Four Peaks 8th Street Ale

Brewed by Four Peaks Brewing Company
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Tempe, Arizona USA

Serve in English pint

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I like the idea of the low abv bitter. It came over as a bit watery and alcked that traditional depth of flavor.

Jumping right in, the 8th Street Ale is an English-style pale ale and has been commended on its taste proximity to ales brewed in England, thanks to the British grown Kent Golding and Fuggle hops. Enough with the fancy talk though. This beer is a lovely coppery maple syrup color, or even a burnt orange depending on the light. It pours with lots of carbonation into a rich, soapy off-white head that leaves behind a considerable amount of thick lace. --- The smell is a of wonderful sweet barley concoction permeated by a light yeasty tint and a mixture of spicy floral and something woodsy. There isn’t a whole lot of bitter in the scent, which I didn’t expect initially because of the types of unique hops used in the brew, but I discovered that the spiciness was thanks to the Kent Golding hops. --- The taste is almost exactly like the smell, only with a smoky sweet malt, rather than barley, and the bitterness finally rearing its head. Again, expecting an overwhelming bitterness, I was pleasantly surprised with the bitter flavor and how light it was; I was relieved that it refused to stick to my tongue for an unappetizing after taste. The 8th Street Ale has quite a light mouth feel, just passing over the line into watery, and ends more on the dry side - thankfully neither of these do anything to take away from the tasty flavors. --- I found this English-style ale very easy to drink, and would enthusiastically pick up a six-pack in the future. It is an excellent Arizona beer, made light and ready for the hotter temperatures from April to October. It is recommended to be accompanied by Indian or Middle-Eastern food, but as I’m not the biggest fan of either, I say this would be spot on with a nice basket of fish and chips. If you’re going to go with an English-style beer, you might as well go with English-style food! Cheers!

Cask at brewery. Hazy yellow with a huge fluffy white head. Nose is very light hops. Taste is very mild with light lingering hops. Slight astrigency on the end. Seems a bit watery. Medium body. Decent session beer.

Bottle pours gold with an off-white head. Aroma is sweet and sticky with notes of toffee, pine, and citrus. Flavor shows pretty much the same. Overall body is moderate as well as the bitterness.

Bottle. Pours a clear golden color with a longlasting off-white head. Has a fruity malty citrus hoppy aroma with some piny hints. Fruity malty hoppy caramel flavor. Has a fruity malty hoppy finsih with some hints of caramel in the aftertaste.

Pours light amber with a small tan head. Overwhelming floral and citrus aroma with a slight bitterness coming through that persists in the aftertaste, a decent brew but nothing worth writing home about. K- 3/5 S- 2.9/5

Sample from draft. Amber color, scant head. Aroma of fresh hops. Taste is watery. Nice aroma, but otherwise unremarkable.

Amber color, frothy white head, foamy lacing. Pine and citrus aromas. Taste on the bitter side, though not by much, with hint of orange in the background. Crisp.

Usually this is one of my favorite local brews. Traditionally they have used lots of low protien malt and higher quality hops. In addition, their cask version is quite good. That is until that latest batch that I tried at the brewer last night in Tempe! Like usual the aroma is pleasant and malty. Its the usual light ale color. But this batch gives off a moderate flavor of soap! With out going into details this could be due to lower quality malt leaving "carbon skeletons" in the brew. I’ve been drinking this brew for years and I have never tasted this before. There is another brewer in Gilbert who produces beer that tastes like liquid hand soap. This batch of 8th street was not that bad, but it was approaching that same level. Let’s hope it’s just a consistency error and they will clear up the issue, instead of a permanent change of ingredients and/or process. That would be a real shame!

(on tap at Scottsdale location). Copper color with small head. Aroma of some roasted malt with citrus. Fizzy on the tongue with malt sweetness and hops that are nicely balanced. Smooth medium bodied finish. Well balanced beer that is easy to drink. Solid beer.