Kona Fire Rock Pale Ale

Pours a deep copper color with firm white head. Hoppy aroma. Flavor is crisp with bittering hops balanced nicely by caramel malts. Medium body. Very drinkable, delicious and refreshing.

Tastes like a really boring amber ale to me. Really weak taste of piney hops is the only trace of APA in this. Caramel malty flavor is sweet and finishes sweet. Could have used something to balance it. Pretty drinkable though.

A Mes rate: Bottle at GBBF.
Rich amber with a thin but excellent white head. Nice blend of rich malt and big hops. Very sweet and American. Similar in a lot of ways to Great Divide Hercules. Not really enough to get overly excited about but it’s still an enjoyable beer.

Draft at GOBF ’08. Pours a light amber with a foamy, off-white head sticks around, leaving some streaks of soapy lace. The nose was floral hops, citrus and pine. Flavors followed suit, with the addition of some slight caramel, and dry malts. The palate is medium-bodied, watery, with a solid clean, dry finish. Great little grocery store APA.

Bottle from GBBF 08. Amber, thick beige head. As an Englishman, how can you have a session beer that’s 6%? Seriously, if I lived in America, I’d last, what 18 months, maybe 2 years before I’d die. I couldn’t sit in a pub for 3-4 hours drinking pints of this, I’d be a mess. Yet it is very drinkable. Not the greatest pale ale unfortunately, but similar to that style. Bit of raspberry fruit flavour. Slightly sweet malt and slightly sweet grapefruit hop. Some sherbert on end, but not really bitter. In fact I now realise I confuse big hops with proper bitterness. Like many, it improves when it’s slightly warmer, than fridge termperature. The malts come more alive. The malt is a little too sweet, ok hop, but a little too sweet overall.