Thorn Brewing Company Rock The Pale

Rock The Pale

 

Thorn Brewing Company in San Diego, California, United States 🇺🇸

  Pale Ale - American Style / APA Regular
Score
7.02
ABV: - IBU: - Ticks: 6
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6.8
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Draft. Amber beer with a cream head. Light malt and citrus aroma. Malt and citrus flavor. Medium bodied. Malt and citrus linger.

Tried on 27 Jun 2025 at 15:49


7.8
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 8

0.355l can. Clear golden/orange body with a thick and lasting white head. Aroma and taste of caramel, biscuit, grapefruit, grape seed, pine and lime zest. The citrusy charater is more vivid in the taste than in the aroma. Medium bodied with a bit higher than average carbonation. Nice one.

Tried from Can on 13 Dec 2019 at 20:08


8.2
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

American style pale ale from this brewpub in San Diego, named after the street where it is located. Can with sober black, white and grey colours and referring to the spirit of the local music scene; about one and a half year old already now, so considering style, likely past its prime. Rather thick, frothy, eggshell-white, tightly 'papier maché'-like lacing, gradually dissipating but generally very stable head, misty warm orange-hued peachy golden hue with disparate and fine sparkling. Aroma, in spite of its age, still remarkably bright, inviting and fresh: impressions of fresh orange peel, pink grapefruit juice, dry biscuit, pine resin, cheese crackers and indeed an actual dry old cheese rind hint, green olives, chicken spices, ripe mandarin, very faint background whiffs of wet clay, peach jam and old rubber. Crisp, bright, spritzy onset, lots of stinging and very minerally carbonation but acceptable for an APA, bright 'yellow' fruitiness of pineapple, peach, some blood orange and peach but in a clean, smooth, non-estery (so malty and hoppy) way; oily, smooth mouthfeel, feeling quite 'full' for 5.5% ABV. Lovely biscuity and cracker-like maltiness, slick and just a tad sweet with a toasty-bitterish accent, highly and colourfully aromatized by a firm, very citric, long-stretching, elegantly fruity and spicy, resinous hop bitterness, pushing vivid aromas of blood orange, grapefruit, pine, mandarin, green olives and toasted garlic upwards with only the slightest dash of 'oldness' (cheese rind). This can must have been kept in exceptionally good circumstances, as this beer is still as bright and colourful as I love my APAs and IPAs to be; this one is hoppy (and bitter) enough to qualify as an IPA as well, but more importantly, it has a beautiful citric character as well as exotic, rounded spiciness, making for a very elegant yet tangy ale. Lovely drink, which I may even have enjoyed more than I would have otherwise, due to the piney, spicy and strongly grapefruity West Coast character it exhibits - it even makes me a bit nostalgic for those exciting pre-NEIPA times...

Tried from Can on 11 Dec 2019 at 19:47


6.2
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6

355ml can. Opalescent, orangey golden to amber colour with average, frothy, half-way lasting, minimally lacing, white head. Rather weak, pney and citrusy, hoppy aroma, caramel malty background. Taste is moderately bitter, piney and citrusy hoppy, caramel and pale malty basis, hints of lemon, lemongrass, lemon tea; minimally watery texture. A bit anaemic.

Tried from Can on 25 Feb 2019 at 22:26


6.9
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

Sample at the taproom. Clear golden color with a thin white head that evaporates quickly to an outer ring. Short strings of lace. Tropical fruit, floral hops and malt in the nose. Light-bodied with flavors of grapefruit, grassy hop and biscuit malt. The finish is mildly bitter with a fruity hop aftertaste. Decent overall.

Tried from Draft on 23 Apr 2018 at 20:41


7.2
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Can from Bine & Vine. Pours gold with a white head. Aroma is floral with a hint of roasty malt. Med body or so. Flavor is very fruity/floral. It’s bitter. There’s definite roasty malt. Arguably nails the style. Bitter!!! Yeah!

Tried from Can on 20 Aug 2017 at 20:07