Glenwood Canyon Hanging Lake Honey Ale

The mountains of Colorado harbor many niches, nooks and crannies, within which lie a bounty of hidden mines, towns and even the occasional bakery (Silver Plume). Glenwood Springs is not what you’d call a quaint mountain town, exactly, but it’s not a global tourism destination either. Home to a therapeutic hot springs, it sees its fair share of visitors, and those who do go get a chance to visit the local brewpub: Glenwood Canyon Brewing Company. It is by no means an infamous brewery, or a landmark in craft beer, but it provides better beer to a town with one foot still in the past, and that makes it all the more charming. My family and I ordered a sampler to get a well rounded taste of the offerings, and I came away reasonably impressed, considering my expectations. First up, and presumably the weakest of the lot, was Hanging Lake Honey Ale, so named for a nearby lake of pristine beauty and like a mirror still, cold lake on the verge of spring, the beer felt and smelled spritzy, light-as-a-cloud, and cool. The body, albeit in a tiny mason’s jar, was indeed very pale, almost like tainted water, with a great big billowing head on top which, on that diminutive drinking vessel looked like a white button mushroom. The smell is faint – too faint to find anything worthwhile, giving off only the slightest wisp of raw sugar, and a disappointing aroma of corn syrup. Despite its clarity and timidity it makes itself at home in your mouth the moment it enters, spreading slowly like cotton released from a tight grip. And again, counter-balancing a delightful trait, the taste is needlessly bitter and somewhat cheap tasting, akin to most macro-brew pale lagers. Besides the industrial tastes, the Hanging Lake Honey Ale is otherwise flavorless. Save for a few tricks in the light and on the tongue, this was a foreboding start for the beer sampler we ordered.

on tap-pours a white head and yellow color. Aroma is honey-wheat. Taste is honey-wheat musty. OK carbonation.

Draught. Pours pale gold with a small foamy white edgy head. Aroma is sour malt (grain, meal) and grassy. Medium acidic honey malt flavor with a sour malt finish. Light bodied and smooth.

Decent at best for the style. Really isn’t that much honey, but it is fairly smooth. An almost lagerish finish brings this down in the ranks of a one-time only brew.

Light gold; frothy white head. Crisply carbonated and light bodied. Sweet, grainy malts. Flower petal aromas; flowery bitterness. Decently balanced and fairly drinkable but unexciting.