape is possible, but I’d vote for floral and citrus. The malt is present, but not strongly roasted. I’m thinking more ESB than APA.
Ibrew2or3 (10819) reviewed Champ Ale from McNeill's Brewery 15 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Courtesy of jcwattsrugger. Bomber pours near copper with off white head. The aroma has some sharp citrus, grainy breadiness and malts. The taste runs up first with citrus hops, some lemon like acidity, grapefruit juice, some orange zest and tangelo. All those notes create a fairly sharp and bitter bite. In the background is a modest amount of malty sweetness. This thing is growing on me and ends much better than it started as my palate adjusts (I assume).
jcwattsrugger (14787) reviewed Champ Ale from McNeill's Brewery 16 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
on tap-pours a white head that laces and hazy gold color. Aroma is citrus, secondary light malt. Taste is citrus-lemon/grapefruit with some bitter, secondary light malt.
nimbleprop (16712) reviewed Champ Ale from McNeill's Brewery 18 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 4 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 3
Sorry guys, you know I love my McNeils but this one really missed the mark. Poured a transparent deep yellow with greenish hues and a very foamy white head. Aroma was subtle, but the hop presence was there. What do you expect from an APA though? Flavor is off, a little stale maybe, but flat and nothing but lemon juice to taste. The finish is watery. Had to pour it out, I couldn’t finish the glass let alone a bottle.
CosmicCharlie (9644) reviewed Champ Ale from McNeill's Brewery 19 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Pours amber into a shaker. Off-white head recedes to stay on the surface. Slightly sour caramel with lasting bitter hop finish.
Clarkvv (16523) reviewed Champ Ale from McNeill's Brewery 20 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5.5
On draught at the brewery, 8/5/2005 with Eyedrinkale. Pours a soft, peach-toned body, light golden-hay and just a shade of copper. Film of white head, with moderate retention. Glassy/clear appearance. Aroma of soft, fruity yeast and hops, no bitterness, maybe some caramel and just straight up pale malt sugars. A bit of dry yeast. Flavor begins with lots of fruit, pineapple, orange, apricot, peach and more pale malt. Low carbonation, fuzzy feel to th texture, with some wateriness on the end. Unlike the Yukon gold, this one did have some astringency problems, getting papery on the end, and quite dull/bland. Not sure what caused this, but it really seemed to kill the beer. Just a regular old APA, really. Medium body.