Palo Alto Brewing Hoppy Ending Pale Ale (FireHouse)

Palo Alto Brewing Company
Brewed at FireHouse Grill & Brewery
Style: American Pale Ale
Palo Alto, California USA

Serve in Lager glass, Shaker, Tulip

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Bottle from Corti Brothers, Sacramento. Pours clear amber with a thick beige head and a floral aroma. There is a medium-bodied pale malt flavor that is bready and dry. Finish is moderately bitter.

Bomber from Total Wine in Sacramento, CA. This one is brewed by Hermitage. Pours orange tinged gold with a foamy white head. Moderately fruity aroma. Med minus body. Flavor is light pitted fruit, perhaps a little citrus, and a little malt for backbone. It’s light and refreshing. Finishes a bit gummy. Decent, but not a very hoppy ending to me.

bottle, no date!! but its old, papery flat beer, malt with only the smallest glimmer of any hops hitting just before the beer is gone.

A - Pours an almost clear golden-orange with a finger of frothy white head. The head fades down at a normal pace leaving behind some nice lacing. S - Aroma is a mix of grapefruit, orange, tropical, and citrus hops with some sweet caramel and biscuit malts. T - Starts off with a mix of grapefruit, tropical, and citrus hops with some bitterness and some sweet caramel malts. Through the middle, some light floral hops come through with a bit more bitterness and some biscuit malts. The finish is a mix of grapefruit and citrus hops with a hint of pine, some mild bitterness, and some sweet bready malts. M - Medium bodied with moderate carbonation. Feels smooth with a dry and bitter finish. D - Very drinkable. Nice balance hoppy pale ale. Good hop profile.

Bottle: says brewed by Hermitage Brewing for Palo Alto Brewing - pour is light golden-yellow with a medium-sized white head. Aroma is hoppy pine and grapefruit with some soft caramel and grass notes. Flavor is pine resin and grass bitters bumping into a soft caramel sweetness. Palate is mostly bitter with a thin body. Overall it has a nice smell and decent flavor but runs a bit too thin for me.

12oz bottle, purchased from the refrigerated cooler at Whole Foods Coddingtown. Pours a clear, bright golden-yellow color; fine-bubbled white head with modest retention and lacing. Citrus and herbal hop character in the aroma, though equally balanced by undercurrents of caramel and crystal malt. Medium-high CO2 and moderate body, with more of a core sweetness than I’d like to see in something like pale ale: notes of, again, caramel and crystalline sugars, even a touch of cotton candy, though balanced out and remaining drinkable courtesy of an assertive, citrusy core bitterness; layered hop flavor adds some redemption here, but I’m just not a fan of so much crystal malt and esters in a pale ale. Medium length finish of caramel and citrus, along with a papery note that strongly suggests some oxidation; given this was refrigerated at a place that moves product quickly, I’m thinking this is on the brewing side of things. A decent pale ale, though my socks remain on.

This is an outstanding pale ale with a very aggressive hopping, and dried out enough that you can taste it. Pure white foam over an amber-tinged golden liquid. Tropical, citric and piney hop aromas come together in a full aroma. The bitterness is appreciable -- oily, resinous - in the finish. The feel is full for 5.5% (my bottle says 5.5, the site 5). Very hoppy, and very dry and down at 5.5. There’s definitely a market hole here that this beer has just manhandled. Well done Hermitage!

Poured into a snifter. 2.0 A: Deeply hazed orangish brown color. Two fingers of foamy head. Retention is just short of average and little lacing is left. Overall, an ugly looking brew. 3.5 S: Nose isn’t bad. Biscuity malts with a strong breadiness from the yeast. A touch soapy. Subtle, but pleasant pine hoppiness. 2.0 T: There isn’t enough going on here. There aren’t enough flavors and those that are there are weak. Rather watery. Biscuity and bready again with piney hop flavor. Too much yeastiness for the amount of overall flavor. 2.5 M: Light body. The only body this has is from the yeast and if it didn’t have that it wouldn’t be much thicker than water. Carbonation is decent though. 2.0 D: Not a good beer by any means. The only thing it has going for it is that the label artwork is hilarious. Serving type: bottle Reviewed on: 08-02-2011 18:47:02

Bottle. Amber beer with a cream colored head. Grapefruit and light pine aroma. Grapefruit and light pine flavor with some maltiness. Medium bodied. Grapefruit and light pine linger with malt and light earthiness.

Pours a transparent light gold with a big creamy white head. Crescents of foam cling to the walls of the glass after each sip. Spot on for an APA. The aroma is honey, caramel, tangerines and pine needles. Nothing too strong, nothing too weak. The taste is just a touch too sweet at first with some crystal malt notes, but it finishes with some dry yeastiness, hop bitterness and lingering honey. Mouthfeel starts smooth and kinda creamy but is fading and getting watery before I can finish my glass. Having purchased the bottle due to an impulsive need to try new local beers, I expected practically nothing from this beer and was pleasantly surprised. This is a very quaffable APA with good hop flavor and balance.