Olde Towne Pale Ale

Formerly brewed at Olde Towne Brewing Company
Style: American Pale Ale
Huntsville, Alabama USA

Serve in Lager glass, Shaker, Tulip

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Wow...this is a delightful beer. It has such a complex flavor--yeast, malts, hops, and a strange grassiness...it’s just so good. Go buy it and try it. You’ll thank me.

UPDATED: MAR 9, 2006 Pours a hazy onion and orange color with minimal white head. The aroma is fraught with musty malt and grain, overall sharpness, and something like vegetation (though not that strong). The flavor is lite malt, hop sharpness, and wood. Not very well balance. Body is adequate. I’ve got to say that I am sorely disappointed with this brew. This is the second time I’ve tried it (the first time I drove all the way to Huntsville to try it and all three beer styles I tried had DMS) and it will likely be my last.

Hazy golden color with an aggresive fizzy white head. This was very carbonated and had a lot of bubbles on the tongue. The nose has an odd yeasty acidity to it that reminded me more of a German hefe than a pale ale. Fruity banana flavors with lots of dough and some toast. Sweet orange citrus finish that leaves a lingering candied orange peel sensation. This is a really odd pale ale.

Nice light amber orange color,small white head that had a good hangtime then faded slowly leaving a light lace behind.The aroma was malty and sweet with a nice hop presence and a mild grapefruit side.Nice light malty flavor,mildly sweet with a good hop showing in the middle and the grapefruit is there but not as much as i was expecting coming from the aroma.The carbonation is nicely done and sort of makes the flavor dance on the pallate.As the brew warms the grapefruit comes on a little beter with a nice but mild after taste of hops and an easy smooth finish.Thanks go to BeerandBlues2 for sending this brew my way.

Bottle: Lightly hazy light orange with a huge white rocky head. Light grass, bread and lemon in the aroma, fizzy mouthfeel, with a light body, starts and ends lightly sweet.

UPDATED: MAR 28, 2005 <P>Rerate 3/22/05: Once again after quality control issues were fixed, the off flavor are absent and you get a better view of the malt and hops. The old recipe is fairly dry and has a crisp bitterness in the back. The recipe coming out in a few days has a bit more floral/fruity hop character in the aroma and flavor. <P>1/5/05: So I’m the first person not from Alabama to rate this beer. Cool. It’s also my first Alabama beer. This on is kind of hard to rate, though. Personally, I kind of liked it, but something tells me it would be considered flawed according to style. It’s pours a pretty amber that takes on a slight haze from the bit of yeast in the bottle. The aroma has a touch of peppery hops with a little lemon zest. The odd thing is a huge bubblegum ester aroma that would be right at home in an authentic German hefeweizen, except this isn’t supposed to be a hefe. Personally, I think it’s kind of a cool twist, but not what you expect from a hefe. Solid carbonation and a nice maltiness make for an interesting beer with a bit of a weak finish.

Pours murky copper with a hint of off-white head that goes away shortly. Huge yeast aroma with a hoppy orange nose. Flavor is very bitter with a metallic yeast finish. The yeast stays around for some time after the beer has left your mouth. The palate is boldly carbonated and a tad mild.

UPDATED: OCT 20, 2004 Several people I’ve talked to following the brewery opening celebration enjoyed this beer. I could only stomach half of a 8-10 oz. plastic cup, however. I tried repeatedly over the course of a half hour to finish it, but to no avail. Unfortunately, the character of the pale ale did not (as I had hoped) improve with warming. As for tasting notes: it looked very much like an English Pale Ale and had a dark nose: hoppy with a pleasant enough undercurrent of malt. The head was gone by the time the waiter got it to me, but a little bit of yeast was visible floating around. As for the taste ... strong hops with a soapy taste that I found unpleasant. In talking to the brewmaster, he told me that, due to the rushed preparations for the keg tapping party, he had to release a far less mature version of the pale ale than he would've liked, quite possibly accounting for the soapiness I detected. I plan on visiting Olde Towne soon and trying a more finished product and, hopefully, finding myself able to give it a higher rating. The hoppy character is a nice foundation to build on, so my hopes are high. ***************** As with the other Olde Towne brews, my recent visit to the brewery and re-tasting found significant improvements. Before the pale ale was decidedly unpalatable and impossible to finish. Now, I'd say it's a good beer all around. Nice and hoppy, far clearer in appearance (filter problems are fixed, cutting down on the overabundance of yeast in the previous samples), and the soapy character I found so unpleasant is practically nil. I drank an entire pilsner glass and enjoyed it thoroughly. A solid English Pale Ale.

I tried this one out up in Huntsville at Humphrey’s Bar & Grill the day they popped the first keg for this new brewery with my bud RichJ7. Out of the three beers they had there, I think this one was my favourite - slightly preferred to the Amber because of its hoppiness and personality. It had a sort of flair to it, it seemed? The main thing I detected here was hops, but then again I’m no detective... It reminded me of Rolling Rock (which I also like).