Magic Hat #9

Magic Hat #9 not quite pale ale. Style; glass: Fruit beer; flute 12 fl oz x 4.6% ABV = 55.2 / 60 = .92 beers * 150 C = 138 calories (est.) Purchased at: canal’s Lawrenceville, NJ for $1.25 Aroma: cherry, fruit, peach, apple, flowery, honeysuckle Visuals: alluring, enticing packaging, body is brilliant, golden, yellow highlights, foamy white head, sticky lace. Taste: starts sweet, some syrup, flour, corn, flowers, grassy middle, turns to candy, slight sourness throughout, finish is short and sweet and sour. Palate: starts very carbonated and purfumed, middle is quick and crisp, finish is short lived and very flowery. Overall: Very much an experiment, and enjoyable as such. Might pair well with chinese or japanese cuisine, something spicy, saucy, and thick would be cut well with this brew.

Reviewed 3/6/2009 (Tap @ Flying Saucer, Houston, TX): Pours a pretty light, pretty clear body. big creamy white head, lasting. good lacing. sweet fruity malty aroma. raspberry. malty dusty taste, nutty. refreshing. hazelnut? apricot or peachy taste. somewhat creamy mouthfeel. Tasty.

Location: Can find it anywhere, I’ve tried it on tap and bottled multiple times

Appearance: Clear gold
Overall Impression: I consider this one to be completely and totally overrated. It’s probably my least favorite "micro" out there. It’s basically the Miller Lite of Micros. If you like a beer, stay away, this one always disappoints.

Clear tan appearance. Berries present on the nose. Sweet initial that immediately fades to a bitter finish that dries you out. Not one to drink if you’re parched.

12 oz. bottle from the Binnys Singles Rack (Orland Park, IL). Pours a dull golden hue, decent haze, with moderate whitish head that dissipates to a film and laces a bit. Aromas are lightly fruity up front, grainy malts and light apricot is discernible. Clearly lighter fare. Initial is very light bodied, subtle grainy malts with light fruity sweetness, largely apricots with some bitterness and blandness on the finish. Body is decent enough for what the style was going for, and the fruit comes through nicely in aftertaste and finish. Malt loses some points for blandness and lacking. A touch of tartness sticks on the palate. Decent.

Taste 3/9 Bottle. Looks: Clear golden bottom, thin white top. Aroma: Malt, apricot, yeasty must. Taste: Yeasty, bland and watery with ?noble hops?. Meh...

Bottled. Poured translucent amber with a thin off-white head. Redolent of apricot and a soft sweet malt. Flavor was dominated by apricot, caramel maltiness, a carbonited bite finished by a slightly unbalanced bitter hopiness. A little too carbonated, it destroyed any segway between the malt and hops, leaving the hops alone and out of place.