XP Pale Ale™

(Bottle 65 cl) Courtesy of KAggie97. Pours a clear, deep golden with a creamy and lacing, off-white head. Fresh, peachy aroma. Medium body with lightly sweet malts, but otherwise dominated by the fresh aroma hops. A pleasant and classic APA. 301107

big bottle. Pours an orange/gold color with a frothy medium white head. The aroma is very hoppy with a bit of fruit. Good lacing on the glass. The taste is a very sweet hop and light malt with a bitter finish. A very good Pale Ale by Bear Republic.

2007-11-30, Papsø’s Blind Tasting, bottle, 7-3-6-3-13=32
Cloudy golden color. The aroma has on on bit of herbal and leafy hop. The flavor is weaker than expected, lacking of malt, only the good hop left, on on bit harsh; the final is very dry, astringent, on on bit yeasty.

2007-11-14, bottle, 7-4-7-3-14=35
Hazy amber color, beautiful; creamy head. Very nice aroma, hoppy, a bit grassy, and fruity (oranges). The body is a bit thin to me, with caramel flavor and strong hopping, with a lot of hop oils. It ends on the dry side, long final. Good, refreshing.

22 oz bottle from Zinister. Pour is amber orange, clear, with a nice off white head. Aroma is bready malt and a bit of orange or grapefruit hop. Taste is somewhat muted, though really balanced between the malt and the hop. Really well made, and a nice session beer, though nothing that really jumps out at you. Cheers, Michael.

This brew is a clear copper color with a thick and rocky white head that burns off slowly. Patches of lacing. The aroma is hoppy with touches of citrus. Medium-bodied with a hops character that borders on harsh. Very little malt and caramel to balance. The finish retains the hoppyness with some floral notes. I am all for amped up hops but in this case it is at the expense of flavor. Not a bad beer, however it needs some balance to live up to the name.

Pours a nice orange with a large, off-white, puffy head. Citrus hops, caramel, pine, floral notes, and biscuit malts. I swish the aroma was a bit stronger. Watery body. Flavor is much like the aroma with less of the caramel and more noticeable biscuit malt. Finishes with some hops on the back of your tongue Crisp and refreshing, but lacking a bit of aroma and flavor strength.

Bottle. Amber beer with a nice off-white head. Grapefruit aroma with some pine and biscuit. Grapefruit and pine flavor with a slight harshness that leads to a nice grapefruit finish. Decent bitterness. Medium bodied.

Pours an watery amber with orange hues from the bomber with a slightly lacing white head. Aroma is very fruity, floral and hoppy. Initial flavor is sweet and very crisp, hoppy, sticky, citrus and piney. Finish is clean and sweet. Nice beer, wheatier than other pale ales, but a good american version.

Clear pale amber with a big frothy white head. Sweet citrus hops aroma. Sweet grapefruit hop flavor.

2005 bomber shared with SuIIy on 2/9/06. Plenty of foamy/wispy white head appears atop the straw colored body with just the slightest hint of haziness. Small bubbles rise frequently throughout and the beer is bottle conditioned, I believe. Head removes to cover/ring, fairly quickly, but there is spotty lacing left behind as it recedes. Nose shows off light orange zest, mixed with a fresh floral bouquet, hints of grapefruit rind and airy notes of pale grains, limes, live yeast, dough and a growing honey-like malt as it warms. The cascades seem to dominate a bit much, while not enough dextrin malt makes it through to quite balance. But for a low gravity golden/pale ale, I can see why they would want to try and showcase the hops in the nose and little else. Anyways, moving on the the flavor, the beer gets quite interesting. Two things really strike me as I drink it. One, this is really more just a hopped up golden ale and Two, this is REALLY drinkable. Medium amounts of soft-bubbled carbonation gently allow the liquid to glide down the throat, as the lithe malt adds graininess and touches of sweat and dough. But the grapefruit and oranges guide the beer along the palate, keeping it very dry. Overattenuated mouthfeel, as tiggmtl says, but rather than view it as a flaw, I choose to just rate this one more to a golden ale style. Soft floral notes emerge as the beer warms and breathes and the specialty malts really do make an appearance. Not sweet, but there are some notes of biscuits, sweat, hay and then of course, dry yeast.