Big Time Snowmelt American Ale

Brewed by Big Time Brewery
Style: American Pale Ale
Seattle, Washington USA

Serve in Lager glass, Shaker

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Nitrogen tap at pub. Light orange, nitro cream head. Fresh PNW hop nose, definite bit of spruce. Very smooth, fruity, orange, grapefruit, sight pine. Malts balanced bit didn’t really do much for the flavor. Tasty overall, an excellent APA.

Some times I am a man of few words. This beer was pretty plain.

Draught Good, very fine yellowish & dense head; hazy orange-amber ale. Very grapey-hoppy nose, grapefruit, sweet-bitter, even in the nose. Sweetish, with a building-up bitterness, fruity, but less outspoken grapefruit flavour. Even more hops in the finish, balance however remains right. Creamy, the nitro helping, smooth but not cloying. OK, I’m not a big fan of nitrokeg, but here it seems to help the brewer fight the yeast/balance control problems. So why should I complain?

A very nice fragrant floral aroma, hoppy but also tame, not aggresive and over the top, just right. Has a very pleasant honey, graham cracker maltiness, very light bodied, just light overall, this could be a great APA, if it was a little bigger.

UPDATED: APR 29, 2006 On cask at the Big Time.

The beer pours a cloudy honey. Great big wonderful nose of floral cascade hops; this beer has an out-of-this-world hop aroma. Unfortunately, the flavor and mouthfeel simply can’t back up the promise that the nose offers; they’re too weak on the malt, too hollow, too thin to come through with anything like what one is anticipating given the nose. On the other hand, I might have been somewhat less disappointed had I realized this was a 3.6% beer and adjusted my palate expectations accordingly. I’d certainly drink it again happily, especially at lunchtime if one doesn’t want a beer pack the full punch of one of their better 7 or 8% strong ales.

Coming back to this beer a second time on cask (and yet again on tap) and knowing that I was getting a 3.6%, I was even more impressed. I’ve bumped the rating upward a few points accordingly. If this beer tasted half as good as it smells, it would be darn near unbeatable under 4%. Unfortunately, even the foreknowledge that you’re dealing with a 3.6% beer doesn’t entirely cut the watery disappointment that follows the sublime aroma.

On Nitro: My rating may be effect by this. Orangy colour with a typical creamy nitro head. Nitro probably took some of the hop flavour but it did still have some nice hop aroma. Flavour was slightly bitter with the hops but balanced nicely with malts. Would like to try it without nitro some time.

The pub was serving this on nitro when I went, but I'm not adding the nitro version as a separate beer because I can't figure out that rule. It was served to me in full cascading mode and it took a while for the show to end. Clear orange with a creamy head typical of nitro beers. I was expecting all the hop flavors to be washed out by the nitro, but not at this place. The Cascade hops ride high on a strong, malt backbone. Great use of nitro.

Was called bitter the first time I had it.Lightly spiced hop nose. Flavor is also lighlty spiced but seems lacking in hops. Rather light and thin.

UPDATED: FEB 24, 2003 Hints of spiciness in the bouquet are what is expected of a winter brew. Honey-colored, with a pleasantly spicy body that is smooth, but a little light on the underside--with a finishing hoppy piquance. Rerate: Much better than I remembered (this is on nitro)--bronze with a creamy head--and honeyed hops. A nice APA to encounter in the winter.