Emersons APA

Formerly brewed at Emersons Brewing Company
Style: American Pale Ale
Dunedin, New Zealand

Serve in Lager glass, Shaker

Bottled: Orange coloured. Unclear. Fluffy beige head. Citric, flowery, herby and light chocolatish beer. Loads of impression in both aroma and flavour. Flavour is a bit more distinct than aroma. Is quite hoppy which leads into a quite hard bitterness. Is medium bodied. Good one.

Amber brown body that was slightly murky and a compact off-white head. It looks just like my home-brew APA but the hops stand out a lot more in both aroma and taste. Reminds of Ferals IIPA just dumbed down a bit. Hops do stand out on the nose and they come through well in the taste but are backed up well with the malt. I really like this APA although it is so different from other APAs that I have tried. Great body, dry, citrus hops but not too grapefruity as the others usually are and a long lasting finish. Cheers.

Bottle
Dark amber, tanned fluffy head. Spectacular perfumed hop aroma (flowers,pine). Good full body, mellow mouthfeel. Fruity (tropical) body complemented with a ample dose of aromatic hops. Fruity aftertaste.

Bottle from Olbuttiken, Copenhagen. Smells superb - sweet hops, full. Rudy gold, with a biggish head. Beginning tastes a little shredded wheat malty, with furry hops. This becomes a bigger hop flavour, quite dry, with orange fruit through the finish. Crunchy in the mouth. Good hops. Very tasty APA indeed, from this highly promising brewer.

UPDATED: APR 18, 2006 Bottle. Nice, hoppy and citric as it should be. Lychee, pine, grapefuit, really well balanced APA and a another gem from Emersons.

UPDATED: SEP 20, 2005 I was pretty excited to find this at the rapidly-improving Cloudwine in Sth Melbourne. It’s probably worth mentioning the label, which is a slight departure on their standard with some starts & stripes action and a bald eagle. It was actually a bit shocking to see imagery like that on a beer bottle but now I think it’s not a bad label. Anyway... It’s a clear copper, with a nice thin head, but it appears to be filtered! Candyish malt aroma, wholemeal bread, with spicy, grass, woody, perfumey, Nivea hand cream hops. It doesn’t seem dry-hopped, and the hops are quite a bit more restrained than I was expecting. Big English malt flavour is very good with a slight milkiness but it stars to become a bit much after a while. Very thick, solid body - much more than usual for the style - and low carbonation. Hop flavour develops quite late and is pretty herbal (thyme?) It has a smell and taste that I can only describe as "purple" - not very useful I know, perhaps something to do with lavender or purple donut filling? Bitterness is good, but not huge, and is slightly rusty, though not in an isohop way. Some alcohol apparent. If anything it’s a bit too thick/sweet/malty and not hoppy enough. The hop character certainly isn’t as fresh as what you get in LC, Speculator etc. Makes me think it’s pasteurised and filtered for export to Denmark...? Mildly disappointing, though it’s all relative with a brewer like Emerson’s...
RR: I thought that drinking a bottle fairly cold might bring out the hops but it didn’t. Tasted decidedly cooked. I’m tempted to knock a few points off but I’ll save it for another time.
RR: Yep I’m taking off a few points now. The more I think about it, the less I like it. I think I got caught up in the excitement of finally getting my hands on this stuff. It’s just too thick and sweet and not fresh, hoppy and light as I prefer in an APA. In a lot of ways it’s the antithesis of LC, which if not the best example of the style, certainly is the standard-bearer for me. APAs should be more drinkable than this. The lack of bottle-conditioning really bugs me too.

Cloudy copper in appearance, with a strong but smooth citrussy aroma. first sip was dominated by strong hoppy bitterness, before a soft and delightful palate of moslty cara-malt was revealed. Nice dry finish with some lingering and slightly harsh bitterness. Delicious

Quite dark and cloudy for the style. Expressive nose, candy (?) like sweetness and floral hop rise. Quite big in the mouth, broad yet quite hoppy (if that makes sense) but not really sharp and aggressive like some highly hopped US APAs. Shows elegance. Needs a slight chill to show its best. Good beer.