Goose Island Special Pale Ale

Draft… DLD’08… Cloudy amber ale with a small, creamy, white head. Great retention. The aroma is of citrusy hops and caramel malts. Medium to full-bodied and lightly creamy with middling carbonation. Big caramel sweetness and grapefruit pith bitterness… leans a hair toward the sweet side of balance. Bittersweet, caramel finish.

On tap Goose Island Clybourn. Very good APA. Pours a a reddish amber with small head. Nice medium hop aroma with balanced malt presence. Citrusy/grapefruity hop flavor is abundant but doesnt overbear. Extremely well balnced & drinkable.I would make this one a year rounder

In short: A very well malted and well hopped Pale Ale. Way above average.
How: Tap at brewpub (Clybourn location)
The look: Cloudy copper body with small off-white head
In long: Nose is citrus and orange. Lots of caramelized malts in there and lots of fruity hops. Medium bitterness with grapefruits, pine-cones juice and citrus fruits. Quite a bit of after-taste. Medium carbonation. This is a nourishing and flavourful Pale Ale. With all those American brewpub Pales Ales/India Pale Ales that end-up feeling like hop juice it’s great to find one with such a rich malted body. One of the best APA I’ve had. If Goose Island ever decide to bottle this beer then there’s not doubt in my mind that they will… well… need a label.

Sample at Clybourn; distinguished itself nicely amongst a style that is fairly homogenous. Aroma was nice and hoppy with pronounced citrus/grapefruit. Flavor was well balanced with a solid hop presence. Good for the style.

Tasted 4/30/08. Sample from Clybourne. Filtered with a ruby amber hue. Layer of off-white head. Grainy hoppy nose. Grapefruit nose. Medium bodied and nice and hoppy. Good profile. Bitter and woody. Grassy and grapefruit. Solid and very nice. Tart with mild hops. All hops in the palate.