Pizza Port Mikes Ale

(cask): Cloudy amber body with minimal head. Aroma is grapefruit, medium sweet, some fruity (melon). Taste is mild sweet, grapefruit/pine bitter, light fruity. Finish is fairly bitter grapefruit. Medium/full body, some stickiness, minimal carbonation.

Draught samples at ABF on 6/16/07
Very soft, lightly hazed pale-lemon colored beer with gold tints and a large, white head that is retained well and laces strongly.
Very crisp and dry are the hops, focusing on citrus mainly, but not your typical, boring candied orange and grapefruit cascade medley. Rather, it has bits of juicy tangerine aroma, with a very strong lemon zest note. Almost reminded me of concentrated lemon juice. Probably some amarillo in it, mixing with the cascade or whatever C-hop they used. It’s done well, and the dryness dosent have to fight through much sweetness, nor any medium malts. A true San Diego Pale Ale in every sense. Bitterness brings some zip to the finish as well, and there were no flaws/alcohol detected. Medium-high strength of aroma.
Soft pale malts are dextrinous and give a medium body, while bitter, lemon and grapefruit rind hoppiness slowly spreads out on the palate. A strong juiciness is present, giving more flavor than bitterness, eventually, as well as plentiful lemon-lime suggestions and typical, though not overdone, orange. Nothing heavily resinous here, nor was it overdone in bitterness. Not overly complex in malt, with mostly pale malt sugars providing light honey-vanilla and a bit of cake-icing-like sweetness. Quite dry overall, and very drinkable, with ample carbonation that helps accentuate the more delicate citric qualities of the hops. No flaws.

(Draft: Pizza Port in Solana Beach, CA) Potent grapefruit hoppiness in the nose, but it’s accompanied by a vegetable aroma that is a little unpleasant, but not strong enough to overpower or ruin the grapefruit aroma. The flavor is very bitter and hoppy, showing a lot of grapefruit. The lightly sweet malt base is fairly mild, allowing the hops to take center stage, though I think this beer is hoppy enough to demand center stage whether the malt agreed to it or not. Fairly dry on the palate, medium bodied. Hazy, dark golden color. Off-white head is small on the pour and settles to a halo fairly quickly. Overall, this is one hoppy beer, not as hoppy or bitter as Ponto or Swami’s, but approaching them. The vegetable aroma is the only flaw in an otherwise solid beer.

Pours with an amber body topped by a thick, lasting head with lots of lacing. It’s slightly sweet and malty yet bitter and hoppy with notes of pine and a touch of pepper. Medium bodied, smooth and a touch dry.

Cask conditioned from brew-pub. Hazy, amber beer with little head. Aroma is sweet and fruity, fresh apples, peaches and light citrus hops. Flavor is also sweet and fruity with balancing hops apparent in the finish and lingering aftertaste. Smooth, medium body, virtually no carbonation and slight syrupy feel.