Full Sail Hop Pursuit Extra Pale

Brewed by Full Sail Brewing Company
Style: American Pale Ale
Hood River, Oregon USA

Serve in Lager glass, Shaker, Tulip

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A well made beer that’s for sure. Beautifully golden with a lingering head. Light on the aroma. Medium full nectar with excellent carbonation. Snappy is the best way to describe this brew. A big hop profile suspends the malt factor in animation. Finishes dry and crisp. Strict as aspirin.

Bottle. Pours a hazy gold-orange with a large-grained head. Wonderful, aromatic nose with floral and resinous qualities; there’s also faint grapefruit in the mix. Crisp and rich on the tongue, with definite herbal hop flavors and citrus/resin notes playing well against the darker roast malts. This is, to me, a perfect balance; rather than an 3Xtr33m hoppy mess, this is delicate and robust all at once. One of my new fave beers.

Excellent APA! The Hop Pursuit pours a murky and cloudy orange color with a modest tan head. The head leaves some beautiful lacing around the inside of the glass! The nose is nicely balanced with plenty of hops, earth, bread, toast and floral spices. The body is very smooth and very drinkable. The flavors are incredibly spicy, with plenty of hops and notes of pepper, earth, lightly toasted bread, caramel and heavy spices. The finish and aftertaste are very dry, spicy and hoppy. This is an incredibly delicious and enjoyable pale ale!

22 oz. bomber. Pours a clear gold with a short white head that persists and leaves minimal lace. Malty nose and a cotton-candy and berry sweet, medium body that lasts through. Tart and citrus in the middle and finish with strong hop aromas all through, as if dry-hopped or hop-filtered. Low carbonation, very drinkable - a session beer? A decade ago, this was an American IPA!

Floral and spicy hop aroma reminds me of some british-style hops. Brilliant light amber in color, nice head. Small amount of carbonation leaves the beer a bit flaccid in the mouth. Very smooth and medium bodied, this is a mild caramel pale ale with a tight citric twang. Very nice hop flavor, rather juicy and refreshing. Finishes with a lasting bitterness. For a pale ale, this is mighty tasty.

22 oz bottle (via trade) into a Duvel Tulip Poured a light hazy orange with a huge off-white head (with an aggressive pour) that settled quickly but never completely dissapted. Nice lacing which was present throughout. Nose is breadiness, floral hops with some citrus in the background. Taste is bready and earthy with a nice balance of hops and sweet malts. Feel is on the light side. You certainly notice the carbonation but it works with the lighter mouthfeel. Although the name would suggest something other than an APA, this beer is true to the style and very nicely at that. It’s quite refreshing and, at 6%, quite sessionable.

Pours a cloudy golden orange color with a one finger frothy white head that slowly fades into a lasting ring. Spots of soapy lace are left behind. Spicy, floral hop aroma with lots of dry, earthy pine and resinous oil as well as some sweet citrus/tropical notes. Hints of grapefruit, mango, pineapple and orange peel. Grainy biscuit malt backbone. Medium bodied with a blast of dry earthy hops. Resinous with a good amount of bitterness that doesn’t overpower. Floral with hnts of pine countered by sweet fruit notes, especially grapefruit and orange peel. Decent malt backbone balances things out with hints of caramel, toffee, biscuit and slight grainy graham cracker. Dry finish. Full bodied, well balanced, flavorful and easy to drink.

July 28th, 2011 - I came to the Full Sail Hop Pursuit after it’s intended worship period, falling somewhere in Spring’s bracket of peak fertility. By the time I poured it into a glass, the season’s crops were already tucked into the soil, and the sun was already casting its horrible, hot gaze on Colorado. Even so, it fits nicely with the weather, but more critically, it fits with my hop preferences. Full Sail has used the Hop Pursuit to accommodate beer drinkers who have nice things to say about hops, but who eschew the race to peak bitterness. With its thin white head and a deep and husky orange-brown color, this pale ale looks like any other. The brewer’s decision to take an "old school" hop profile to this beer appears in the nose, where the hop dimensions are deep and subtle, creaking satisfyingly like an old wooden schooner, or a well-loved chair. The citrus has been sacrificed for the deep piney and woody notes; these are the scents that bring me to imaginary hop fields. The Hop Pursuit is a heavily carbonated beer, which is a disservice to the hops in the taste. It feels bland at first, until the carbonation can make way for the flavors slowly stretching across the palate. After that it is a quick acceleration into a noble, Continental hops buffet, delicious and nearly edible. It’s not too sticky or sweet, but there are definitely residual sugars playing nicely with the bitterness. There’s also a vernal fresh and floral taste, that extends long after the sip into a relaxing aftertaste cool down. Refreshing and drinkable, the relatively light palate of the Hop Pursuit makes it easy to down this quickly. Tempting as that is, this beer is best enjoyed with restraint, letting each sip unfurl until its smooth. With patience, and time, and a little warmth, a bit of lemon peel appears in the flavor, giving this beer that final detail that it needs to be one of the top beers of my summer of 2011.

22 oz. bottle. Transparent gold color in the glass, large bubbles, thin head. Aggressive hoppy aroma with notes of orange rind and green apple. The flavor is a full-on hops assault. It hits your tongue tingling and provides an explosion of bitterness, followed by a brief moment of malt sweetness, and then a long aftertaste of hops. Grapefruit and lemon are there, but overall the hops seem more grassy. It really tastes "green." Mouthfeel is a bit thin, with carbonation that could be softer. Overall a very crisp and refreshing brew for warm weather that will completely satisfy most hopheads, but not recommended for those who seek balance in their brews.

Starts off with grassy hop and cereal malt aromas. Slightly hazy medium amber with a rocky white head that settles down quickly. The flavor follows the aroma but with more astringent grapefruit and citrus pith hop bitterness to balance the light, toasty malt. Very light bodied, refreshing and drinkable.