Beer Works Special Pale Ale

Brewed by Salem Beer Works
Style: American Pale Ale
Salem, Massachusetts USA

Serve in Lager glass, Shaker

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   add pic

@ fenway location. Ok nose, Mainly citrus with some toffee. Hazy brownish orange color, good head that slowly faded. Bitter flavors Grapefruit, metallic, lemon, grassy. Medium body, kinda creamy mouthfeel, citrusy bitter finish that lasts a while. Grew on me as it warmed up. Pretty tasty

on tap-pours a thin off white head that laces and hazy amber color. Aroma is mild medium malt, hops. Taste is nice balanced/mellow medium malt, citrus/spicy hops-some bitter. English style. OK carbonation.

POurs medium amber. Notes of hops on the nose with some light fruits. The palate shows a dry hoppiness that bends into a bit of the grapefruit note on the finish.

Draught pint at Fenway location on 4/14/07
One-finger of white head atop a very pale, brassy-gold body that is clear and shows brisk carbonation. Head laces lightly, with moderate retention.
Nose is moderately hoppy, certainly showing more hops than either malt or yeast. I believe this is a single-hop EKG beer, though I am not positive. Regardless, the main force is certainly EKGs and there are a fair amount of them in here. Still, this hop is not exactly bursting with aroma and flavor by the time it makes it to the US and I really dont see the reason for using it unless you’re getting it fresh in Englan and using it immediately. Dusty, lightly sweaty and with some sourish-cattiness, it nonetheless posesses some dry, yellow fruits and light floral notes (dry lilacs, lavendar, vanilla blossom). Very grainy malt bill is also quite dry and gives some toastiness as well as a small amount of light, pale malt sweetness. Clean yeast, and very low bitterness overall. The sourish-catty flavors persist somewhat, being the biggest drawback to this beer.
Lemon and light white grapefruit, toasted malt, floral-herbal hops and light vanilla all combine in the flavor to give a sort of American golden ale-meets-English pale-meets-American pale ale flavor. Low bitterness, but ample, I’d say, bolstered by the relative dryness of the beer and the brisk carbonation. Toasted malt is a little too strong, crowding out the finish and giving too much acidity (though it’s still rather light, overall). Some wateriness and only a medium-light body at best, but drinkable, if somewhat pestered by unclean/old hop notes and too much dryness/wateriness.

(tap) nothing very "special" about this... average... average... average, and i don’t know where beaconstreet got this vanilla cake thing from... and we were drinking out the same glass. *winks*

Vanilla cake scent wafts off this a little. Also hints of an aroma slightly like lit matchstick heads. Nice brown. Even-handed dosage from the hops god-brewers here.

Light bodies, hoppy/floral aroma, with a taste much the same. Moderatly hopped, quite plain and mediocore.