Fruitful hazy golden medium body embellishes butterscotch frontage with toasted almond-pecan and bright apple-pear-peach luster. At candied midst, honeyed oats gain footing alongside floral-hopped grapefruit-mango-papaya tropicalia. Zippy tangerine tang informs sugared malt finish quite succinctly.
- Author: John Fortunato
- Brewery: WIDMER BROTHERS, PORTLAND, OR.
- Category: Beers A-Z
- Comments: None
- Author: John Fortunato
- Brewery: NEW OLD LOMPOC BREWERY, PORTLAND, OR.
- Category: Beers A-Z
- Comments: None
Quaffed at Portland’s Morningstar Café, quince-wafted medium-to-full body with dark amber tone brings lingered piney hop resin to grapefruit peel bittering countering sweet apple-orange tang. Minor wood lacquering upended by wheat-honeyed caramel malting.
- Author: John Fortunato
- Brewery: ITHACA BEER CO., ITHACA, N.Y.
- Category: Beers A-Z
- Comments: None
On tap, ‘wet-hopped’ copper-hazed autumnal seasonal shelters leathery hay-horsehide earthiness, dry fresh-cut wheat chaff, and sun-drenched corn-maize singe with sour lemon-bruised grapefruit zest. Resinous grassy-hopped vegetal restraint and soapy metallic tinge provide pliant backdrop.
- Author: John Fortunato
- Brewery: SPANISH PEAKS BREW. CO., FREDERICK, MD.
- Category: Beers A-Z
- Comments: None
Hopheads impressed by resinous bitter-hopped depth as well as gooey viscous yeast sediment will enjoy sinewy cloudy copper ‘Classic Pale Ale.’ Zesty citric fragrance and recessive apple-peach-pineapple-pear sweetness counter heavily embittered lemon-peeled grapefruit rind finish. Weary caramel-malted cocoa souring and wavering astringent mustiness deplete overall fruited nature. Withered herbal-floral spicing and wayward piney nuance lack luster.
- Author: John Fortunato
- Brewery: CISCO BREWERIES, NANTUCKET, MA.
- Category: Beers A-Z
- Comments: None
Up-front lemony orange rind repose, brisk floral hop resonation, and biscuit-y wheat sweetness settle to tart apple goodness. Back-throated piney peppercorn restraint allows earthy barnyard and vegetal notes to fill acrid dry oak void.
- Author: John Fortunato
- Brewery: WILLIAMSBURG BREWERY, WILLIAMSBURG, VA.
- Category: Beers A-Z
- Comments: None
Caramelized ruby-hued ale reliant on toasted barley and cracked wheat sweetness to soured fruit midst. Embittered hops enrich red grape, grapefruit, and melon tangent as butterscotch finish recedes.
- Author: John Fortunato
- Brewery: SLY FOX BREWERY, ROYERSFORD, PA.
- Category: Beers A-Z
- Comments: None
- Author: John Fortunato
- Brewery: OTTER CREEK BREWING, MIDDLEBURY, VT.
- Category: Beers A-Z
- Comments: None
Toot-sweet Egyptain-styled multi-grained pale ale ‘brewed with honey and chamomile’ finds both advertised adjuncts hitting their mark firmly. Anticipatory honey-dripped affluence slowly picks up tea-like subsidy overrun by pasty marzipan-butterscotch creaminess and warm almondine illusion. Astringent hop coarseness and minor diacetyl buttering cut into mild ginger-snapped cinnamon-nutmeg interlude.
- Author: John Fortunato
- Brewery: PHILADELPHIA BREW. CO., PHILADELPHIA, PA.
- Category: Beers A-Z
- Comments: None
Tenuous moderate-bodied ‘golden session ale’ lacks sufficient Kolsch styling. Politely embittered lemony grapefruit-spiced hop pep counters buttered corn sweetness to slim white breaded spine. Vegetal nuance lowers appeal.
- Author: John Fortunato
- Brewery: MAD RIVER BREW. CO., BLUE LAKE, CA.
- Category: Beers A-Z
- Comments: None
- Author: John Fortunato
- Brewery: EASTERN SHORE BREWERY, ST. MICHAELS, MD.
- Category: Beers A-Z
- Comments: None
- Author: John Fortunato
- Brewery: PENNICHUCK BREW. CO., MILFORD, N.H.
- Category: Beers A-Z
- Comments: None
Simple biscuit-y treat. Obvious barley-toasted caramel malting counters dry hop-spiced astringency. Cardboard-y cocoa-powdered marzipan reminder has polite acidic bitterness and soft nuttiness of copper ale.
