Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale

Bottle shared by nolankowal: Clear orange/copper in color with a white head. Aroma, some citrus notes, pale malts, caramel, some floral notes as well. Flavor, light malts, some subtle spicing, and a lot of very floral hops. Pretty unique I thought. Quite good for a pale.

2006 bottle from KenB, drunk on 11/8/06
Off-white head is expansive, rocky and shows moderate retention, sticky lacing. Brass-gold body is mostly clear. Light bubbles rise in distinct streams.
Sourdough/toasty malt is twangy/sharp in the nose, what you’d expect from a sweet-and-sour flavor with some astringency. Hops are highly bitter, mostly white grapefruit and light pine. Strong nose, but it’s very monotonous, and no lively fruitiness, tropical or otherwise comes forth. Not that I’m expecting some deeply aromatic DIPA nose out of this, but it just seems very heavy on the IBUS and not so much on the pure aromatics. Some light metallic notes are notable as well, on the finish, with doughty, lightly aspirin-like yeast. Light vanilla cream base malts eventually pass the crystal/medium malts, but both of these, in consequence, take away from the hop presence (though in this case that’s a good thing, I think).
Staunchly bitter, somewhat soggy, stale hop notes crowd the palate immediately, adding acids and overwhelming the palate. Sourdough/bready yeastiness further harries the palate and the finish is just a mess of bitterness and astringency. Very dry orange marmalade, lemons, white grapefruits. Things that only the hophead who cares little for balance, is going to appreciate. Moderate carbonation, slightly loose, with touches of wateriness. Some pale malt sweetness lingers on the finish, almost syrupy-like. Taken with the heavy hop bitterness, it’s most unpleasant to me. That said, at least they overdo the beer instead of underdoing it (they are at least giving you more for your money....).

Sampled on 12/20/2006... 12 oz bottle (Best by 12/20/06 1739M, 5.0% ABV) from bitbucket. Thanks Bob! -- Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale pours a vibrant orange copper color with a thin white crown. The aroma is just like that of Goldenrod honey. It also tastes a lot like Goldenrod honey with some Cascade hops. I know this for sure because I recently made some mead using Goldenrod honey, Cascade hops, peaches, and cinnamon and could recognize the honey and hops blindfolded now! It has a slight honey sweetness at first and then the finish has a mild signature Cascade hop bitterness to it that lingers nicely. Palate: Medium body, mild to moderate carbonation, and smooth. Overall this is a really good pale ale and different than most available because of it’s unique honey-like flavors than remind me of mead. I really enjoyed this brew and hope to have more in the future. This would make an excellent session beer...

Thanks to Jake for this one. Pours hazy orangy coppery with medium off-white head. Aroma of Cascade hops, some fruit, caramel malt, citrus. Tastes complex and medium bodied, with a nice hop presence coupled with slight fruit and slight finishing resiny character.

A nice APA. Lots of citrus in aroma and taste. Decent head some lacing. An almost smoky taste, nice.

How have I not rated this? This has been my go-to beer for a while, as it’s perpetually on sale for $12 or so at my local grocery. I’ve always liked it a lot though. Let’s see, hazy light copper. Aroma is pumped full of delicious, cookie/fresh bread malts and a generous dousing of floral grapefruit hops (although with the added malt component it comes through differently than SNPA). Tons more grapefruit coming through in the flavor, although with a slight caramel/crystal sweetness. Perfect bitterness level. Finish balances mouthfeel and sweetness/dryness perfectly. Really the quintessential west coast pale ale.

O.K., from ze tap this is a fabulous beer, just a perfect pitch of citrus and sharpness and drinkability. From a bottle it tends to become too overbearingly grapefruit-y. Recommended regardless.

Amber in color with a small white head. Aroma is sweet,fruity and of citrus hops. Flavor is of sweet malt,fruity with the body a bit thin.